British software company Micro Focus (MCRO.L) is to acquire Borland Software (BORL.O), once a major rival to Microsoft (MSFT.O), and assets from Compuware (CPWR.O), it said on Wednesday, to take a position in the software testing market and boost its U.S. presence.

Shares in the Micro Focus, which helps companies modernise their business systems software, leapt 17 percent as the group also released a positive trading statement.

Micro Focus said it had made a recommended cash offer to buy Borland for approximately $75 million in cash.

It has also agreed to buy the Application Testing and Automated Software Quality business of Compuware Corporation for around $58 million.

Researchers at Cranfield University have developed an external airbag that they say will significantly reduce pedestrian fatalities and injuries in the event of a crash.

The system deploys a bonnet-mounted airbag at the base of the windscreen, which research shows is where a pedestrian’s head is most likely to hit. The system uses radar and infrared technology to “pre-detect” a collision and inflates quickly enough to cushion the impact, said Roger Hardy of the university’s Cranfield Impact Centre.

“Test results indicate that the system works extremely well,” Hardy said of the system, which was tested on a Fiat Stilo. “When fitted to a demonstrator vehicle not originally designed with pedestrian protection in mind, the results were well inside all current legal criteria for pedestrian protection currently in force in Europe.”

The nation’s air traffic control systems are vulnerable to cyber attacks, and support systems have been breached in recent months allowing hackers access to personnel records and network servers, according to a government audit.

The Transportation Department’s inspector general concluded that although most of the attacks disrupted only support systems, they could spread to the operational systems that control communications, surveillance and flight information used to separate aircraft.

The report noted several recent cyber attacks, including a February incident when hackers gained access to personal information on about 48,000 current and former Federal Aviation Administration employees, and an attack in 2008 when hackers took control of some FAA network servers.

Auditors said the FAA is not able to adequately detect potential cyber security attacks, and it must better secure its systems against hackers and other intruders.