Michelle Lee, a senior economic adviser to President Barack Obama and the country’s top patent official, in a recent interview with the Business Journal highlighted the importance of new technologies related to cybersecurity, a growing area of specialization in Orange County.
“We are getting a lot of applications in the area of cybersecurity, and I think that’s probably a good thing,” said Lee, under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. “There is a lot of VC money going to cybersecurity, and these are big, important problems and issues that we will need technological solutions for.”
Irvine-based software security provider Cylance Inc. in June raised $100 million in a Series D round led by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities.
Its software fuses machine learning, artificial intelligence algorithms, and the cloud to thwart new and evolving threats and cyber attacks before they hit servers, desktops and virtual desktops.
The financing round, among the highest in OC’s tech history, matches a benchmark first reached last July by Irvine-based security software maker CrowdStrike Inc. in a Series C round led by Google Capital. Cybersecurity is one of the hottest sectors in technology as high-profile breaches and attacks continue to plague corporations and governments around the world.
A number of emerging and established players in the industry are based here, particularly in Irvine, home to SecureAuth Corp., Susteen Inc. and US Mobile.
The Business Journal in May reported that the Department of Homeland Security has taken part in early discussions to help the University of California-Irvine establish a cybersecurity research institute that will become the first of its kind in the state.
The number of granted patents in information security from 2011 to 2015 hit 615, roughly half the number granted in the segment since 1995, according to documents obtained from the Patent and Trademark Office.
QLogic Sale Closer
QLogic Corp.’s $1 billion sale to Silicon Valley chipmaker Cavium Inc. has passed a key U.S. regulatory hurdle.
The deal passed the mandated waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, clearing U.S. antitrust law concerns.
The cash-and-stock transaction was unanimously approved by both boards and could close this month.
Aliso Viejo-based QLogic makes switches, adapter cards and other electronics used to speed up the flow of data.
The strategic buy complements Cavium’s extensive portfolio of networking, computing and security applications geared for the enterprise, cloud, data center, storage, telecom and networking markets.
QLogic, which was founded in 1994 and had long competed against Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp., is among the latest in a series of sales in the local tech sector highlighting the ongoing consolidation in the global industry.
Emulex was acquired last year for $600 million by Avago Technologies Ltd.
Avago, which is based in Singapore and has its U.S. headquarters in San Jose, acquired Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. for $37 billion in February and renamed the combined company Broadcom Ltd.
Patent Fight
Speaking of Broadcom, the chipmaker and Apple Inc. have filed a joint counter claim against the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, denying patent infringement related to a lawsuit the university filed in May.
The tech giants, according to court documents, contend the statute of limitations regarding the wireless standard, known as 802.11n, has expired under U.S. law and that CalTech doesn’t make, use or sell products that implement the wireless connectivity technology.
CalTech’s lawsuit, filed at the U.S. District Court for Central California, specifically takes aim at the alleged misuse of Wi-Fi technology and encoding and decoding of chips to improve data performance and transmission.
