Fulcrum Microsystems Expands With Move to Calabasas

Fulcrum Microsystems Expands With Move to Calabasas Media & Technology by Carlos Martinez After outgrowing its last location, three-month-old startup Fulcrum Microsystems is finally settling into a new home in Calabasas. The company, which received $16 million in startup funding in October from New Enterprise Associates, Worldview Technology Partners and Infinity Capital, moved to a 17,000-square-foot facility from a 12,000-square-foot building in Pasadena last month. “We felt the Valley was really the place where we should be,” said Fulcrum Vice President Mike Zeiler, citing the high concentration of tech firms and the area’s large pool of technical talent. Fulcrum was established in January 2000 by Andrew Lines and Uri Cummings who taught at Caltech. The two sought to develop a new kind of semiconductor based on component speed rather than an internal clock as many in use today, Zeiler said. “Every time a clock ticked, it sent out a signal, so when a component ran at a different speed, the semiconductor still operated on the clock instead of the speed of the component,” Zeiler said. Last year’s venture capital funding compelled the company to look for larger quarters to continue its work. “But we still have deep ties with Caltech and so we hope to continue to draw talent from there just as we have in the past,” Zeiler said. Fulcrum is scheduled to bring its first product to market by the end of 2002. No Satellite Downturn Officials at Camarillo-based California Amplifier Inc. insist they’re not worried about the merger of EchoStar Communications Corp. and DirecTV, their two biggest clients in the satellite component business. “So far we haven’t been impacted, but even after it’s completed, we don’t see a negative impact for us,” said Greg Dare, manager of marketing and communications for the company, which makes components for satellite reception and wireless devices. “We’ve received some positive responses from both companies and we don’t see a change in the immediate future.” The merger would leave just one company to handle satellite-based TV services. About 70 percent of Cal Amp’s sales come from its satellite business, the remainder from its wireless components unit. In 2001, the company reported $5.2 million in net income on $125 million in total sales, compared to a $1.4 million loss on $85.6 million in sales the year before. NBC Defends Programming NBC West Coast President Scott Sassa said the network is unfairly being criticized for its recent decisions to accept liquor ads and to conduct a special stunt using Playboy Playmates for its reality program “Fear Factor” opposite the Super Bowl halftime show broadcast by the Fox Broadcasting Co. last month. Sassa said the network was merely counterprogramming against Fox. “The fact is, we’re just having fun and the beauty of America is that you don’t have to watch it,” he said. Sassa said the network’s decision to carry hard liquor ads was consistent with its goal of presenting advertising that does not offend. He said the ads are strictly regulated and are similar to those independent stations have been carrying for the past six years. At this point, neither ABC, CBS, Fox, WB nor UPN carry hard liquor ads. Sassa said the network was forced to abandon its decades-old ban on such commercials due to compensate for declining ad sales in 2001. In the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2001, NBC’s posted revenues of $1.05 billion was 45 percent less than the $1.89 of revenue for the same quarter of 2000. The network blamed the revenue drop on a sluggish ad market, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a $50 million loss related to the folding of the XFL, a league owned by NBC and the World Wrestling Federation. NBC is a unit of New York-based General Electric Co. Quintek Begins Medical Trials Camarillo-based Quintek Technologies Inc.’s Panamed unit has begun clinical trials of its proprietary line of therapies for treating HIV and AIDS. Chip Parrish, a spokesman for the company, said the first phase of the trials will involve 60 patients in the advanced stages of AIDS, and will take about six months. The company estimates revenue for the therapies could exceed $24 billion over 10 years, once the therapies are approved. Parrish said the company is seeking to expand into new markets and new technologies with its Panamed unit. Quintek formed Panamed in October, after the company obtained the rights to distribute its line of therapeutics for the treatment of HIV/AIDS in emerging countries. The company’s core business, however, is developing software and electronic equipment to preserve digital data. DIC Focuses on Education Despite losing its bid to takeover Fox Broadcasting Co.’s Saturday morning time slot to New York-based 4 Kids Entertainment, DIC Entertainment Inc. is not shut out from the valuable time period after signing a deal with 4 Kids. DIC spokesman Anthony Penman said the Burbank-based cartoon studio will produce a half-hour educational program that will be shown Saturday mornings on Fox. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The program, which is still being developed, will allow Fox affiliates to comply with federal regulations that require TV stations to provide a minimum of three hours of educational programming for children. DIC had been in the running to take over the 8 a.m.-to-noon slot on Saturdays on Fox when 4 Kids signed a deal worth $100 million with the network. Litton Gets Navy Contract Northridge-based Litton Guidance and Control Systems, a unit of Litton Industries Inc., has been awarded a $17.9 million contract with the Navy to upgrade communications equipment on an unspecified number of S-3B Viking aircraft. Under the agreement, the work will begin in the next two months at the company’s Northridge facility and will be completed by April 2004. SunGard Receives Award Calabasas-based SunGard Trading Systems’ Global Trader has been named the Best Risk Management Software by industry trade publication FX Week. Global Trader streamlines product order management and transaction processing for foreign exchange and fixed income. SunGard is a unit of Pennsylvania-based SunGard Data Systems Inc., which processes transactions for more than 50 banks worldwide. Staff reporter Carlos Martinez can be reached at (818) 676-1750 ext. 17 or by e-mail at [email protected]