Google Buys Stealth Hardware Startup Agnilux

http://www.pehub.com/69556/google-buys-stealth-hardware-startup-agnilux/

Lots of talk this week about Apple’s 4G iPhone, after Gizmodo found a prototype left behind at a local watering hole. The device is believed to use an internally-designed application processor, just like Apple used with its recently-released iPad. Both chips were borne of Apple’s $278 million acquisition of P.A. Semi in 2008.

Many of P.A. Semi’s chip developers stuck with Apple, but others — including some system-level folks — launched a stealth startup called Agnilux. They also personally funded Agnilux with proceeds from the Apple acquisition.

Now, peHUB has learned that Google recently acquired Agnilux, which previously held strategic investment talks with companies like Cisco, Microsoft and Texas Instruments. We have not yet been able to confirm pricing terms, although assume it must have been a big deal to convince the Agnilux founders to shun the strategic investment — or traditional venture capital — routes so soon after founding.

We also aren’t quite sure what Agnilux was building, although the NY Times once suggested it was some kind of server. The name Agnilux is derived from the Sanskrit word for fire (gni) and the Latin word for light (lux), so that doesn’t really help push things forward too much. Company co-founders include Amarjeet Gill, Mark Hayter and Puneet Kumar.

A Google spokesman confirmed the acquisition, but declined further comment.

Google buys chip start-up from ex-Apple designers

http://orangepage.co.cc/?p=9216

Google and Apple continue to find themselves on opposite sides of the world, as Google has apparently agreed to buy a chip-design start-up populated by former Apple employees.

Thomson Reuters’ PEHub reported Tuesday that Agnilux, a stealth chip start-up in San Jose, Calif., is Google’s latest acquisition. A company spokesman confirmed the parties had reached a deal but provided no further details on one of Google’s more curious acquisitions in recent memory.

Little is known about Agnilux other than the fact that it was founded by former employees of P.A. Semi, the chip start-up Apple bought in 2008. The New York Times attempted to track down details about the company in February and didn’t get very far, but was able to confirm that several former P.A. Semi and Apple employees were among the co-founders, as well as Scott Redman, a former software architect at TiVo.

That raises more than a few questions about what Google might have in mind for the start-up. Google has commissioned its own server hardware for years, and the Times believes that Agnilux is working on a server chip.

But with a former TiVo employee on board, it’s possible Google has the Google TV effort in mind for any custom chips produced by the start-up. Either way, rank this one among one of the more interesting acquisitions Google has made in the seven months since CEO Eric Schmidt said the company was ready to open its wallet again.

Agnilux’s Web site, spartan as it was prior to news of the acquisition breaking, has been taken down but is still available in Google’s cache. That likely won’t last very long.

Battle Cry? Google Buys Stealth Company Founded By Guys That Spurned Apple

http://juegando.com/uncategorized/battle-cry-google-buys-stealth-company-founded-by-guys-that-spurned-apple/

In Uncategorized, By juegando
The whole Apple/Google thing continues to get more interesting.

The two tech giant buddies are now clearly at odds with one another (coffee dates and all). The iPhone and Android are already at war. And soon, the two will be at war in ads (AdSense vs. iAds) and portable computing (iPads versus Chrome OS netbooks). And leading up to those wars, both have been making some interesting hires and acquisitions.

The latest is Google, which at some point recently bought the stealth startup Agnilux, according to peHUB. What is Agnilux? No one knows for sure, but the New York Times thought enough of it to profile it a few times — and still wasn’t able to find out any more other than they may be doing something with servers. So why do they matter? Because of who is involved in the company. Agnilux was founded by a few ex-Apple employees. More specifically, it was founded by Apple employees who came over in the PA Semi acquisition.

PA Semi was the chip company that Apple bought in 2008, and is now believed to be the key force behind the new A4 chip that powers the iPad (and perhaps the upcoming iPhone). But, as NYT reported back in February:

Some of the chip engineers Apple gained in its purchase of PA Semi appear to have already left the company. According to partial records on the job networking site LinkedIn, at least half a dozen former PA Semi engineers have left Apple and turned up at a start-up called Agnilux, based in San Jose. The company was co-founded by one of PA’s leading system architects, Mark Hayter.

The story goes on:

Neither Mr. Hayter nor other onetime PA workers who left Apple for Agnilux were willing to discuss either company’s plans. According to two people with knowledge of the two companies, who were unwilling to be named because the matter is delicate, some PA engineers left Apple a few months after the acquisition because they were given grants of Apple stock at an unattractive price.

In other words, Google’s acquisition of this company probably pisses off Apple.

Who knows, maybe this move was a response to Apple snatching away RJ Pittman, Google’s director of product management. That followed the ending of a gentleman’s agreement between the two companies not to go after each others’ employees. That was when things were still peachy between the two tech giants — obviously, things have changed. Pittman was a key component of Google’s music project which integrated services like Lala into search results. Of course, Apple went on to buy Lala.

And then there was Google’s acquisition of AdMob — a purchase made while Apple was trying to buy the company as well. This led Apple to buy competing platform, Quattro Wireless.

Agnilux has other talent as well, including former Cisco and TiVo employees, but the PA Semi/Apple angle is too interesting to be ignored. The battle continues…

Google Said to Be in Talks to Buy Software Maker ITA (Update1)

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-20/google-said-to-be-in-talks-to-buy-travel-software-maker-ita.html

(Adds online travel market in third paragraph.)
By Serena Saitto, Brian Womack and Tim Mullaney
April 20 (Bloomberg) — Google Inc. is in talks to acquire ITA Software Inc., a maker of travel programs used by companies including Orbitz Worldwide Inc. and Microsoft Corp., three people familiar with the matter said.
ITA Software, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, may seek about $1 billion, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions haven’t been made public. The talks may not lead to a transaction, said the people.
With tools that help users find flight information online, ITA Software may help Google compete with travel-search features offered by Microsoft. The companies are tussling for share in the U.S. market for online travel, which generated $88.4 billion in sales last year, according to Sherman, Connecticut travel consulting firm PhoCusWright Inc.
ITA Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Wertheimer and spokeswoman Cara Kretz didn’t return phone calls seeking comment. ITA investors include General Catalyst Partners and Sequoia Capital. General Catalyst Managing Director Joel Cutler and Sequoia spokesman Mark Dempster didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Google, based in Mountain View, California, has more than five times the search share of Bing in the U.S, according to ComScore Inc. in Reston, Virginia. Still, Microsoft has gained users in part because of its travel-related features.
ITA has raised $111.4 million in venture capital, according to the National Venture Capital Association. ITA’s technology searches airline reservation systems for sites including Kayak.com, Orbitz.com and Microsoft’s Bing. The company also supports sites for airlines including Alaska Airlines Inc. and Continental Airlines Inc., administering functions such as ticket changes and managing free tickets for frequent fliers.
–With assistance from Dina Bass in Seattle and Douglas MacMillan in New York. Editors: Tom Giles, Cesca Antonelli.
To reach the reporters on this story: Serena Saitto in New York at +1-212-617-4347 or ssaitto@bloomberg.net. Brian Womack in San Francisco at + 1-415-617-7218 or bwomack1@bloomberg.net. Tim Mullaney in New York at +1-212-617-5263 or tmullaney1@bloomberg.net;
To reach the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at +1-415-617-7223 or tgiles5@bloomberg.net Jeffrey St.Onge at +44-20-7073-3223 or jstonge@bloomberg.net

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