Axsys Technologies Purchases DiOp

Axsys Technologies Inc. of Rocky Hill, Conn., has purchased Diversified Optical Products Inc. for $60 million in cash. The Salem, N.H., company provides IR surveillance camera equipment for military and national security, and is an OEM supplier of military-grade thermal targeting and imaging lenses. Axsys will integrate the company into its Optical Systems Group.

The acquisition, which is expected to enhance Axsys' position as a supplier of vertically integrated IR surveillance systems, represents a step in the company's strategy to apply its optical and motion control capabilities in the national security market. It also enables the company to address new markets, such as aerial and shipboard surveillance.

In other business, Axsys has agreed to supply precision air-bearing laser scanners to a digital imaging customer under an exclusive 18-month contract valued at $6.7 million. The 2005 financial guidance that the company released in February incorporates expected revenues from the agreement.