Vertel gains on licensing pact

Software developer Vertel shot up $1.25, or 13 percent, to $11.25 Tuesday after landing a licensing deal with a large, undisclosed telecommunications firm.

Vertel (Nasdaq: VRTL) said the unnamed customer has agreed to buy its e*ORB software for both the VxWorks and Windows NT operating systems.

"This agreement is another step in the right direction for Vertel and e*ORB," said CEO Cyrus Irani in a prepared release. "We believe that this agreement further confirms the acceptance of e*ORB and its small footprint as an exceptional CORBA-based platform for the embedded telecommunications infrastructure market.

Last quarter, Vertel posted a modest profit of $63,000 on sales of $5.3 million.

There is no First Call Corp. consensus estimate for Vertel in the third quarter or in the current fiscal year.

Its shares moved up to a 52-week high of $51.94 in March after falling to a low of $1.06 in November.