By Josh Beckerman

Honeywell International Inc. agreed to buy US Digital Designs Inc. which provides alerting and dispatch communications technology that helps speed up emergency response times.

US Digital's products include the Phoenix G2 Fire Station Alerting System, which has features like automatic alerts to fire stations that reduce dispatcher "on-hold" time and dashboards to keep track of alerts and fire station alarms.

Honeywell, which didn't disclose the sale price, said the deal has a purchase multiple of 14 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Honeywell said "it is estimated that in the coming years, aligned to pending federal legislation to improve the 911 system, several billions will be invested in the United States alone to upgrade legacy alarm infrastructure to provide faster, more precise alarm alerting to first responders."

The acquisition will be integrated into Honeywell's Fire and Connected Life Safety systems business, Honeywell said. "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 buildings, the company said.

Honeywell's public safety acquisitions have included Fiplex Communications Inc. in March.

Other companies involved in 911 and fire response technology include Comtech Telecommunications Corp., Everbridge Inc. and Motorola Solutions. In July, Everbridge said its Everbridge 911 Connect "delivers enhanced location accuracy and provides unique caller identification information on wireless 911 calls, leveraging an expanded life safety database of over 250 million residential and business contacts."

Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-13-21 1452ET