Intel sells ICP division to Adaptec
The chipmaker sheds another subsidiary purchased during its giant buying spree in the boom years, as it continues to focus its energies on its core products.
ICP's products are used inside servers to manage multiple hard drives and enable high-speed input-output connections. Adaptec is one of the more dominant companies in this market.
Intel bought Germany's ICP in March 2001 in the midst of its multibillion-dollar buying spree in the boom years. The chipmaking giant spent more than $11 billion on acquiring more than 35 companies during a three-year period in order to expand its revenue sources beyond the PC. Like many of the acquisitions, ICP was connected to the company's communications unit.
Many of the efforts resulting from those acquisitions, however, failed to pan out, and since then, Intel has devised ways to rid itself of several of its subsidiaries. Shiva, one of Intel's first major acquisitions, was sold to Simple Access, a Newton, Mass.-based security company, in November 2002. Intel's Xircom subsidiary, by contrast, was gradually dissolved.
ICP sells its cards to a number of computer manufacturers. It also sold cards internally to Intel's server motherboard unit. That relationship will continue, an Intel representative said.
"The ICP Vortex brand is among the most recognized and trusted brands for data protection in Germany and across Europe, and we're pleased to add the ICP Vortex team to our global operation," said Ahmet Houssein, general manager of Adaptec's Storage Solutions Group. "ICP Vortex's capabilities further extend Adaptec's strength in delivering end-to-end storage infrastructure...to our customers worldwide."