Xircom Acquires Entrega and the Rex PDA Line

Consolidates USB market, plans to add corporate functionality to Rex

Joseph F. Kovar

Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Xircom Inc. went on a buying spree Monday, purchasing a competitor in the USB field and acquiring a mobile-computing device.

Xircom, based here, entered a definitive agreement to acquire Entrega Technologies Inc., Lake Forest, Calif. Xircom will exchange 323,905 shares of its common stock for Entrega's outstanding shares, options and debt, making the deal worth about $23.1 million.

Both companies supply USB solutions, but there is little overlap between their product lines, said Bob Vincent, Xircom's vice president of American sales and marketing.

Xircom's main USB product is PortStation, a modular solution consisting of legacy connectivity interfaces such as networking, modem and parallel port, all of which can be connected to a mobile PC's USB port to replace proprietary docking stations, said Vincent. PortStation is aimed at corporate users and is sold through resellers, he said.

The PortGear line from Entrega, on the other hand, consists mainly of USB hubs, port converters and cables for PCs and iMacs and are mainly targeted at consumer applications, Vincent said.

"Xircom's strength is selling to the enterprise, so we focus on resellers who cater to large businesses," said Vincent. "With Entrega, we will look at resellers more focused on the small business and Mac community."

Xircom also paid $13.25 million to acquire selected assets related to the Rex product line from Franklin Electronic Publishers Inc., including intellectual property, inventory and fixed assets.

The Rex Pro 5 and Rex-3 are organizers with LCD screens built onto a PC Card. They can be used as stand-alone pocket organizers, and data can be synchronized with data in a mobile PC by plugging them into a PCMCIA Type-II slot.

The Rex line is primarily aimed at the retail market for now, said Vincent. "Xircom's plan is to add corporate functionality and take them to the reseller community," he said.

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