Thales acquires Guavus, one of the pioneers of real-time big data analytics

Thales has announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire the US company Guavus, a pioneer in real-time Big Data analytics.

The acquisition of Guavus follows several acquisitions in the fields of connectivity, mobility and cyber security, and strengthens Thales's positioning in one of the key technologies at the heart of digital transformation, the processing and predictive analysis of “big data”, an increasingly critical factor in realtime decision-making.

Patrice Caine, Thales’s Chairman and CEO, commented: “Combined with our established expertise in other key digital technologies, the acquisition of Guavus represents a tremendous accelerator of our digital strategy for the benefit of our customers. The application to Thales’s core businesses of Guavus's technologies and expertise in big data analytics will strengthen our ability to support the digital transformation of our customers, whether in aeronautics, space, rail signaling, defense or security.”

Anukool Lakhina, founder and CEO of Guavus, added: “The opportunity to join Thales, a global high-tech giant, comes at a time when big data and their industrialised processing, especially in real time, play a key role in the digital transformation of governments, businesses and cities. All of Guavus's teams are enthusiastic about bringing more intelligent decision-making capabilities, at key moments, to Thales customers, while continuing to enrich our offering for our worldwide customers and partners.”

Airlines, satellite, air traffic control, metro or train operators, armed forces or security officials of large urban or energy infrastructures rely on Thales’s high technology solutions to take the best decisions in real time. In a world facing exponential growth in the volume of data coming from increasingly connected sensors, Guavus’s acquisition opens broad opportunities for Thales in areas including predictive maintenance, cyber security, monitoring of critical infrastructures, network and telecommunication systems optimization.

Guavus, a leader in real-time big data processing and analytics, is perfectly suited to the growing needs of an increasingly connected global ecosystem. The company has built a recognised industrial “big data” platform particularly suited to real-time analytics, designed to be easily implemented across any number of new markets. In addition, by bringing the expertise of its 160 strong R&D engineering workforce, Guavus will significantly enrich Thales's expertise in this field.

Founded in 2006, Guavus has focused on the telecommunication and cable network operators’ market, and analyses more than 5 petabytes (5,000 terabytes) of data for its customers every single day. This represents the equivalent of analysing around 3 million feature films every day or 500 times the entire print collections of the US Library of Congress. The company supports more than 20 major operators around the world, including the 5 largest North-American mobile operators (AT&T, Rogers, Sprint, TMobile and Verizon), 4 out of the top 5 Internet backbone carriers, and 7 out of the top 8 cable operators.

Headquartered in San Mateo, California, in Silicon Valley, the company employs 250 people, of which 50 are based in Montreal (Canada) and 140 in Gurgaon (India).

The Company's revenues are expected to exceed US$30 million for the current fiscal year. The impact of this acquisition on Thales’s 2017 EBIT should be non-material.

This transaction is for a maximum enterprise value of US$215 million, subject to the achievement of significant sales growth targets. It is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed during the third quarter of 2017.