Boeing [BA] yesterday said it has agreed to acquire a small information technology (IT) firm serving the U.S. government and the intelligence community that specializes in helping its customers access, share, and visualize data.
Terms of the deal, which is expected to close during the third quarter of 2011, were not disclosed. Northern Virginia-based Solutions Made Simple Inc. (SMSi) has about 65 employees. Boeing said the pending acquisition would be immaterial to earnings.
Boeing said that the acquisition supports its strategies in C4ISR and cyber security.
“Our customers continuously look for better, more cost-effective ways to manage data across disparate networks, and SMSi has terrific capability to do that,” John Hinshaw, Boeing’s vice president and general manager of Information Solutions, said in a statement. “We’ve worked with SMSi for a number of years and see their team and products as strong complements to our existing capabilities. SMSi adds important vertical content to Boeing’s product portfolio for two high-growth markets that are key priorities for our customers: C4ISR and cyber security.”
SMSi’s key product set is called Twister, a data integration tool kit that helps organizations manage their data holdings and provide access to those holdings by authorized users, all under one software license. Boeing said that Twister complements some of its existing capabilities that provide its customers the data they need regardless of where the data is stored.
SMSi’s financial adviser on the deal is the McLean Group. SMSi says almost all of its employees have security clearances, most at the Top Secret level.
SMSi will operate within the Information Solutions division of Boeing’s Network & Space Systems business.