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Kontron and S&T Deutschland Holding on Monday announced that shareholders of both companies have agreed to merge the two companies. Kontron, which is known for its servers, small form-factor PCs, and other specialized hardware, will retain its brand, but will gain access to S&T’s software and contract manufacturing capabilities. Meanwhile, S&T will broaden its hardware portfolio. Combined, sales of the two companies are expected to hit the $1 billion mark in 2017. Kontron is one of the world’s largest makers of industrial rackmount servers and embedded systems, many of which are specialized and do not fall into traditional commodity categories. Last year was particularly tough for the company: its revenues decreased by 18% year-over-year to €385.1 million ($440 million), its gross margin dropped to 14.6%...