Laird said he was unable to provide details on the negotiations, other than to say CSwitch is talking to multiple companies and that there is "quite a bit" of interest.
It will be interesting to see what happens. Though the established programmable logic vendors have been active over the years in acquiring design tool firms and other supporting technologies, there has not (at least in recent times) been a strong tradition of acquiring other silicon vendors in this space. Were CSwitch to be acquired by a Xilinx Inc. or Altera Corp., how would the technology be incorporated into the buyer's product lineup?
Another intriguing idea is CSwitch being acquired by one of the other active programmable logic startups. Perhaps one of these firms believes it can gain some economies of scale through this type of acquisition, but it would seem that the same questions about incorporating the technology would exist.
CSwitch's CS90 Configurable Switch Array, which started shipping last year, generated significant interest when it was unveiled because of its claimed flexibility and performance advantages.
Guess we will have to keep an eye on this one...
July 02, 2009
Video: Inside CSwitch headquarters
By
Dylan
McGrath
Tired of being stonewalled by executives at programmable logic startup CSwitch Corp., fearless colleague Mark LaPedus and I stopped by the firm's Santa Clara, Calif., headquarters Wednesday (July 1) on a quest for answers. Unfortunately, we didn't get many.
The office was not shut down, as had been rumored. But there appeared to be few people inside, and nobody there was willing to speak to us about the status of the company. We were referred to President and CEO Doug Laird, who, we were told, was out on vacation.
We spoke briefly with the firm's office manager. When we asked to speak with an executive about the firm's status, we were told that everyone was currently in a meeting. We said we would wait. Later, the office manager said she had spoken with Laird and that he was eager to speak with us. She suggested that we email him.
We never ventured beyond the lobby. But through a glass door we saw two other employees pass by. One of them, I believe, was Godfrey Paul D'Souza, a CSwitch co-founder and the company's vice president of engineering.
At one point during our visit, someone else noticed us through the glass doors and asked if we needed help.
When we identified ourselves and asked if the company was out of business, the man said he couldn't comment. When we said we were waiting to speak with someone he said he didn't think anyone was going to be willing to talk to us about that. Then he closed the glass door.
While we were waiting in the lobby, we shot this Eyewitness News-style video.
We finally gave up. But at the polite suggestion of the office manager, I emailed Laird and requested once again a brief interview. Nearly 24 hours later, Laird has not responded. He also failed to respond to a voicemail left for him Tuesday.
Meanwhile, emails from sources saying that CSwitch has shut down keep coming in (see my previous post). One reader said he learned Wednesday that CSwitch had cancelled its bottled water delivery service.
High-tech startups are frequently the subject of rumors. You've got to take them with a grain of salt, particularly when the rumor is that a company has thrown in the towel. But in this case, where there is smoke their appears to be fire. We've heard from several credible sources that CSwitch has ceased operations and that its employees are looking for work.
My take is that the information from credible sources, combined with the failure of executives to respond to inquiries and the skittish behavior of employees at the company's headquarters, leads to an inevitable conclusion.
Not only that, but even my post yesterday suggesting that the company may be kaput has failed to draw any response. That's telling, given that misspelling an executive's name in a piece is typically enough to prompt quick, angry reaction.
In defense of Laird and the other CSwitchers, I am sure their hands are tied. This is obviously a very difficult situation for them, and they've likely been instructed to say nothing. Investors are probably strategizing on how to sell the firm's assets, including intellectual property.
How about you? If anyone out there has heard anything about what is going on at CSwitch, please don't be shy. Share with the group via the forum below.
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July 01, 2009
Is CSwitch dead?
By
Dylan
McGrath
FPGA startup CSwitch Corp. appears to have closed its doors, according to several industry sources, including one of the third-party sales representative firms listed on the company's website.
Programmable Logic DesignLine has been unable to confirm the status of the company. Messages left Tuesday (June 30) for CSwitch President and CEO Doug Laird as well as other company executives have not been returned. Some of the other sales representatives listed on CSwitch's website said that they believed the company was still in business, though at least one said it stopped representing CSwitch last month.
Rumors of CSwitch's demise have been circulating for months. But Laird has consistently denied them, saying in a June 12 voicemail that the company had no plans to shut down and that the speculation was "pure rumor."
But multiple sources say that the company has since closed its doors. The sources asked not to be identified.
In April, Laird acknowledged that the company let go an unspecified number of workers in the fourth quarter of last year. But Laird said at that time that the company—like many others in electronics—was still hoping to ride out the economic downturn.
CSwitch made a big splash in 2006 when it emerged to unveil a novel configurable array architecture that promised to deliver levels of flexibility not previously available in programmable products and narrow the gap between FPGAs and structured or platform ASICs. CSwitch's CS90 Configurable Switch Array started shipping last year, according to Laird.
CSwitch is one of several promising programmable logic startups to emerge in recent times. These companies are generally well-funded and claim compelling technology breakthroughs. But they also face big challenges in trying to compete in a market that is dominated by two large players (Xilinx and Altera) and has two other well-entrenched competitors (Actel and Lattice). The downturn has exacerbated these challenges, many say, because OEMs are vetting suppliers carefully, wary of getting involved with companies that may not hang around.
Two programmable logic vendors, Ambric Inc. and MathStar Inc., ceased operations last year as financial resources ran dry.
CSwitch is venture-backed, having secured almost $60 million in funding from a group that includes Micron Technology Inc. and several venture capital firms. Speculation within the industry is that company executives don't want to acknowledge that CSwitch has closed down because they are trying to sell its assets, including intellectual property.
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June 17, 2009
The ongoing MathStar saga
By
Dylan
McGrath
For a company that effectively shut its doors more than a year ago, MathStar Inc. still generates a lot of headlines.
Last week, MathStar's board of directors recommended that shareholders reject a tender offer from private equity firm Tiberius Capital II LLC. That firm earlier this month offered to acquire 51 percent of the outstanding shares of MathStar for $1.15 per share (about $5.8 million in total).
MathStar's board is recommending that shareholders reject the offer because, among other reasons, the $1.15 per share offer is less than the estimated $1.40 per share liquidation value of MathStar, according to the company.
Also last week, Portland Business Journal reported that MathStar is considering a merger with a privately-held company that could use MathStar's cash reserves for expansion. The publication also reported that MathStar is considering a move to restart operations and could acquire a new video technology similar to one previously created by MathStar. Portland Business Journal cited a regulatory filing made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
MathStar, which has also received several buyout offers from Minnesota software maker PureChoice Inc., is scheduled to vote on a shareholder proposal to liquidate the company on June 29.
If all this sounds like a lot of possible courses of action for a company that discontinued its field programmable object array chip development and its board-level systems development businesses in May 2008, well, it is.
So what will ultimately happen to MathStar? Seems an open question at this point. Of course it would be very interesting to see the company restart operations. We'll have to stay tuned.
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