Computer Industry Orange County

So many laptops, so little compatibility. There are so many "mobile computing units"--largely in the hands of business execs and salespeople who travel the globe--that several major airlines are adding on-board power ports so laptop users can plug in during flights and save their batteries. But laptop computer makers use a wide variety of connectors for their external power plugs and even airline power ports use two different types of plugs.

In a scrap yard built on the site of an old racquetball club here, the computers come to die. Truckloads of aged PCs, printers and mainframe equipment pile up in the parking lot of Silicon Salvage Inc., waiting to be torn apart by crews wielding electric screwdrivers and power saws. Disk drives as big as toasters, cooling fans in black cases, green plastic circuit boards, all are piled up for resale or to be melted down for their gold and silver plating.

Broadcom Corp., an Irvine developer of networking modem chips, has struck a deal with a Milpitas chip maker to license technology that enables high-speed voice transmission over the Internet. LSI Logic Corp. announced the agreement with Broadcom on Monday, but did not disclose the financial terms. The agreement makes Broadcom the most significant customer for LSI's so-called ZSP technology, a blueprint for changing light, heat and other signals into digital computer language, LSI said.

Irvine-based Western Digital Corp. has named Matthew Massengill and Russell Stern as co-chief operating officers, the company said Thursday. The responsibilities of the two executives have not been altered, but the change in titles signals that the two are the leading internal candidates to take over the computer hard drive manufacturer when Charles Haggerty steps down next year.

With lower prices eating away at its profit margins, Irvine-based Western Digital Corp. said Thursday that its fourth-quarter losses would be nearly double analysts' expectations. In suffering what will be its seventh consecutive quarterly loss, the beleaguered computer hard drive maker echoed projections by two competitors earlier this month that they would not meet Wall Street estimates. Western Digital said it would lose between $81.5 million and $88.

These are promising times for Platinum Software Corp. The Irvine company is riding high on its corporate growth, reporting that it surged 66% and 54% in its last two quarters. Earnings for the three-month periods, minus one-time charges tied to a recent acquisition, also were up. But more important, say company executives, is that Platinum's product lineup has the future looking so rosy.

Procom Technology Inc., a Santa Ana maker of network storage devices, said it has acquired two European distributors, Gigatek Srl in Italy and Pera AG in Switzerland. Financial terms were not disclosed. The companies have been selling Procom products more than nine years, Procom said.

I/OMagic Corp.'s shares on Monday climbed 36%, or 63 cents, to $2.38 as the Irvine company said Circuit City Group, the No. 2 consumer-electronics chain, will begin selling such I/OMagic products as modems, CD-ROM drives and other personal-computer peripherals. The stock is traded over the counter.

Irvine-based Javelin Systems Inc. said Tuesday that it has been selected as one of five suppliers of touch-screen point-of-sale computers to McDonald's Corp. The Oakbrook, Ill.-based fast-food chain is replacing the cash registers in its 13,000 U.S. restaurants over the next year and a half as part of its "Made for You" preparation system announced last year.

Anaheim-based data storage provider Transitional Technology Inc. has been bought out by a Marina del Rey firm that will move its headquarters to Anaheim. American International, which supplies tape storage products for IBM Corp.'s AS/400 business computers, said Monday that it bought TTI for an undisclosed price. The combined companies, which are both privately held, will have about 70 employees and annual revenues of about $40 million.