With good reason, we have often characterised big OEM agreements with IBM Corp won by small companies as poisoned chalices, and so it has proved yet again in the case of Mountain View, California-based server designer Parallan Computer Inc. Parallan has cut its staff by more than 50%, eliminating all positions outside a newly-created server software business unit and an acquisition search team. Before the staff cuts the company employed about 50 people, and the cuts come from all parts of the company, but are in general tied to activities related to the scaled-back development, marketing, manufacturing and support relationship with IBM. Parallan has created the new unit to focus on potential OEM customers and licensees for its value-added server subsystems, and with $36m in cash and marketable securities, is looking to diversify by buying one or high-technology companies. The Parallan product line currently includes a remote management system, a multi-channel RAID-5 disk array subsystem, and an automated server software installation and configuration system.
