Startup Ditrans Nearing $15 Million in New Funding
FileNET Workers Getting Holidays Off; Newport Corp. Finishes New Production Lab
TECHNOLOGY
by Andrew Simons
Irvine-based Ditrans Corp. says it’s set to close on $15 million in funding in the next few weeks,less than the $20 million the company had been seeking, according to a Ditrans official.
Some of the money is set to come from Menlo Park’s U.S. Venture Partners, Kansas City Equity Partners and San Jose-based Cadence Design Systems Inc., which all took part in Ditrans’ November funding. Ditrans, which designs chips and contracts out for their production, develops digital transceivers and receivers for wireless phones.
The company’s products are capable of handling multiple frequencies and take up a small amount of space in a phone, according to Chief Executive Mark Chapman.
Ditrans originally sought $20 million to see the company through to profitability with about $5 million to spare. If the company closes $15 million in the current round,the company’s third,it will have $25 million in total funding. Ditrans has no plans for a public offering right now, according to Chapman.
OC technology entrepreneur and investor William Drobish started the company in 1998. Drobish also helped start Silicon Systems Inc., now part of Texas Instruments Inc. Drobish stepped aside at Ditrans last fall and brought in Chapman, a veteran of Irvine-based Comarco Inc.
Mandatory FileNET Vacations
Costa Mesa-based FileNET Corp. again is telling workers to take vacations for the holiday season to save money. The first week of mandatory vacation is Thanksgiving week. The second is the week of Christmas, a company spokesman said.
Last year, FileNET decided to close all of its offices for the week of New Year’s Day, according to a company spokeswoman. FileNET also shut down operations during Thanksgiving 2001. The mandatory vacations are designed to cut costs and avoid layoffs.
Last year, company officials said they planned to explore all ways of saving money. The company tried to cut bonuses for one quarter but backtracked after workers complained.
But FileNET, like other technology companies, is in a much better spot than it was a year ago. For the June quarter, the maker of document-imaging and data management software reported a profit of $1.7 million, vs. a loss of $10.7 million a year ago. Revenue in the quarter rose to $88.2 million, up from $82.8 million a year earlier.
In the quarter, the company said it closed nine deals worth more than $1 million and 13 deals worth $500,000 or more.
Newport Finishes Plant
Irvine-based Newport Corp. has completing building a 39,000-square-foot optics production facility for its precision optics division.
The plant, next to Newport’s headquarters on Deere Avenue, includes testing laboratories, clean rooms, a machine shop as well as shipping and receiving. The company remodeled a 31-year-old building to create its new production facility. The project was designed by Irvine architect Ware Malcomb and done by Howard Building Corp.
Last year, Newport underwent layoffs and folded operations from San Luis Obispo, Garden Grove and Longmont, Colo., into its expanded campus in Irvine.
Newport, which makes gear used to produce fiber optic networking components and chips, reported $44 million in sales for the second quarter, flat from a year ago after factoring in Newport’s sale of its metrology business earlier this year. The company said sales to semiconductor equipment companies were solid while fiber optic communications remained weak.
MSC Renews With Fiat
MSC.Software Corp. a Santa Ana maker of simulation software, said it signed a new pact with Italy’s Fiat SPA for use of all MSC’s products used during design and testing.
Fiat currently uses more than 200 MSC software licenses. Fiat companies also are working with MSC on automotive research and development projects. Fiat makes and sells cars under its own name as well as under Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati.
Powerwave Forms Pact
Santa Ana-based wireless gear maker Powerwave Technologies Inc. has struck a pact with Britain’s Filtronic PLC to develop integrated amplifier and conditioning unit products for third generation wireless networks known as 3G.
The companies plan to work together on design with the goal of providing devices for use in 3G base stations. The two also have agreed to look at including Filtronic’s gallium arsenide power amplifier gain module into jointly designed products, as well as in future Powerwave offerings.
Bits:
Santa Ana-based RosettaNet, a trade group that promotes standards for electronic supply chains, has merged with The Uniform Code Council Inc., Lawrenceville, N.J.-based group that works to unify product identification and electronic communications Conexant Systems Inc., Newport Beach, landed its CX82100 network processor into a new broadband firewall router from Linksys Group Inc., Irvine.
