Honeywell announced it has agreed to acquire privately held US Digital Designs, a Tempe, Arizona-based company, in an all-cash transaction.
The company delivers alerting and dispatch communications solutions, which enhance first responders? efficacy and enable faster emergency response times, Honeywell said.
The acquisition will be integrated into Honeywell?s Fire and Connected Life Safety systems business and will expand Honeywell?s line of solutions for public safety communications, providing first responders with better situational awareness of building emergencies and improved life safety. When combined with Honeywell?s solutions, US Digital Designs? offerings will securely transmit detailed data about the emergency, such as the type of hazard, severity, and location within the impacted building, all before first responders even arrive onsite, the company added.
Honeywell also noted that the existing communications infrastructure between fire stations and emergency centers often uses legacy, manual technology, which slows response times and affects the accuracy of transmitted information. In contrast, solutions from US Digital Designs instantaneously connect dispatch centers to fire stations, improving both the quality of the information shared and the time it takes for first responders to arrive at an emergency.
?The future of public safety relies on technology. We are integrating intelligence throughout the fire alarm transmission process ? from the fire panel to the first responders ? and providing uninterrupted communications to first responders,? said Doug Wright, president and chief executive officer, Honeywell Building Technologies. ?Integrating US Digital Designs? fire station alerting capabilities with Honeywell?s Connected Life Safety Services will allow us to eliminate manual processes and significantly reduce response time. Helping first responders arrive faster on site means potentially saving more lives and providing a higher level of asset protection.?
The offerings complement Honeywell?s suite of solutions that help its customers meet their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, including improving safety for first responders.
?We are pleased to join the Honeywell team and support its efforts to add more automation and digitization to the public safety communications process. Reducing response times means we can protect more people, buildings and their assets,? said Todd Smith, president and chief electrical engineer, US Digital Designs.
With this acquisition, Honeywell will further expand its public safety offerings designed to improve the safety of first responders and building occupants. These offerings include Fiplex bi-directional amplifiers (BDAs) that provide continuous and critical in-building radio coverage. Honeywell had acquired a majority stake in Fiplex Communications in March 2021.
