B&B Electronics Completes Quatech Acquisition
Acquisition strengthens customer offerings with expanded product capabilities, deeper applications expertise and broader global distribution
OTTAWA, Ill -(BUSINESS WIRE)- B&B Electronics (www.bb-elec.com), a leader in rugged wireless connectivity and communication solutions, today announced it has completed its acquisition of the assets of Quatech, Inc. (www.quatech.com), one of the industry's leaders in high performance device networking and connectivity solutions. The acquisition, completed by a wholly owned subsidiary of B&B Electronics to be named Quatech, LLC, immediately expands the range of product technology and application solutions offered by both companies, along with adding significant reach into new sales and distribution channels.
For 30 years, B&B Electronics has been known globally as a one-stop source for rugged, reliable wireless connectivity and communications solutions backed by strong technical support. Quatech products enable reliable machine-to-machine (M2M) communications via secure 802.11 wireless or traditional wired networks, with industrial-grade embedded radios, modules, boards and external device servers, and bridges. B&B and Quatech both sell complementary products with little overlap in the connectivity marketplace. In some cases, they have sold one another's products for several years.
"It's a natural fit," explained Sean Harrigan, CEO of B&B Electronics. "Together, we are creating a powerful connectivity solutions provider for our customers. Quatech brings tremendous engineering expertise in wireless connectivity and experience in creating large-scale, industry-specific solutions that are very important. In addition, we plan to expand and leverage our combined engineering teams to accelerate the pace of product development, thereby energizing our ability to deliver compelling new solutions for our customers."
Quatech brings to B&B two particular strengths: the embedded technology needed for WiFi applications and a comprehensive sales and distribution network in the connectivity and engineering industries. Quatech customers, in turn, will benefit from B&B's extensive resources in product and application engineering, along with a very deep direct marketing platform through a catalog and web presence that reaches more than a million people. After the acquisition, B&B now has a much greater breadth of product portfolio with deeper technical expertise, said Steven Runkel, formerly CEO of Quatech, Inc. Runkel will continue with B&B as Vice President of Sales & Marketing.
"At its core, we believe the market has changed, that our customers are searching for new types of partners in ways that we'll now be well positioned to serve," Runkel said. "In many instances, the pace of integration projects has accelerated, at the same time as their complexity has increased. Today's leaner companies have fewer staff resources to devote to these projects, so choosing a technology partner becomes even more important than in the past. B&B and Quatech together present a compelling choice, as our tremendous range of solutions and deep field experience positions us as a dependable, reliable company to have on a project."
The acquisition extends the global marketing reach for both companies with direct customers and OEMs, as well as VARs and resellers. As a result of the acquisition, B&B now has a diverse and extensive customer base that includes Fortune 100 companies, OEMs, government agencies, and a wide variety of systems integrators and VARs served through sales offices and multi-tiered sales and distributor channels extending throughout the U.S., western and eastern Europe and the Middle East.
B&B will continue to operate as a privately-held company with international headquarters in Ottawa, Illinois. Sales and channel management and wireless engineering design will be managed out of Quatech's facility in Hudson, Ohio.
About B&B Electronics
Designing, customizing, and manufacturing products since 1981, B&B Electronics Manufacturing Co., Inc. (www.bb-elec.com) is a one-stop source for best-in-class rugged, reliable wireless connectivity and communications solutions. Backed by strong technical support online and on the phone, B&B products are known for being simple to order, simple to use and simple to install. The company offers solutions for serial, Ethernet and USB networks for industrial and commercial applications around the world.
SOURCE: B&B Electronics
Copyright 2008 Business Wire All Rights Reserved.