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TECHNOLOGYMonths-Old Edge Acquired by Days-Old Texas Firm



Bridge Acquires Trackball Tech; FileNet’s Roberts Gets Air Time

Talk about an acquisition strategy.

Edge Technology Solutions, a five-person Irvine company that specializes in computer-system, Internet and network integration, has been purchased by a week-old Texas company riding a wave of popularity surrounding the Linux operating system.

Austin-based TeamLinux purchased the Irvine firm less than a week after launching its own services March 28 and purchasing a similar Ohio firm and another Austin company. Edge was itself only a few months old. Though TeamLinux had officially been in business for a week, officials with the company had been plotting its business strategy for months.

TeamLinux provides a variety of computer integration services using “open source” applications, the public-domain software that has caught the fancy of investors in recent months.

Open source refers to software that is freely shared among a community of developers who voluntarily improve the code and distribute it license-free. Fans say it provides an alternative to the costly and bulky proprietary software offered by the likes of Microsoft Corp.

Linux, a Unix-like operating system created by a 21-year-old college student named Linus Torvalds in 1991, has been the most visible example of the open-source craze. Companies such as Red Hat Inc. and Caldera Systems Inc. have enjoyed multibillion-dollar valuations (until recently) based on the popularity of Linux and the open-source movement, and many companies are betting their futures on the idea that the system will become a dominant player in the software industry.

Despite the name, however, TeamLinux officials say they’ll support a variety of operating systems and networking environments, including Windows.

For more: www.team-linux.com.

Eye on the Ball

Bridge Technology Inc., the Garden Grove maker of optical laser components, hopes to put trackballs where they’ve never been before by acquiring patents to several designs that can be used with new wireless devices.

The company purchased a set of five patents from A-Link Co. Ltd. of Taiwan and plans to integrate the trackballs, dubbed “Startrack,” into handheld Internet devices being developed by Bridge’s Japanese subsidiary, Newcorp Technology Ltd. For more: www.bridgeus.com.

Channel Surfing

If FileNet Corp. chief executive Lee Roberts ever wanted to go into television, he’s getting a good start. The local luminary showed up again on financial news channel CNBC, his second appearance this year.

Roberts participated in the network’s “Power Lunch” show, discussing FileNet’s better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and ongoing web-content strategy. Even in the midst of April 14’s massive sell-off, Roberts said he’s confident the B2B Internet sector would profit from the migration of traditional bricks-and-mortar businesses to the Internet.

The broadcast is available at: http://www.filenet.com/News/newsMedia.asp.

Appearance Is Everything

What’s in a name? According to Ingram Micro Inc. chief information officer and senior vice president Guy Abramo, just about everything.

The executive, speaking before a crowd at the E-Commerce 2000 conference last week at the University of California, Irvine, explained that by repositioning the concept of online returns, his company has been able to take a potential liability and turn it into a revenue-generating operation.

“If you’re taking returns, you’re losing money,” he explained. “If you do ‘reverse-logistics’ you’re generating revenue.”

Amazingly, the line got a laugh, even amidst Wall Street’s tech-induced plunge.

The company is trying to shift its business from that of an old-school distributor,which often played the role of broker by purchasing hardware and reselling it,to that of an outsourced-service provider, charging manufacturers for logistics services.

The event, hosted by UCI’s Graduate School of Management, featured leaders of several high-tech companies who spoke about marketing, operations and the future of the Internet.

Bits:

Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Irvine, has released two new laptop models: the 0.80-inch-thin Prot & #233;g & #233; 3440CT portable computer, ultra-sleek model that comes with a patent-pending liquid-based “Super Cooling” technology; and the Satellite 2210CDS/CDT, which comes with a new web utility called Active Menu that offers easier access to bug patches and upgrades. For more: www.buy.toshiba.com … NowDocs.com Inc., the Aliso Viejo company that promises two-hour delivery of printed documents in 13 major cities around the country, has signed a deal to be the delivery service of choice for Agillion Inc., a business services firm that made its splash this year with a Super Bowl commercial. Earlier this month, NowDocs signed a similar deal with eAttorney, a provider of web-based services for the legal industry … Wonderware Corp., Irvine, announced two new customers for its Protean 3.1 enterprise resource planning suite: Steuben Foods Inc. and Kessler’s sausages … Conexant Systems Inc. signed a deal with Taiwan-based Advanced Wireless Semiconductor Co. that the company says will give it access to 30% more GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) wafers, a material used to make optical-fiber networking equipment. The announcement came on the heels of its acquisition of Applied Telecom Inc. of Lisle, Ill. For more: www.conexant.com.

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