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Technology Stocks : Rambus (RMBS) - Eagle or Penguin -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dutch who wrote (24405)	7/9/1999 12:39:00 PM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

this is interesting because sitera is to scheduled to show rambus based products at the networld and interop 99 conference in sept. anyone have info on this? unclewest By Loring Wirbel EE Times (07/09/99, 11:10 a.m. EDT) HILLSBORO, Ore. — Intel Corp.'s all-cash offer to acquire Softcom Microsystems Inc. (Fremont, Calif.) is only a fraction of the size of the company's spring purchase of Level One Communications Inc., but the move puts muscle behind Intel's announced intention to enter the network processor market. Softcom's reliance on a dedicated 64-bit proprietary processor at the heart of its GigaBlade architecture gives Intel an instant alternative to X86/Pentium, i960, and StrongARM cores to use in communication tasks such as packet header parsing and serial-line aggregation. The move beefs up the interest in network processors across the board. C-Port Corp. and SiTera Inc., specialists in packet processing, recently closed new rounds of financing, and new investors reportedly were approaching the companies after Intel's announcement of the Softcom acquisition Wednesday (July 7). On the serial-access processing side, T.Sqware Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) has forged tighter links with Nortel Networks Inc.'s microelectronics group, to insure that its TS704 processor is interoperable with Nortel's Lunar family of framers. Intel (Santa Clara, Calif.) is providing no information on the financial terms of the transaction, though one venture capitalist familiar with the market observed off the record that "a few quarters ago, the position of a startup with less than 50 employees might have been ranked in the tens of millions of dollars. But with the mania for network processors, it wouldn't be surprising to see the deal in the $100 million range." Intel has pledged to continue support for the current Softcom processor as well as a planned 128-bit follow-on chip, though a spokeswoman stressed that "this acquisition is complementary to the company's own plans to develop network processors." Softcom was founded by former MicroUnity Design and LSI Logic executive Tony Stelliga, with a development team that included designers from LSI Logic's ATMizer group, the MicroUnity communication processor group, and Fore Systems Inc. The company's SoftcomEngine utilized a randomized state machine design instead of datapath architectures, and was unique in defining a 64-byte generic header-analysis logic block which could be used for Internet Protocol, asynchronous transfer mode or proprietary packet environments. Intel plans to run Softcom as a subsidiary. Stelliga will remain with Intel as general manager of the Softcom operations, reporting to vice president of group network communications Mark Christensen. The deal is expected to pass both boards within a matter of weeks. Meanwhile, both C-Port and SiTera have closed new rounds of financing, reflecting the growing interest in network processors. C-Port (North Andover, Mass.) has garnered $19 million in its latest round, bringing total funding to $28 million. SiTera (Longmont, Colo.) scored $14 million in its second round of venture funding, augmenting $10 million the company raised one year ago.