Ezenia to Buy General Dynamics Unit for $21 Million

Ezenia Inc. of Burlington, Mass., has signed an agreement to buy InfoWorkSpace, a unit of General Dynamics Corp. of Falls Church, Va., for cash and common stock totaling $21 million. Payments will be made in installments through 2002.

Under the agreement, announced Jan. 2, Ezenia will acquire the InfoWorkSpace product line and employ the management team and core group of developers.

InfoWorkSpace was a part of General Dynamics Electronic Systems division. The unit provides real-time collaboration products for corporate networks and e-businesses, including products that integrate voice, video and data collaboration to allow groups to interact in a meeting despite geographic distance.

InfoWorkSpace is used by private, corporate and government organizations, including Defense Department agencies and the intelligence community, to build and organize online communities.

The addition of InfoWorkSpace to Ezenia's product line will expand the company's strategy of providing collaborative solutions that enable organizations to get closer to customers, suppliers and business partners, and to make teams work more productively.

General Dynamics also will enter an agreement with Ezenia to become a reseller and preferred integrator into the government market for Ezenia.

Larry Davis, president of AFW Capital Partners LLC, Rockville, Md., said his firm was engaged by the General Dynamics unit to find a buyer for InfoWorkSpace. General Dynamics picked up InfoWorkSpace when it acquired most of the government business of GTE Information Systems, he said.

The sale to Ezenia and accompanying reseller agreement allows General Dynamics to concentrate on federal opportunities for the product line, Davis said.