Xircom

Xircom Inc., a Calabasas maker of equipment for linking personal computers, said its fiscal second-quarter profit surged 59% from a year earlier on a 32% sales gain. In the quarter ended March 31, Xircom's net income rose to $2.13 million from $1.35 million a year earlier, while its sales climbed to $18.7 million from $14.2 million. The introduction of new products and cost controls helped produce the gains, Xircom said. Xircom's earnings for the first half of its fiscal year rose 47%, to $3.

Carl Russo has resigned as executive vice president and chief operating officer for Xircom in Thousand Oaks. He will leave the company May 31. Russo said he is leaving Xircom to pursue personal interests and serve as president and chief executive officer of a pre-public high-tech company. After his departure, the position of chief operating officer will be eliminated, with those responsibilities being assumed by other members of the management team.

Xircom Inc. in Thousand Oaks has hired Patrick Piccininno as vice president and chief information officer. In the newly created position, Piccininno will be responsible for expanding Xircom's E-business initiatives, improving information management systems and integrating new technologies worldwide. Before joining Xircom, Piccininno served as senior practice director in the management and applications consulting group of Oracle Corp.

Xircom Inc. in Thousand Oaks has opened a sales office in Seoul. Korea is one of Asia-Pacific's largest markets for portable PCs, accounting for 20% of sales for the region outside Japan, according to International Data Corp. Sam Yoo has joined Xircom as sales manager responsible for Korea and will spearhead the company's continued expansion into the Korean portable communications market.

Xircom Inc., a Calabasas maker of network connections for personal computers, reported record profits of $3.4 million for its fiscal first quarter on a 54% surge in revenue compared with a year earlier. The profit for the latest quarter ended Dec. 31 was up 92% from $1.8 million a year earlier, and it marked the 11th straight quarter of record earnings, Xircom said. Sales in the latest quarter totaled $26.4 million, up from $17.2 million a year earlier.

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board boosted its stake in Xircom Inc., a Calabasas-based manufacturer of computer network products, to 9.7% from 8.2%, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The board, which manages pension funds for Wisconsin state employees, purchased 220,700 common shares between Dec. 2 and 22 for $8.12 to $9.87 each. The board, which also bought shares of Xircom in November at a higher price range, now holds 1.

Xircom Inc. in Thousand Oaks announced that one of its products captured the Xynetix Design Challenge "Best in Show" award for printed circuit-board design. Rebecca Franco, Xircom's senior circuit-board designer, accepted the award as creator of the company's CreditCard Ethernet 10/100+Modem 56 combination PC card. Winners were announced recently at the 1997 Xynetix Users Group event in Rochester, N.Y.

Hewlett-Packard Co. has agreed to offer Xircom Inc.'s CreditCard Modem 56 PC Card as an accessory to its line of OmniBook notebook PCs. "Xircom's 56K PC Card modem provides our OmniBook notebook PC customers with a reliable, high-speed communications solution," said Tom Capp, accessories manager for HP's mobile computing division. Available in June, the CreditCard Modem 56 will be sold through Hewlett-Packard reseller channels in North America.

Xircom Inc., a Thousand Oaks computer network developer, said its revenues for the quarter ending June 30 will be $50 million, or 15% lower than the $58.5 million currently expected by Wall Street analysts. The company said the lower sales projection is due to sluggish PC Card sales for its third quarter. "The U.S. market is experiencing strong demand but limited availability for the new high-end MMX-equipped portable computers," said Xircom president and CEO Dirk Gates.

Xircom Inc. in Thousand Oaks has reached distribution agreements with Tech Data Brazil and SED, which will expand the availability of Xircom's information access products to mobile users in Brazil. Customers in Brazil will now be able to purchase Xircom's complete line of products, including the recently introduced RealPort2 Integrated PC Card and PortStation Port Expansion system online as well as through traditional distribution methods.