Vadic The company marketed modems under the name Racal-Vadic, and was among the first to offer 2400 baud modems in the early 1980s. Another name it used was Racal-Milgo. Chubb Security In 1984, Racal bought Chubb, a security company that manufactured safes and locks. In 1992, Chubb was demerged from Racal and was subsequently taken over by Willams Holdings in 1997. Racal Telecoms Racal re-established a telecoms division with a major government contract in 1988 and the acquisition of British Rail Telecommunications in 1995. This division of the former nationalised industry owned telecoms infrastructure laid across the rail network. Racal Instrumentation Consisted of Racal Recorders (Hythe, Southampton) and Racal Instruments (Burnham, near Slough). Racal acquired Thermionic Products in 1967, creating Racal Thermionics, renamed Racal Recorders in 1978. Racal Recorders produced a wide range of magnetic tape recorders for multichannel voice recording and instrumentation recording applications. Racal Redac Provided Computer Aided Design (CAD) software and facilities, primarily for design of printed circuit boards; based at Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. National Lottery In 1994, Camelot Group – in which Racal had a 22.5% share – won the franchise to operate the UK National Lottery. After one of the founder shareholders, GTECH, was bought out by Camelot this stake increased to 26.67%. Break-up In 1995, Racal expanded its defence businesses with the acquisition of the Thorn Sensors Group from Thorn EMI. In 1998, all Racal's defence businesses were reorganised under Racal Defence Electronics Ltd into Racal Radar Defence Systems, Racal Radio and Racal Thorn. In October 1999, Racal decided to sell its telecoms business to the American communications group, Global Crossing, for £1bn. In January 2000, Thomson-CSF announced a bid for the company: Racal became Thomson-CSF Racal plc, and later part of Thales plc with the renaming of the larger Thomson-CSF to Thales Group. In December 2008, Racal Acoustics Ltd was acquired by Esterline Technologies, and has become part of their Communications Systems business. References External links Thales Group website Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Defunct networking companies Electronics companies of the United Kingdom Defence companies of the United Kingdom Electronics industry in London Electronics companies established in 1950 Companies based in Surrey Thales Group Companies based in Bracknell 1950 establishments in England History of telecommunications