The war of words between Costa Mesa? Emulex Corp. and Irvine’s Broadcom Corp. goes on as Emulex continues to play hard to get.
Late Tuesday, Emulex put out a press release playing up its work with Sunnyvale-based ServerEngines Corp. on a circuit board with chips that bring the speed of specialized data networks to everyday networks of servers and desktop computers.
On the surface, the release was innocuous enough, touting the two companies?work on what are called converged networks.
The release talked about sales to server makers (who weren? named) and included a lot of glad-handing language about ? strong, collaborative partnership?and ?roven, world-class technologies.?p>But the backstory came through loud and clear.
Emulex is fending off a $764 million takeover bid by Irvine chipmaker Broadcom Corp., which went public with its offer in April.
At the heart of Broadcom? bid is an effort to secure a place for its network chips on circuit boards for converged networks.
It? primary competitor: ServerEngines.
ServerEngines was founded in 2004 by former Broadcom engineers who came to the chipmaker when it bought Silicon Valley? ServerWorks for $1.8 billion in 2001.
ServerWorks is Broadcom? unit for network chips that? going after converged networks.
ServerWorks founder Raju Vegesna parted ways with Broadcom in 2003 over what the company called ?perational issues and the strategic direction.?p>Some analysts see Emulex? decision to go with ServerEngines over Broadcom? ServerWorks as a key impetus for Broadcom? bid for Emulex.
It? something Emulex Chief Executive Jim McCluney has played up in an ongoing war of words between Broadcom and Emulex.
?here is more to this than meets the eye,?he recently told the Business Journal, saying Broadcom lost out to Emulex and ServerEngines for wins with computer makers.
Broadcom Chief Executive Scott McGregor was unimpressed, saying in a letter to Emulex? board that Emulex ?as failed to demonstrate an ability to convert design wins into either revenue growth or market share.?
