Intel takes on Olicom R&D team

Olicom, the moribund networking equipment vendor, has sold its 220-strong R&D team to Intel for an undisclosed sum. Intel has an affinity with Denmark and networking: in 1997 it stumped up £46 million for the Danish operations of Case,(the rump of which is now called Anite) to take it into Fast Ethernet for the first time. Through Olicom’s R&D team, Intel gains new staff in Copenhagen and Gdansk, in Poland. But technology? We'll let you know as soon as someone tells us. All that’s left of Olicom is a controlling stake in a company called Digianswer. Olicom says it expects to sell this share for a substantial premium to book value. Which is not saying much. As group book value is currently hovering around zero. Following the disposal of the Diginswer business, Olicom will become a shell company. Earlier this month, it sold its major going concern, the Token Ring business, to rival player Madge for $15 million cash and unspecified royalty payments for three years. ®