San Diego’s Qualcomm Inc. has seen setbacks in its running war with Irvine’s Broadcom Corp. But it’s not giving in without a fight.
Qualcomm, a top maker of cell phone chips, appealed to the White House last week to overturn penalties doled out by the International Trade Commission for infringing on Broadcom patents.
On June 7, the International Trade Commission, a federal trade watchdog, barred imports of some cell phones with Qualcomm’s chips.
President Bush and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab have to sign off on the penalty within the next two months. Some observers think the administration will abide by the penalty as part of its bid to get China and other countries to respect patents.
Also last week, Qualcomm filed a request with the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, asking the court to put a temporary hold on the ban.
Wireless phone service providers are up in arms against the ruling, saying the ban will hurt business by making it tougher to get new phones to consumers quickly, especially during the busy holiday season.
Those that stand to be affected are Verizon Wireless, a unit of Verizon Communications Inc., and Sprint Nextel Corp., which rely on Qualcomm for chips in their “3G” or third-generation phones.
South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc., which uses Qualcomm chips in its phones, filed a similar plea to hold off the ban.
Industry watchers say that it could make Verizon and Sprint less competitive as they prepare to face off with AT & T; Inc.’s wireless arm. AT & T; is set to be the sole seller of Apple Inc.’s iPhone due next week.
Unisys News
Unisys Corp.’s Mission Viejo operation is getting a new boss.
Blue Bell, Pa.-based Unisys brought on board a former Hewlett-Packard Co. executive, Richard Marcello, as president of the company’s systems and technology group, which includes the Mission Viejo operation.
The company is restructuring its server business to become “virtualized”,tech speak for grouping together servers on a network so they appear as a single source of data.
Unisys’ systems and technology group, which oversees servers, mainframes and software, has about 600 workers, spokesman Brian Daly said.
About 450 people work in Mission Viejo. The site has an estimated 750 workers in all.
Marcello is set to head development, production, sales and marketing and is set to split his time between Mission Viejo and Blue Bell.
The move fills a spot left by Leo Daiuto, who is set to retire after 39 years at the company.
Before Unisys, Marcello was general manager of HP’s business server product line. He’s also worked at Compaq Computer Corp., now part of HP, and Digital Equipment Corp.
Separately, Peter Blackmore, Unisys’ executive vice president and president of worldwide sales, is set to step down at the end of June.
Blackmore was hired away to another company as president and chief operating officer, with a planned succession to chief executive.
Unisys didn’t name the company.
Emulex in Germany
Costa Mesa’s Emulex Corp., a maker of host bus adaptors, network switches and other gear for data storage networks, opened an office in Munich, Germany.
“Central Europe is a very important territory for us and having a dedicated team in Munich will allow us to focus on expanding our customer base,” said Alan Wallman, vice president of the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions for Emulex.
Those markets have grown nearly 60% in the past year and make up about 38% of the Emulex’s $460 million in yearly sales.
Regional sales manager Thomas Prucker will head the Munich office. He was hired from Santa Clara-based Hitachi Data Systems Corp., a unit of Japan’s Hitachi Ltd.
Emulex has design wins with Fujitsu Siemens Computers Holding BV, a venture of Tokyo’s Fujitsu Ltd. and Munich’s Siemens AG.
Tech Consulting Deal
A consulting unit of Hitachi bought Irvine-based tech consultant and Microsoft Corp. software reseller Iteration2 Inc.
Terms weren’t disclosed.
Iteration2 resells Microsoft’s “Dynamics” line, software that helps manage supply chains and customer relationships for midsize companies with revenue of $50 million and up, according to spokesman Craig Burbidge.
Started in 2003, Iteration2 has about 100 workers in Irvine. Local customers include Lake Forest-based Sole Technology Inc., a maker of skateboarding shoes and clothes, and Red Digital Cinema Camera Co., a digital video camera startup founded by Oakley Inc.’s Jim Jannard.
Ingram Forms Storage Unit
Santa Ana’s Ingram Micro Inc., the top distributor of tech gear, said it added a business unit for servers and other storage devices.
The unit of about 160 workers is set to be called the infrastructure technology solutions division and will be split between Ingram Micro’s Santa Ana and Buffalo, N.Y., offices.
Ingram Micro is set to hire more local workers for the division, but didn’t say how many.
The group will be headed by Scott Look, who was hired on in June from Phoenix-based Avnet Inc., where he was a vice president overseeing software and storage.
He’s set to report to Brian Wiser, vice president of sales and vendor management for North America.
The new group includes blade servers, storage, software and related services targeting small and midsize businesses with 50 to 1,000 workers, the company said.
Its aim is to help Ingram’s suppliers, which include HP, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM Corp. and Quantum Corp. grow their business in those markets, according to the company.
