Thales to buy US-based real-time big data analytics company Guavus

French defence contractor Thales Group yesterday announced that it will buy US-based real-time big data analytics company Guavus, for $215 million, in order to help it make critical decisions in real time.

The proposed acquisition comes after Thales recently made several acquisitions in the fields of connectivity, mobility and cyber security.

Airlines, satellite, air traffic control, metro or train operators, armed forces or security officials of large urban or energy infrastructures use Thales's high technology solutions, and this acquisition will help its customers to analyse data and take decisions in real time.

Founded in 2006, Guavus has focused on the telecommunication and cable network operators' market, analysing more than 5 petabytes (5,000 terabytes) of data for its customers every 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, including AT&T, Rogers, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, 4 out of the top 5 Internet backbone carriers, and 7 out of the top 8 cable operators.

Based in San Mateo, California, in Silicon Valley, Guavus employs 250 people, of which 50 are based in Canada and 140 in Gurgaon in India.

''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,'' said Patrice Caine, Thales's chairman and CEO.

''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, defence or security,'' he 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,'' said, Anukool Lakhina, founder and CEO of Guavus.