FileNET’s Roberts Honored; OC Companies Make Inc. 500
Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems Inc. may not be as busy buying companies as cross-county rival Broadcom Corp., but Conexant is keeping its dance card full with three recently announced deals. Conexant is collaborating with Liberate Technologies of San Carlos, formerly Network Computer Inc., on a next-generation set-top box for telephone companies and for satellite, broadcast and cable operators. The new design will integrate Conexant’s set-top box chips with Liberate’s TV Platform software to offer interactive television, Web browsing, electronic commerce and video recording. In addition, Conexant and Liberate will pursue joint marketing and sales efforts to build demand for the new platform.
Conexant also has struck a pact with Rohnert Park-based Next Level Communications Inc., a maker of optical networking gear. Conexant plans to supply Next Level with interactive set-top box chips for streaming video, video game and voice and Internet access services. In another deal, Conexant said its MFC 1000 multifunction peripheral chipset has been chosen by Amoisonic Electronics Co., a Chinese maker of digital video, audio and consumer communication products. Amoisonic plans to use the Conexant chipset to power its new SohoMate computer peripherals. “China’s PC market has been growing rapidly over the past few years, leading to accelerated growth in the peripherals market with a forecast of increased small business and consumer sales moving forward,” said Kevin Strong, senior vice president and general manager for Conexant’s Personal Imaging Division. Last week, Irvine-based Broadcom said it is buying Santa Clara-based SiByte Inc. for $2 billion in stock and performance incentives. The deal, set to close in two months, marks Broadcom’s eleventh acquisition this year.
Roberts Honored
The Software Council of Southern California named Lee Roberts of Costa Mesa-based FileNET Corp. one of two chief executives of the year last week. The other CEO honored was Michael Bell, founder and CEO of Carson-based Encore Software Inc. The honors were presented at the trade group’s seventh annual awards ceremony held at the Regal Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. Since Roberts took over FileNET in April 1998, the software maker went from red ink to a $19 million profit for 1999. The council credited Roberts with making his mark with a number of initiatives.
Emerge Teams With Broker
Costa Mesa-based Emerge Corp., an Internet-based provider of merger and acquisition advisory services for small and mid-sized companies, and the Business Brokers Network, a national brokerage group, are teaming up in a bid to expand activity on Emerge’s online business transaction exchange.
As a result of the agreement, qualified BBN members will be linked to a global network of business buyers and sellers. Emerge’s “ePartners” will be listed in the referral section on the company’s Web site.
OC Companies Make Inc. List
OC Companies Make Inc. List
San Clemente-based Presenting Solutions led 11 Orange County companies on the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America, as published on Oct. 17.
Presenting Solutions, which sells and rents hardware for company presentations, posted 1999 sales of $14.2 million, a 1,663% increase from 1995. Other tech companies on the list included: No. 143 Principal Technical Solutions of Lake Forest, with $7.9 million in sales, up 1,639%; No. 184 Laxmi Group of Huntington Beach, $5.7 million in sales, up 1,200%; No. 254 iBASE!, $18.9 million, up 990%; No. 314 Linksys of Irvine, $102.3 million, up 859%; and No. 471 Markzware of Santa Ana, $4 million, up 569%.
Carnegie Prof Advising Procom
Procom Technology Inc. of Santa Ana announced that Dr. Greg Ganger of Carnegie Mellon University has joined its Technology Advisory Board. Besides being a professor of electrical and computer engineering, Ganger heads the university’s Data Storage Systems Center and is co-director of the Parallel Data Laboratory.
Bits:
Irvine-based Bivar Inc. added the new Narr-O-Gide conductive insert card guides to its printed circuit board packaging line to eliminate electro-static discharges. The company said the card guides are suited for telecommunications, medical and advanced avionics applications … The Irvine office of Racal Instruments bolstered its lineup of broadband products by introducing its Model 3153 Triple Channel Arbitrary Waveform Generator. The company said the generator improves tests on high-volume broadband semiconductors … Irvine-based NetPack Inc. announced that Fry’s Electronics is rolling out the company’s new line of “E-Books in a Box.” … NowDocs.com Inc. of Aliso Viejo said it has expanded its Internet-based print and delivery service for business documents. The company said that businesses with operations in South America, Eastern Europe and Asia can order documents as late as 11:59 p.m. EST and NowDocs.com will have them digitally printed, bound and delivered in as little as one day … The Orange County Department of Education announced a new partnership with Newport Beach-based Winfire Inc., Dell Computer Corp., Gateway Inc., Toshiba Corp. and Apple Computer Inc. to bring Orange County educators up to date with specially priced hardware and high-speed Internet access.
