One Wall Street analyst is taking a shot at guessing what some of Broadcom Corp.? recent cell phone chip design wins may mean for the company? bottom line.
Until now, not many have attempted predict how much profit these wins may bring in for Broadcom. It? a tricky thing to estimate, because it involves making guesses about timing, market share, revenue and other unknowns.
The Irvine-based communications chipmaker has deals with the No. 1 cell phone maker Nokia Corp. of Finland and No. 2 Samsung Group of South Korea.
Earlier this year, Samsung picked Broadcom to make chips based on an upcoming technology standard dubbed Edge, which falls somewhere between second- and third-generation phones.
Broadcom earlier was asked by Nokia to make Edge chips and by Samsung to make 3G chips in deals announced more than a year ago.
FBR Capital Markets LLC analyst Craig Berger took a stab at the guesswork in a recent research note.
?learly, Samsung and Nokia represent key growth areas for Broadcom,?he said.
For Samsung? Edge chips, Berger estimates it could add about $10 million to profits in 2009 and another $10 million in 2010.
For Samsung? 3G chips, he sees additional profits of $10 million this year and $49 million next year.
For Nokia? Edge chips, he estimates an additional $15 million this year and $25 million next year.
Applied Voice? Venture Round
Foothill Ranch-based Applied Voice & Speech Technologies Inc., which makes software that manages companies?telephone systems, raised $1.5 million out of a $3 million venture financing round.
The $3 million is meant to top off an earlier round from the company? group of investors, which include Ignition Partners, Dolphin Equity Partners LP and Escalate Capital Partners.
?e asked our existing investors to provide some additional funding to ensure we were adequately capitalized so we wouldn? have to go out and do a fundraising round externally in this economy,?said Chief Executive Hardy Myers.
AVST, as the company is called, has raised some $25 million to date.
It develops and markets software that manages voicemail, e-mail and fax messaging systems. The software answers calls, takes messages and notifies callers of events and alerts from the company.
What? different about its software is that it can be bolted on to an already existing telephone infrastructure built by companies such as Nortel Networks Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Avaya Inc. and others, making it a cheaper upgrade rather than an overhaul to a system.
AVST sells to companies via distributors and specialized telecom resellers.
It targets customers in higher education, manufacturing, healthcare and the government.
Some of its customers include the city of Phoenix, Del Monte Foods Co. and the University of Maryland.
The company has its roots in Applied Voice Technology Inc., which was started in 1982 near Seattle.
The company changed its name to Captaris Inc. in 2003.
Also in 2003, it sold off its software product line, called ?allXpress,?which later became the flagship product of AVST.
Myers, who was then running an Irvine-based company in the same field called Sound Advantage LLC, acquired the product line and changed the company? name to AVST.
The privately held company maintains an office of about 50 workers in Seattle.
It doesn? disclose financials but is profitable, according to Myers
.
Earth-Friendly Electronics
Two local tech outfits are teaming up to reduce their collective eco-footprints.
Fountain Valley? Kingston Technology Co., the world? top maker of computer memory and related products, and Aliso Viejo-based online retailer Buy.com Inc. are working together to make shopping a bit more Earth-friendly.
When shoppers purchase special ?o Green?Kingston thumb drives and flash memory cards on Buy.com, Kingston will ship the orders directly.
There? also an option for customers to request less packaging on those products.
Direct shipping eliminates a step in the supply chain, which in turn helps reduce carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption.
The partnership is part of an ongoing campaign from Buy.com, which is encouraging consumers to choose online shopping over brick and mortar stores.
?e continue to look at ways we can do business with more eco-friendly processes, and our initiative with Kingston is the first step,?said Buy.com Chief Executive Neel Grover.
