Small US computer companies are falling like flies just now, and the latest to file for protection from its creditors under Chapter XI of the US Federal Bankruptcy Code is San Jose-based Plexus Computers Inc, whose backers pulled the plug two weeks ago, leaving it with no alternative but to fire 75% of its 200 strong workforce (CI No 1,136). The backers had put $40m into the firm but baulked at putting up the additional $10m needed to keep it afloat. The company’s software products and image storage and retrieval technology are expected to be of interest to several players in the overcrowded image market, and Hewlett Packard Co – with which Plexus was on the point of forming a strategic alliance when the boom fell, AT&T Co, NCR Corp and Filenet Corp have been named as possible buyers. The firm owes $5m to customers, investors and component suppliers, there’s a $1.5m promissory note outstanding to the Silicon Valley National Bank, and laid-off employees have not had their redundancy pay.
