Orange-based Marshal8e6 Inc., a maker of Web filtering servers and software for small businesses and schools, recently bought a small company that makes software to filter out viruses and other harmful software in e-mails.
Marshal8e6 acquired Orem, Utah-based Avinti Inc. for undisclosed terms.
Avinti’s filters go beyond typical tools used for identifying viruses.
Top security software companies such as MacAfee Inc. and Symantec Corp. use what’s called a “signature”,a set of identifying codes that changes with each threat on an almost constant rotation.
Avinti’s technology is designed to handle new threats that do not yet have signatures to categorize.
“Anything that gets past the normal security software, (the technology) will take a look at all the Web links and attached code and determine if it is malicious,” said Paul Myer, vice president of corporate development for Marshal8e6. “It will filter it out if there’s a problem and if not, let it go through.”
Avinti, which has five workers, got started in 2000.
It’s raised some $12 million in venture funding to date. One of its investors is Symantec.
Marshal8e6 was formed when Orange’s 8e6 Technologies Inc. and Britain’s Marshal Ltd. combined last year.
Its global headquarters stayed here and its international operations are headed from Marshal’s offices near London. The combined Marshal8e6 is set to see about $50 million in annual sales and is eyeing profitability at the end of this year.
The bulk of its customers are large school districts and other federal agencies.
8e6 Technologies was founded in 1995 as Log-on-Data Corp. by George Shih and Michael Bradshaw.
Shih stayed on as acting chief executive of Marshal8e6 until last week, when he was replaced by Chief Executive John Vigouroux.
Epicor’s Finance Chief
Irvine’s Epicor Software Corp., a maker of business software for retailers and manufacturers, promoted one of its own as finance chief.
Epicor appointed Michael Pietrini as chief financial officer and executive vice president of finance and administration.
Pietrini, 39, is an Epicor veteran with some 14 years at the company in various posts.
He most recently was vice president of sales and operations for the Americas.
The company promoted Jim Bork to fill Pietrini’s sales post.
Epicor had been looking to fill the chief financial officer spot for nearly a year.
Michael Piraino stepped down in May and went on to start investment company M2 Technology Partners LLC in Laguna Hills with Epicor’s former president and chief operating officer Mark Duffell last year.
The company had installed Russell Clark as the interim finance head.
Clark is set to continue on as Epicor’s principal accounting officer and will report to Pietrini.
The moves follow a big executive shake up at the start of the year that brought back Chief Executive George Klaus, who ran Epicor for more than a dozen years.
Lantronix Sales Team
Irvine-based Lantronix Inc. hired Jeff Kost, a storage industry veteran, as senior vice president of sales. Kost will head its revamped sales team.
Before Lantronix, he worked for more than a decade in various sales positions at Milpitas-based SanDisk Corp.
Most recently, Kost was general manager of SanDisk’s mobile consumer solutions division. In his general manager role, Kost also spearheaded the sale of mobile products in stores, as well as product marketing and management.
Lantronix is in the midst of a big turnaround headed by Chief Executive Jerry Chase.
The company, which makes small electronic devices that allow vending machines, thermostats, retail terminals, ATMs and other machines to be accessed via the Internet or other computer networks, had a recent market value of about $30 million.
Targus’ Netbook Kits
Anaheim’s Targus Inc. recently rolled out a kit full of accessories designed for netbooks,small, portable computers that are inexpensive cousins to higher-performance laptops.
Targus’s netbook accessory kit includes a slim case, a mini-mouse and a portable hub that adds additional universal serial bus ports.
Netbooks are a fast-growing subset of the laptop market.
FBR Capital Markets & Co. analyst Craig Berger said he expects some 35 million to 50 million netbooks to be sold in 2009, up from 10 million to 15 million in 2008.
The market’s so new that consumer electronics analysts haven’t even agreed on what exactly qualifies as a netbook.
According to El Segundo-based market tracker iSuppli Corp., a netbook goes for less than $600, has a screen size from seven inches to 10 inches, local storage (such as a disk drive), wireless networking capabilities, a full “qwerty” layout keyboard and runs a functional operating system.
Targus is the world’s biggest maker of laptop cases and accessories, with some 60% of the market.
The netbook accessories kit can be purchased in stores for about $40.
