The president of GE’s security business says his company’s
acquisition of Edwards Systems Technology (EST) will
greatly extend GE’s reach into the fire systems market and
promote the integration of fire systems with the company’s
security offerings. Ken Boyda told Security Sales &
Integration that the
purchase of Edwards,
announced Nov. 15, is
a “great fit” for GE.

“It is a significant filling in of a gap we had in the
enterprise integration market,” Boyda says. “We continually
get asked when are you going to have an Edwards kind of
fire systems capability.”

SPX Corp. is selling EST to GE for $1.4 billion and is
expected to close the deal by early 2005.

Boyda says he had a great interest in Edwards before it
ever entered GE’s acquisition radar. “The reason I’ve been
interested is their strategy is similar and compatible with
ours. They work with channel partners and that’s the basis
of our strategy,” says Boyda, who adds integration will be
a big influence behind the new partnership. “Having a full
solution offering for our customers is important.
[Integration] is what the market is telling us is
important.”

It is too early to determine changes that might come to EST
under GE’s ownership, according to Boyda. However, he says
to expect GE to provide additional resources to Edwards,
and vice versa.

“They’ve been very innovative and now there will be
additional resources. They will be encouraged to come out
with new product introductions,” Boyda says. “Edwards is
taking care of its customers extremely well and that will
continue.”

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