Xyplex Acquisition Boosts Whittaker in Health-Care Networking

Whittaker Corp., with headquarters in Simi Valley, has completed the acquisition of Xyplex Inc. from Raytheon Co. for $117.5 million in cash and stock.

The acquisition makes Whittaker a major provider of computer networking products and expands the firm’s position as a leader in health-care networking.

The closure of the deal, announced March 4, included approval under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.

“With the addition of Xyplex, our communications business has the products, distribution channels and technology--all the ingredients to successfully compete on a world scale,” said Thomas A. Brancati, president and chief executive of Whittaker.

Located in Littleton and Boxborough, Mass., the Xyplex unit, which makes a wide range of Internet working and access-server equipment for computer networks and the Internet, will be integrated with the Whittaker Communications division in Santa Clara. Operations will continue at all locations within the United States and at foreign offices.

The new combined organization will be renamed Whittaker Xyplex.

The Xyplex acquisition underscores Whittaker’s strategy to grow in two principal business segments, aerospace and communications.

The merged firm holds major and growing market positions in the health care, education, banking/finance and government markets, and strong distribution channels for its products, which include about 300 resellers and systems integrators worldwide.

Whittaker provides products and services with a high-technology or engineering content. Founded in 1942, the company employs about 1,500 people in offices around the globe.