Buy.com Eyes Businesses; ThinkTank.com Targets Government Agencies
Intersil Corp., a maker of wireless networking devices, made its official debut as an OC firm with its first securities filing using a new Irvine address. Its quarterly results were mixed.
The company makes chips used for wireless networking products. It reported earnings of $1.8 million on revenue of $191.2 million for its fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30, compared with earnings of $9.2 million on sales of $150.7 million the prior fourth quarter. For the fiscal year, however, Intersil reported a $47.5 million loss on sales of $654.2 million, compared with earnings of $27.4 million on sales of $532.7 million the year before.
The company said the loss was mostly attributable to one-time charges associated with Intersil’s recent acquisition of Netherlands-based No Wires Needed.
The company also heralded what officials call a milestone for the company: it shipped its 1 millionth PRISM II wireless networking chip. The chip is used for products that create wireless local-area networks available to anyone within proximity of a transmitter.
Intersil introduced the PRISM II about nine months ago. Customers so far include Alcatel, Cisco Systems, Compaq, Nokia, Siemens, 3Com, Dell, Samsung and Nortel Networks.
Buy.com Gets Down to Business
And you thought Buy.com was a business-to-consumer play. The Aliso Viejo e-tailer hopes to boost sales to small business and home-office customers while recasting itself as a business-to-business venture with its new “business superstore.”
Through a distribution deal with e-NITED Business Solutions, the e-commerce and fulfillment services division of United Stationers, Buy.com’s new business department will appear as a product category on its main Web site. The department will offer more than 55,000 products, including office supplies, janitorial tools, furniture, equipment and computer systems.
The launch follows closely Buy.com’s acquisition of wireless phone equipment seller Telstreet.com and a site redesign to make shopping easier. Carol Stream, Ill.-based e-NITED will handle distribution and customer care functions for the segment.
Company officials, who have struggled for respect in a market that has all but dismissed business-to-consumer Internet, are eager to separate themselves from money-losing Internet ventures. In addition to giving Buy.com a more palatable “B2B” designation, the move is an attempt to shore up the bottom line.
Investors were apparently unimpressed. The stock fell slightly, closing at 4 7/8 Monday.
Business Is Politics
Suddenly, even B2B is old news. Scott Blum’s ThinkTank.com has launched another Internet company, this one in the business-to-government sector, or B2G.
The business, eFederal Inc., promises to take the bureaucracy out of government purchasing with a Web-based procurement service. In addition to the usual Internet shopping essentials, eFederal will offer cost analysis papers, downloadable government forms and quick access to federal acquisition regulations.
Officials with the venture hope to cash in on President Bill Clinton’s mandate last year that government agencies do what they can to modernize their operations using the Internet. Presidential candidates Vice President Al Gore and Gov. George W. Bush are pushing similar ideas.
The venture is one of several launched by ThinkTank, the $220 million incubator created last year by Buy.com founder Scott Blum and funded by Japan’s Softbank.
Bits:
Epicor Software Corp., which makes applications geared toward the mid-size business market, struck a deal to bolster its product line with the data collection and warehousing capabilities of TDC Solutions Inc. of Louisville, Ky. Epicor will market the products as eWarehouse Data Collection and eWarehouse Management and Fulfillment under its “e by Epicor” suite … NowDocs.com, Aliso Viejo, has expanded its same-day delivery service to Hong Kong … SiteLite Inc., a Rancho Santa Margarita company that monitors and fixes customers’ Web sites, opened offices this month in Austin, New York, Boston, Seattle and San Francisco … Online industry group WebEvents is seeking nominations for its first-ever eWards program Oct. 12, designed to recognize well-done Web sites. Deadline for entries is Sept. 15. For more: www.webevents.org.
Ken Spencer Brown can be reached at kbrown@ocbj.com or 949-833-8373, Ext. 239.
