US technology giant 3Com has taken an equity stake in Parthus Technologies, the Nasdaq-quoted, Dublin-based, chip design company.
The value of the investment for the one per cent stake, which took place before the company's public flotation on the US and London stock exchanges in May, is estimated at around $2 million (€2.09 million).
Through the arrangement, Parthus enters an alliance to design and develop chip technologies for 3Com's wireless networking requirements. 3Com and Parthus are currently at the forefront of technology development for the emerging global standard for wireless devices, the Bluetooth initiative.
Bluetooth allows wireless environments become networked by providing connectivity between many classes of electronic devices - from fridges to microwaves - without the need for cables.
It is understood Parthus plans to unveil a series of low-cost technologies and platforms for the Bluetooth standard at next week's Bluetooth Global Conference in Monte Carlo.
To date, there have been no commercially available Bluetooth products as the market has viewed the enabling technologies as too expensive at around $12. Parthus is expected to launch its technologies at a price of around $5, a figure widely accepted in industry circles as the maximum that could enable Bluetooth to become accepted as a global standard.
Sources close to the company have said Parthus plans to further reduce this price shortly to around $1.
Although Bluetooth is not expected to be commercially available until next year, the industry expects licensing arrangements to begin shortly after the global conference.
Following the announcement of 3Com's investment, Mr Edgar Masri, senior vice-president of business development at 3Com said: "Our investment in Parthus will provide us with access to an extensive portfolio of leading edge Internet protocol platforms that we will be able to leverage as we develop next-generation wireless products for businesses and consumers."
The announcement had a positive impact on the Parthus share price, which fell off slightly on Wednesday from a peak of $35 following its launch in May at $20. Yesterday it was trading at around $34 from a previous day's close of $31.
This is the second significant investment in Parthus by a leading technology player. In May ARM Holdings in Britain took a similar equity stake in the company which currently employs 300 people. Under that arrangement, Parthus will license ARM's core technology to its clients.
