Burlington, Massachusetts-based Xylogics Inc says that its planned acquisition of Watford, UK-based manufacturer of Integrated Services Digital Network routing systems Scorpion Logic Ltd for $9m in cash and shares, which specialises in network access systems, is complementary to its core business. Particularly since recent months have seen an increase in the uptake of ISDN services in the US. Xylogics says it has been looking for an acquisition in the ISDN field for some time and that the company was attracted to Scorpion rather than Sonix Communications Ltd because it wanted a technical company. It said Sonix is much more of a sales and marketing organisation, although the fact that Sonix was a far bigger operation and is going to 3Com Corp for $70m may have had something to do with it. The decision to buy in ISDN expertise, rather than developing it in-house, was made to give us a jump on the market, as it would result in a faster time to market, it says. With regard to Scorpion’s relationship with Sonix, under which it developed key technology for the latter’s Arpeggio ISDN bridge, Scorpion says that all business with Sonix was terminated about a year ago, save for the Arpeggio licences, so no complications will arise. The ISDN bridge will continue, it says. Scorpion currently has two products. The NX-1 is an integrated ISDN bridge-router and the Corporate LAN Access Module, or CLAM, is an external unit designed to act as a remote site router that can also bridge traffic.
