Computer Industry Orange County

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.

Irvine-based Javelin Systems Inc. said it plans to offer 2.5 million shares of common stock at an undisclosed price in what would become its third public offering in as many years. A date for the offering was not released. Javelin, which designs and manufactures computerized point-of-sale terminals, plans to sell 2 million of the shares, and to use the proceeds to fund general operations and potential future acquisitions, according to regulatory filings.

Irvine-based eMachines Inc., which has become the No. 3 desktop computer manufacturer in less than a year by selling bargain basement personal computers, last week said it is expanding into the laptop market. Citing the exodus this year of personal computer manufacturers from the retail store market, including former stalwarts IBM Corp., NEC and Packard Bell Inc., eMachines officials said the company wanted to fill the vacuum.

An Irvine company that came out of nowhere to become one of the nation's largest personal computer makers by selling machines for less than $600 said Tuesday it planned to raise $200 million in an initial public stock offering. eMachines Inc. has sold more than 1 million PCs since it first began shipments last November, and the company now accounts for one out of every nine PCs sold in retail stores in the U.S. However, it has yet to turn a profit. eMachines lost $3.

QLogic Corp. shares rose 19% on Friday after the maker of chips that connect disk drives and accessories to computers said fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, aided by new products. QLogic rose $14.19 to $90.06, after reaching a record $96.25. The shares have gained about 38% this year. Emulex Corp., QLogic's former parent, rose 22%, or $10.81 a share, to $59.44. Emulex makes networking equipment that complements QLogic's. It spun off QLogic into a separately traded company five years ago.

Amid growing signs that the Asian economic crisis is cooling off America's long-running business boom, job cutting is making a big comeback, particularly at semiconductor companies and other high-tech concerns. In Orange County, once-hearty computer businesses have slumped drastically in the face of industrywide price wars and falling demand. Motorola Inc.

Western Digital Corp. said Monday that it has staved off a default on its credit line by renegotiating the terms of its bank credit agreement. The Irvine-based manufacturer of hard drives for computers had said earlier this month that an anticipated loss for its just-completed fourth quarter would result in a technical default of its credit line. The company said Monday it now has $200 million available under its bank credit agreement and $50 million outstanding in the form of a term loan.

Ingram Micro Inc. agreed to buy Tech Data Corp.'s majority interest in German computer products distributor Macrotron AG for $100 million in cash, the companies said Wednesday. Ingram Macrotron, as Macrotron will be renamed, places Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro "solidly as one of the top three computer distribution companies in Europe," said Ingram Micro Europe President Philip D. Ellett. Macrotron also operates in Austria and Switzerland and had revenue of $1.17 billion in 1997.