Boeing Seeks Other Uses for Fiber; Unigraphics Shareholders Balk
Plenty of Orange County technology companies sell their wares outside the U.S. But Irvine’s STM Wireless Inc. did 84% of its $6.2 million in first quarter sales abroad.
The maker of wireless network components continues to make inroads into the European communications market, this time with a $2 million parts order from European Internet service provider e-Qual. Considering STM’s $17 million in revenue last year, the order is nothing to sneeze at. The deal also helps STM broaden its global business, which is heavily weighted toward Latin America at about 45% of sales.
“The e-Qual order creates a strong foundation for us to grow our European revenue based on initiatives started over a year ago,” said STM Chief Executive Emil Youssefzadeh, who owns about 20% of the company.
STM builds wireless networks that send and receive voice and data using satellites, small, land-based stations and other networking equipment. Customers can receive both Internet and phone service via STM’s networks. The company touts its system as a lower cost alternative to other telecommunications firms and targets emerging international telecommunications providers.
In some ways, the orders aren’t much of a surprise. STM has made a concerted effort to land European business,an effort that started over a year ago. The sale to e-Qual comes after other sales wins in Europe, including Belgacom, a major European operator, as well as an alliance with France’s Alcatel, which was announced earlier this year. The company has also announced deals recently in Latin America and Asia.
For markets without a strong network of land-based telephone lines, beaming signals between base stations via satellites and then sending them on to phone users often is the most efficient way to communicate.
Boeing Testing Optics
Always quietly doing some of the coolest research in OC, Boeing Co.’s Huntington Beach facility is at it again, this time using a fiber-optic system the company developed to find leaks in hydrogen fueled vehicles and rockets.
“While the new system is designed to greatly improve the ability to detect explosive hydrogen vapors on space launch vehicles, it can also bring benefits to other industries including the automotive sector where car makers are developing clean-burning, hydrogen-fuel automobiles,” said Boeing researcher Alex Kazemi.
Boeing scientists say the new system would be effective during a rocket launch in which a hydrogen leak occurs. If there is a leak, the launch can be stopped immediately with the leak quickly located.
UGS, EDS Flap
Electronic Data Systems Corp. announced plans to buy the publicly traded 14% it doesn’t own of subsidiary Unigraphics Solutions Inc., Cypress, and merge it with pending-acquisition Structural Dynamics Research Corp. Then investors decided to sue.
Unigraphics, a maker of engineering software, is the bigger of the two companies, boasting 3,400 employees worldwide and $526 million in sales for 2000. Structural Dynamics counts more than 2,500 employees and 2000 sales of $452 million. The two companies together stand to generate more than $1 billion in sales annually.
But a group of EDS investors decided to sue Unigraphics, claiming that the company’s directors,legally required to find the best price for the company,undervalued the business in the sale.
EMachines Delisted
Less than two years after eMachines Inc., Irvine, was named the fastest-growing personal computer company in the industry, Nasdaq officials informed the company that it would be delisted from the exchange. The company’s shares now will be traded over the counter because the company’s share price didn’t stay above the $1 minimum price.
Procom Placing Shares
Irvine data storage products company Procom Technology Inc. plans to sell 3.8 million shares of its common stock at $9 per share. The shares are set to be offered in a private placement, coordinated by Merrill Lynch & Co. The company hopes to generate $34.2 million in the offering.
Procom was set to sell 2.4 million shares last week and the rest this week. The company will use $5 million of the proceeds generated to pay the principal of a convertible debenture that a holder elected to convert. A convertible debenture is a bond that can be converted in to common stock. Because Procom is repaying the debenture holder in cash, this portion of the debenture will not be converted into shares of the company’s stock.
Additionally, Procom plans to use $10 million of the offering’s proceeds to repay future obligations under the debenture, if needed. The rest is set to go toward working capital and other corporate purposes.
