Ixia (company)

Ixia was a public computer networking company operating in around 25 countries until its acquisition by Keysight Technologies Inc. in 2017. Ixia was headquartered in Calabasas, California and had approximately 1,750 employees.

Ixia's customers included manufacturers of network equipment such as Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent,[1] service providers such as Verizon, NTT[2] and Deutsche Telekom,[3] and enterprises and government agencies.

History

Ixia was founded by Errol Ginsberg and Joel Weissberger in 1997. Atul Bhatnagar[4] succeeded Ginsberg as president and CEO in 2007. On March 19, 2012, Ixia announced Victor Alston as president and chief executive, with Ginsberg remaining chairman. In October 2013, Ixia announced Victor Alston's resignation as chief executive, and he was replaced by Ginsberg as acting CEO.[5] On August 21, 2014, the board named Bethany Mayer president and CEO. Mayer was also named to the board of directors.[6]

Historically an IP/Ethernet testing house, the acquisition of Catapult Communications in June 2009[7] established Ixia as a player in the wireless market. Ixia made a second acquisition in 2009, buying Agilent Technologies' N2X Data Networks Product Line for $44 million.[8] Ixia further expanded its testing capabilities by acquiring Wi-Fi testing company VeriWave, Inc. in July, 2011.[9] On June 4, 2012, Ixia announced the completion of the acquisition of Anue Systems, Inc., a developer of network visibility software and tap aggregation products founded by Kevin Przybocki, Hemi Thaker, and Chip Webb. On August 24, 2012, the company announced another acquisition, BreakingPoint Systems,[10] a company in network security testing. Ixia continued its acquisitions by announcing the purchase of Net Optics[11] on October 29, 2013.

In 2017, Keysight Technologies Inc. acquired Ixia for about $1.6 billion in cash.[12][13][14][15]

The company's test and simulation platforms are used by network equipment manufacturers, service providers, enterprises, and government agencies to design and validate a wide range of wired, Wi-Fi and 3G/4G networking equipment and networks.

References

  1. Isocore and Ixia Validate Alcatel-Lucent 100 Gigabit Ethernet Service Routing retrieved 2010-09-14^
  2. Ixia and NTT Com Test a 100 Gbps Network Between Makuhari (Chiba) and Otemachi (Tokyo)^
  3. Deutsche Telekom AG Migrates to Ixia's High-Density 10 GE Testing Solution^
  4. Frost and Sullivan Movers & Shakers Interview with Atul Bhatnagar, CEO, Ixia^
  5. Resume Problems Cause Ixia CEO to Resign Los Angeles Business Journal, 2013-10-28, retrieved 2013-10-28^
  6. Ixia Names Bethany Mayer President and Chief Executive Officer - WSJ.com Wall Street Journal, 2014-08-21, retrieved 2014-08-27^
  7. Ixia Completes Acquisition of Wireless Test Vendor Catapult Communications^
  8. Ixia to Buy Agilent Technologies' N2X Data Network Testing Product Line^
  9. Ixia Completes Acquisition of Veriwave^
  10. Ixia Completes Acquisition of BreakingPoint Systems, Inc.^
  11. Ixia to Acquire Net Optics, Inc.^
  12. Austen Hufford. Keysight to Buy Ixia for About $1.6 Billion Wall Street Journal, January 30, 2017, retrieved January 31, 2017^
  13. Keysight Technologies to buy Ixia for $1.6 billion Reuters, 2017-01-30, retrieved 2023-05-09^
  14. Liana B. Baker. Keysight Technologies to buy Ixia for $1.6 billion Reuters, 2017-01-30, retrieved 2017-03-09^
  15. Keysight Technologies Announces Closing of Acquisition of Ixia keysight.com, 2017-04-18, retrieved 2017-10-10^