Entridia Corp., an Irvine startup that designs high-speed networking chips, received a $15 million vote of confidence from Applied Micro Circuits Corp. in what officials expect to be the first part of a two-stage round of financing.
The money will be used to bring to market Entridia’s routing equipment: high-speed, low-latency routers that can prioritize time-sensitive data such as video streams and voice-over-Internet connections. The equipment is designed for broadband Internet access providers and corporations that manage their own wide-area networks.
Officials with AMCC, a 21-year-old San Diego company that specializes in the fiber-optics market, said they made the investment because Entridia’s products could complement their own line of high-speed networking products.
The funding also coincides with Entridia’s launch of a new line of routing chips, the heart of equipment that directs traffic over the Internet and other IP-based networks.
Typically, routers use multi-purpose microprocessors and software to manage traffic in a variety of protocols. Entridia, by contrast, creates highly specialized hardware geared toward the IP protocol alone, creating faster connections for that type of networking,which, thanks to the popularity of the Internet and its closely related TCP/IP protocol, is quickly becoming the dominant standard.
Entridia officials expect to close the second stage of funding, about $10 million more, next month. Conexant Systems Inc., which led a $15 million round of funding in August, did not participate in the most recent deal.
So far, the 3-year-old company has raised about $30 million.
Painting a High-Tech Picture
Silicon Valley is known as the technology capital of the world, but when it comes to livable tech-centered communities, Orange County just might have the edge.
At least that’s the impression left by a delegation of Chinese politicians who visited both areas as part of a fact-finding trip that could lead to Orange County becoming the overseas headquarters for several tech companies there.
Lu Bang Zhi, director of foreign affairs for the southern Chinese city of Dongguan, described OC’s balance between commercial and residential developments with a poetic Chinese expression that translates roughly as “you have a very beautiful picture painted on the city.”
“The planning here is masterful,” Zhi said. “We hope to have an opportunity to work here in the future.”
Zhi was part of a group that included Tong Xing, mayor of Dongguan, vice mayor Li Gui Kang and Chen Lin, chairman of an investment group based in that city.
Officials with The Irvine Co. spoke with the group about their efforts to create an area that promotes a vibrant economy without sacrificing quality of life or exacerbating urban sprawl.
The Technology Gateway program, an Irvine organization that hopes to forge stronger business ties between OC companies and their counterparts in the Pacific Rim, hosted the visit.
Though Dongguan’s population is relatively small (about 1.5 million), it produces an estimated 10% of the world’s supply of many computer products such as magnetic heads, scanners, micro-motors, AC capacitors and transformers.
Sounds Like Team Spirit
SRS Labs Inc., the Santa Ana company that makes sound-enhancement technology for consumer electronics and computers, is gearing up for the formal summer launch of its SRSWOWcast entertainment web site by enlisting Mandalay Sports & Urban Entertainment to provide a range of music, movies, celebrity interviews and sports content.
The site, which is already up and running in preview form, is designed to showcase SRS’s technology, which promises to improve the sound quality of even the tiniest computer speakers.
Judged by the Companies They Keep
Foreshock Inc., an Irvine company that offers a variety of e-commerce consulting services, apparently has a knack for picking the right customers. Four of the 20 companies listed in Forbes magazine’s list of best-managed, fast-growing companies are Fore- shock customers: Bellevue, Wash.-based ImageX.com (No. 3), Irvine-based FutureLink (No. 8, and misidentified by Forbes as “FutureLink Distribution”), Walnut Creek-based Commerce One Inc. (No. 9) and Redwood City-based Kana Communications (No. 19).
Foreshock makes software that connects customers’ disparate computer systems and an array of related services.
For more: www.foreshock.com.
Bits:
OhGolly.com, Newport Beach, revamped its free small-business web site service with a redesign that aims to make it easier to get e-mail, run site-traffic reports, check on sales orders, send out e-mail blasts and newsletters, customize keywords (“Meta Tags”) and other OhGolly.com services … Rancho Santa Margarita memory maker Viking Components Inc. has appointed Dan Moczarny its new director of product marketing. Moczarny was the senior marketing manager at Texas Instuments subsidiary Silicon Systems Inc. … eBuilt Inc., Irvine, has finished revamping the back-office web infrastructure for GoShip.com of Laguna Niguel. For more: www.ebuilt.com Gauss Interprise AG, a German software company, has purchased Magellan Software Inc. of Irvine. For more: www.gauss-interprise.com.
