NEC, a global enterprise networking major based in Japan, announced that it will expand its safety business to more international markets with the acquisition of the UK-based IT services company Northgate Public Services (NPS).
The GBP 475 million or $642 million deal to buy Northgate Public Services that employs approximately 1,400 software engineers throughout the UK and India will enable NEC to add more contracts in the UK.
Northgate Public Services, established in 1969, develops software and services for the public sector, mainly in the UK. NPS works with the British police and government organizations to deploy its business platform across a broad client base that includes local police forces, tax collection offices, social security offices and housing authorities.
NEC said its safety business capitalizes on biometrics technologies, including face recognition and fingerprint recognition technologies, and provides identification systems to more than 30 percent of state police forces in the United States.
NEC supplies more than 700 systems in over 70 countries around the world, mainly in areas such as identification and immigration control.
Takashi Niino, president and CEO, NEC Corporation, said: “With this acquisition, NEC aims to support and strengthen NPS’ technologies for police operations, establish new safety solutions based on a common business platform, and to develop international markets largely focused on countries within the Commonwealth.”
Stephen Callaghan, CEO of Northgate Public Services, said: “Combined with NEC’s business, we will now be able to offer a wider suite of services and software to our existing client base, whilst also expanding in new geographies and technology sectors.”
NEC and NPS will develop and provide safety solutions that combine solutions and technologies from both companies. The companies will utilize NEC’s biometrics technology to enhance identity authentication during police operations and administrative procedures and NEC’s AI technologies.
NEC said the companies will capitalize on real-time detection of suspicious individuals and abnormalities using NEC face recognition, intrusion detection, suspicious item detection and other image analysis techniques.
NEC will also promote NPS’ solutions for police operations and public housing management solutions to markets outside the UK.
