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Semiconductor sales continued to fall in July, in the Technology column



Trend Micro Goes to Lake Forest; French Firm Opens in OC

In keeping with a familiar thread in this column, I have to point out that semiconductor sales still are falling,and fast,according to the most recent report from the San Jose-based Semiconductor Industry Association.

In July, global chip sales dropped by more than 37% from a year ago and by 6% from June to $6.5 billion.

Often seen as a leading indicator of technology spending, chip sales can offer clues about how other areas,from software to technology consulting services,might fare in coming quarters.

As computer hardware companies hear from their customers whether they’re going to buy more big technology, they make decisions on whether to spend money on newer technology,namely, chips.

Other clues? A vice president at networking gear maker Cisco Systems Inc., a huge buyer of communications chips from the likes of Conexant Systems Inc. and Broadcom Corp., recently said the company expects weakness in the telecommunications and Internet service provider market to continue for the next 18 months.

“We have a very challenging two to four quarters, possibly six, in the service provider space,” Cisco Systems Vice President of Business Development Ammar Hanafi told Reuters. “There has been and will continue to be wide-scale consolidation taking place over the next 12 to 18 months.”

Still, while the latest Semiconductor Industry Association report indicates a further slowing in sales, it doesn’t mean that, as chipmakers plow through huge inventories, sales won’t come back in a quarter or two.

And that theory would gel with the market predictions at Broadcom and Conexant,that a recovery could start next year.

Even Motorola Inc., which has been one of the hardest hit tech companies in the recent slowdown, has good things to say.

In its recent announcement that it would lay off 2,000 workers, Motorola also said its book-to-bill ratio,a number that indicates the number of chips ordered to the number of chips paid for,was slowly improving.


A Trend?

With viruses flowing freely around the Internet these days, it’s no wonder that an anti-virus company would have the means to expand. And that’s exactly what Trend Micro Inc.,a Cupertino-based anti-virus and security software maker,did.

The company signed a 5-year lease in Birtcher Real Estate Group’s Palm Terrace complex in Lake Forest, upending its operations in Irvine.

The company will take up the entire second floor of the two-story office building, or 31,144 square feet.

Trend Micro’s products secure data in servers, storage and other systems.

The company, which was founded by ex-Hewlett-Packard Co. engineer Steve Chang, sells its products almost exclusively through resellers and other vendors and counted $174.5 million in sales last year.


Bonjour ClarlTeam

The county just got another tech consultant,this one hailing from a land of good wine and cheese.

No, not Northern California, but France.

ClarITeam Corp., a Paris-based technology consultancy, recently announced that it would use $12 million in new venture capital to expand in North America with U.S. headquarters in Laguna Hills.

The company also has an easy coast presence in New York.

“With 60% of Fortune 1000 companies headquartered in the U.S., it is important for ClarITeam to build a strong presence here,” said Chief Executive Nicolas Kourim. “Our customers have global recognition and it is critical that ClarITeam can support them internationally.

We are fortunate to have strong backing from our investors in this strategic worldwide expansion.”

ClarITeam has a twist though,where most tech consultancies advise companies on what type of technology to buy, ClarITeam advises companies on how much that technology really contributes to their business. The results should be interesting.


Accesspoint Reports Growth

Irvine-based Internet services company Accesspoint Corp. said e-commerce transactions and revenue have grown at a 26% clip in August, though the company didn’t disclose to what.

Accesspoint said the growth marked its eighth consecutive month of double-digit growth as an online financial services company.

Accesspoint’s software bundles together payment acceptance and businesses service processes for online and traditional companies.

With a strong August, the company said it is approaching cash-flow profitability. The company cited an industry report by researcher Nilson that reported merchant processing transactions of $4.9 trillion for 1999 and projected that this number would almost double by the year 2010.

“I am truly excited by our continued rapid growth even in the face of a stalled economy,” said Tom Djokovich, Accesspoint’s chief executive.

“All the pieces are now in place as we leverage the company’s competitive advantages and build up our market share in the high-growth merchant processing industry.”

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