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A Silicon Valley Connection

Ken Black, former owner of Highlander Engineering Inc.

Scotts Valley, Calif.-based Borland Software Corp. (nasdaqNM:BORL) has acquired Highlander Engineering Inc., headquartered in Lakeland. This is not a surprising development, says Ken Black, former owner of Highlander, which has assumed the Borland moniker.

"Our core technology is based on Borland technology," Black says, who is now senior director of embedded technology. "But we were using a different market."

Highlander specializes in Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)-compliant software to assist developers of embedded computer-based applications. The firm's technology accelerates development of devices that incorporate multiple processors or that communicate with software running on other embedded or general-purpose computers.

Founded in 1983, Borland has in its history developed technology that simplifies and speeds the process of application development, which led to the commercial development of PC applications. Its focus at this time includes delivery of deployment solutions for standards-based Web services and wireless applications. The firm currently has more than 1,100 employees worldwide and annual revenues of $57 million.

"The embedded marketplace is becoming more entwined with the enterprise software market," says Frank Slootman, the firm's senior vice president of products. "This makes it strategically important to provide a single solution that addresses both domains of computing. That's the overarching trend that prompted us down this path."

The transaction involves cash earnout payments not to exceed $2 million over a two-year period. Borland management doesn't anticipate the acquisition to significantly impact revenues or net income for 2002.

The change for the Lakeland firm appears to be in name only. "We're acting as a Borland research and development center," Black says.

The advantage, Slootman says, is that the Lakeland company gets the "leverage of our worldwide infrastructure and considerable marketing resources."

Speedcom Names Interim CEO
Michael Sternberg, 56, has been named interim chief executive officer of Speedcom Wireless Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWC), a Sarasota-based company that provides broadband telecommunications services to its clients. William Davis, the company's former vice president for worldwide sales, was made president and chief operating officer.

Sternberg replaces Michael McKinney, the company's founder, who resigned as chairman and CEO in June. McKinney, who also stepped down from the board, resigned to "pursue other interests," according to Gil Sharell, the company's investor relations director. However, McKinney and his ex-wife Barbara, together with the children, still control more than 50 percent of the common stock of the company.

Target: Canker
Venture Biodiscovery Inc., a Largo-based subsidiary of Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Gatlin Holdings Inc., says it is testing a new way to fight citrus canker.

The citrus industry has spent millions of dollars in Florida to fight canker, says Venture Chief Executive Robert Creger. Considering that canker attacks Florida citrus with regularity each year, the developing technology could win a lot of friends, not to mention business.

Most of the chemical treatments available today either kill the canker bacterium and everything else around it, or keep the bacterium from spreading, but don't destroy it completely, says Steven Burhoe, a Gatlin director. Venture's technology uses a biological control agent to fight the bacteria that causes the disease, Burhoe says. He called the new bactericide "a natural enemy of the citrus canker" that modifies as the bacteria mutates. It also fights other contagious pathogens. Venture hopes to test the treatment in Orlando as well as in other parts of the state. It has been conducting field trials.

Missile Parts Made Here
The ATK Tactical Systems unit of Alliant Techsystems in Clearwater has won a $9 million contract from the Naval Air Systems Command to build special high-tech sensors for the AN/AAR-47 Missile Warning System. The sensors will be used by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force.

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