dk1z+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU (David Kovar) (07/09/87)
EXCELAN GOBBLES UP KINETICS Move will increase Mac connectivity. By Paula Musich Senior Editor San Jose, Calif - Local network vendor Excelan, Inc. agreed to acquire Kinetics, Inc last week in a stock swap valued at between $7 million and $8 million. The merger is expected to combine Excelan's experience with Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol-based heterogeneous networking products with Kinetics' products for networking Apple Computer, Inc. processors. Both vendors offer Ethernet networking products. Excelan provides TCP/IP networking software on top of Ethernet for Unix-based machines. Digital Equipment Corp.'s VAX and PDP processors as well as IBM Personal Computers and compatibles. Kinetics provides Ethernet and Appletalk networking products for Apple's Macintosh family. "Our charter in the world has been to bring networking to dissimilar computers." said Excelan's Jim Tolonen, vice-president of finance. "This is a natural fit for us to add one more family of computers into a common interoperating net." Kinetics' marketing manager Steve Nelson also sees a complementary fit for the two companies' product lines. "We've primarily done networking for the Macintosh; they have the networking for other environments," he said. "Bringing the two together really completes the picture." Besides making it possible for processors currently supported by the companies to share the same network media, Kinetics and Excelan plan to provide data-sharing capabilities. "This will allow people who use TCP/IP and Ethernet to use the same physical media to interconnect their Apple computers, to use their existing computers as file servers for Macintoshes, to transfer data between the machines and ultimately to incorporate the TCP/IP protocols on the Mac side, as well as to incorporate the Appletalk protocols on the dissimilar computers," Tolonen said. Analysts praised the acquisition but questioned the demand for integration of Apple's Macintosh into larger systems' environments. "TCP/IP is clearly the way to integrate multivendor equipment right now, and bringing the Macintosh in is yet another sound move for Excelan to strengthen its base," said Doug Gold, senior analyst at International Data Corp. "I don't hear that much about demand for Mac connectivity, but it is a perceived demand for the future." Excelan acquired Kinetics for 450,000 shares of its stock. Excelan, founded in 1982, employs about 250 people; and Kinetics, formed in 1985, has 32 employees. The acquisition is expected to be consummated in 60 days. Excelan also announced a new line of high-performance Ethernet adapters. The 300 Series adapters use Intel Corp.'s 80286 microprocessor and support Excelan's TCP/IP networking software. The adapters are intended for Intel Multibus-based computers, Morotola, Inc. VMEbus-based processors, DEC Unibus and IBM Personal Computer-bus-based computers. Reprinted without permission from Network World, July 6, 1987.