Winfire Adds Cities; One Autobytel Competitor Loses, Another Gains
rvine-based Pen Interconnect Inc. is hoping to rise from corporate oblivion through a merger with perFORMplace, a New York firm with operations in Santa Monica that provides online services for Hollywood types and the recording industry.
The once-thriving Pen used to provide contract manufacturing services for brand-name manufacturers, but ran into trouble last year after some of its biggest customers hit the skids. Pen sold its manufacturing operations to ADTI, a Tustin-based subsidiary of Comtel Holdings.
Though a shell of its former self, Pen technically remained a publicly traded company, and that access to public capital in a down market is just what perFORMplace officials wanted. The New York firm provides a service designed to help entertainers manage union contracts online, modernizing a process that still relies on typewriters and carbon paper.
The merger hinges on a shareholder vote that has yet to be scheduled, but that hasn’t stopped the two companies from starting the process and combining staff and resources. Officials from both firms expect the newly merged entity to begin generating revenues by the fourth quarter of this year.
For more: www.pen-interconnect.com.
Winfire Spreading
Winfire Inc. continued expanding the reach of its free high-speed Internet access this month by adding six new cities to its fold.
The Newport Beach company has begun activating subscribers in Boston, Chicago, Houston, Austin, Tulsa and Orlando, nearly doubling the number of areas in which it offers service. It already provides service in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, and of course, Orange County.
Company officials hope to reach 40 metropolitan areas by the end of the year.
Winfire offers free Internet advertising-supported access, but many of its customers are signing up for the company’s premium service, which offers faster access for a fee. But even the premium services are cheaper than what most Internet access providers charge for standard digital subscriber service.
For more: www.freedsl.com
Car Wars
Days after high-profile Autobytel competitor CarOrder.com shut its doors, another one called Greenlight.com is revving its engines with a $39 million infusion of venture capital.
The San Mateo firm hopes to compete with Irvine-based Autobytel for the growing Internet auto-sales market, a segment that has attracted even car manufacturers into the fray.
Though Autobytel stock has risen over the past month to around 6 1/4, it’s still below October’s 52-week high of more than 20.
Ramping Up Content
AudioRamp.com, an Irvine company headed by AST co-founder Safi Qureshy that makes home stereo equipment that can download music from the Internet, has forged a deal with NextAudio Inc., a North Carolina outfit that helps Web sites produce news and music programs.
The deal will make NextAudio’s “MyRadio” line of programming, along with that of Web sites using the service, compatible with AudioRamp’s equipment.
Officials hope the deal will expand NextAudio’s reach while giving AudioRamp users a one-stop-shop for finding news, entertainment and music on the Internet.
AudioRamp’s device, called the iRad, can store more than 1,000 songs encoded in the MP3 format and play live shows broadcast over the Internet.
For more: www.audioramp.com.
SRS WOWs Discover Mag
And speaking of former AST executives, Tom Yuen’s SRS Labs Inc. has garnered recognition from science magazine Discover for its WOW Thing hardware.
The $30 translucent box, which makes even the tiniest computer speakers sound better, was named a top-10 finalist for the publication’s annual Technological Innovations Awards.
The awards are designed to recognize the frontiers of innovation and technology that improve people’s everyday lives.
Since releasing WOW Thing 10 months ago, SRS has received several similar awards, including receiving the Consumer Electronics Show “Innovations” award and was named a finalist for best consumer product at Mac World magazine’s annual awards ceremony.
For more: www.srslabs.com
Bits:
Tennessee manufacturer Bennett Tool & Die Co. Inc. has been named Software Strategies magazine’s Enterprise Integration Award winner, using business software designed by Costa Mesa-based Syspro Impact Software Inc. … Officials with Aliso Viejo-based ZLand.com say they have signed up nine franchisees so far this year, bringing the company’s total to 15. The company provides back-office and other business services over the Internet Rancho Santa Margarita computer memory maker Viking Components Inc. is ramping up for volume production of Rambus memory in time for Intel’s Pentium 4 launch. Though Intel originally had planned to make the new chips compatible with only Rambus memory, the chip giant has backed away from that position in recent weeks Cocoexchange Inc., a Newport Beach company that hosts an online trading post for leases and rentals, is teaming up with Lease2Save, a Marina del Rey outfit that leases capital equipment online.
Ken Spencer Brown can be reached at kbrown@ocbj.com or 949-833-8373, Ext. 239.
