PC card maker Xircom Inc has stepped in to rescue the Rex personal organizer business put up for sale back in July by Franklin Electronic Publishers Inc (CI No 3,695). Xircom is to buy the product line for $13.25m. Within two to three months, it plans to release a new version of the product for the enterprise market, by adding new applications, including security capabilities from RSA Security Inc, as well as web clipping and wireless connectivity.
Franklin – which sold the product under its Rolodex brand name – warned it would need to look for buyers or partners for the Rex and Rocket eBook businesses after posting a fiscal fourth quarter loss of $21.4m, and warning of a substantial first quarter loss to come. It said the loss related to inventory write-offs due to pricing reductions on the Rex product line, along with high advertising expenses and a decline in sales. Rex, a credit-card sized PC companion organizer, was launched in 1997, and used TrueSync synchronization software developed by Philippe Kahn’s Starfish Software Inc, now a part of Motorola Inc.
Also yesterday, Thousand Oaks, California-based Xircom said it would acquire Entrega Technologies Inc, a Lake Forest, California-based start- up focusing exclusively on USB Universal Serial Bus port expansion technologies (CI No 3.417). Xircom will pay $13.6m for two year-old Entrega, and takes on $9.5m in debt, resulting in a total value of $23.1m. It will market Entrega’s products as Xircom PortGear. They include USB hubs, port converters and cables for PC and Mac platforms. Xircom expects to write-off between $3m and $4m for in-process research and development in relation to the Rex buy.
