Mykotronx Inc

Rainbow Technologies Inc. said Monday that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Mykotronx Inc. in Torrance. Mykotronx is a supplier of the technology used for securing communications transmissions. Rainbow Technologies in Irvine said the sale should be completed by end of the year. A company spokesman would not disclose the exact amount of the acquisition, but said the deal was valued at more than $20 million.

Rainbow Technologies Inc. has completed the acquisition of the Torrance-based maker of a controversial computer encoding device, executives said Thursday. Rainbow shareholders approved the purchase of Mykotronx at the company's annual meeting Wednesday. Mykotronx had been privately held, and its owners will receive 1.82 million shares of Rainbow stock--making the deal worth $37.9 million based on Rainbow stock's closing price of $20.875 per share Thursday.

Ted Bettwy frowned over the tops of his bifocals and pushed the crumpled sheets of fax paper across his desktop. "We felt raped," he said, "our privacy violated." The fax was a copy of a computer message that detailed his company's confidential corporate accounting records. It itemized the firm's financial arrangements with the secretive National Security Agency, even the brand of office safe the company had purchased and the fact that it had never changed the combination.

Rainbow Technologies Inc. said Friday that it is acquiring a Torrance maker of products to protect software against piracy. Rainbow, based in Irvine, traded 1.8 million shares of its stock for all the shares of Mykotronx, a privately held company. Though the companies did not disclose the terms of the deal, it would be valued at $29.5 million based on Friday's closing price of $16.38 a share.

Rainbow Technologies Inc. has completed the acquisition of the Torrance-based maker of a controversial computer encoding device, executives said Thursday. Rainbow shareholders approved the purchase of Mykotronx at the company's annual meeting Wednesday. Mykotronx had been privately held, and its owners will receive 1.82 million shares of Rainbow stock--making the deal worth $37.9 million based on Rainbow stock's closing price of $20.875 per share Thursday.

Rainbow Technologies Inc. said Friday that it is acquiring a Torrance maker of products to protect software against piracy. Rainbow, based in Irvine, traded 1.8 million shares of its stock for all the shares of Mykotronx, a privately held company. Though the companies did not disclose the terms of the deal, it would be valued at $29.5 million based on Friday's closing price of $16.38 a share.

One of Orange County's oldest and largest investment banking firms kicked off its annual Valentine's week matchmaking fest for cash-hungry technology companies and potential investors by announcing that it has a new name. Walter Cruttenden III, chairman of what used to be Cruttenden & Co., said the name has been changed to Cruttenden Roth to mark the involvement of investor Byron Roth, who bought a 15% share of the company last year and became its president.

For years the fear of software piracy has brought the giants of technology to the door of Rainbow Technologies Inc., which protects programs with matchbook-size devices that plug into the backs of personal computers. Buyers such as Microsoft Corp., Borland International and Hewlett-Packard Co. include the keys with software programs that they sell, particularly those marketed in foreign countries where intellectual property standards are lower or are not enforced.

With a government undercover agent playing the role of a nervous arms dealer, the Customs Service arrested two U.S.-based businessmen--including the owner of a Compton freight company--on suspicion of conspiring to smuggle high-tech military code devices to China, the agency said Wednesday.

Rainbow Technologies Inc. said Monday that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Mykotronx Inc. in Torrance. Mykotronx is a supplier of the technology used for securing communications transmissions. Rainbow Technologies in Irvine said the sale should be completed by end of the year. A company spokesman would not disclose the exact amount of the acquisition, but said the deal was valued at more than $20 million.

Ted Bettwy frowned over the tops of his bifocals and pushed the crumpled sheets of fax paper across his desktop. "We felt raped," he said, "our privacy violated." The fax was a copy of a computer message that detailed his company's confidential corporate accounting records. It itemized the firm's financial arrangements with the secretive National Security Agency, even the brand of office safe the company had purchased and the fact that it had never changed the combination.

When Charles and Diana discovered millions of people were reveling in their most intimate telephone calls, the world's most public couple had to face the facts of private life in the electronic age. In a world of cellular phones, computer networks, electronic mail and interactive TV, the walls might as well have ears. With the explosion of such devices, more people and companies--from banks to department stores--seem to have more access to more information that someone wants to keep private.