Fore's 1999 results to be improved by Berkeley Networks..............................
scmp.com
Tuesday September 1 1998
Purchase by Fore to widen its lines
BLOOMBERG in Pittsburgh
Fore Systems has agreed to buy closely held Berkeley Networks for US$250 million in stock and cash, acquiring equipment that speeds data on computer networks run by Microsoft's Windows NT software.
Fore is the seventh-largest maker of networking equipment.
Its equipment is used by large businesses and phone companies to combine voice and data communications on a single computer network.
It earned almost two-thirds of its quarterly revenue from products using asynchronous transfer mode, or ATM, technology.
Adding Berkeley's technology, which routes data on networks 10 times faster than existing switches, will broaden the company's product line.
"This makes Fore more than just an ATM player," said Craig Johnson, an analyst with the market research firm Pita Group in Portland, Oregon.
For the quarter to June 30, Fore's net income rose to $14.4 million, or 14 cents a diluted share, from $4.98 million, or five cents, in the year-earlier period.
Chief executive Thomas Gill told analysts that the Berkeley purchase would add $50 million to $80 million in revenue and at least five cents a share to the company's 1999 results.
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