Element 14 (company)

Element 14 Ltd was a British developer of digital subscriber line (DSL) equipment created in July 1999 from the disposal of the assets of Acorn Computers.[1][3] As "a three-site startup", it combined teams from Acorn, Inmos/STMicroelectronics and Alcatel.[4]

For other uses, see Element 14 (disambiguation).

Element 14 Ltd
TypePrivate
IndustryDigital subscriber line
PredecessorAcorn Computers
Founded28 July 1999 (1999-07-28)[1]
Defunct4 October 2000 (2000-10-04)[2]
FateAcquired
SuccessorBroadcom
Key people
Stan Boland

History

By January 1999, Acorn Computers Ltd. had renamed to Element 14 Limited to reflect the changed focus of the business and to distance itself from the education market that Acorn Computers was most known for.[5][6][7] Other names had been considered by the company, but the domain name e-14.com had been registered before the official announcement.[8]

During this time the ARM Holdings share value had increased to a point where the capital value of Acorn Group was worth less than the value of its 24% holding in ARM.[9] This situation led shareholders to press Acorn to sell its stake in ARM Holdings to provide a return on their investment.[9]

In May 1999, a deal was offered to Acorn Group plc shareholders by MSDW Investment Holdings Limited, a newly incorporated subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Group, in which the MSDW subsidiary would acquire Acorn by giving Acorn shareholders two ARM Holdings shares in exchange for every five Acorn Group shares being held.[10]

As part of the disposal of Acorn's assets, an independent company "owned by Stan Boland and certain senior management" were granted the option to purchase Acorn's silicon and software design activity for £1 million subject to obtaining external financing. This company was effectively the independent Element 14 entity,[11] which set about raising venture capital and subsequently secured £8.25 million in first-round funding from Bessemer Venture Partners,[12] Atlas Ventures[13] and Herman Hauser's Amadeus Capital Partners.[14]

Broadcom Corporation's offices at Cambridge Science Park in 2011

In February 2000, Element 14 successfully head-hunted Alcatel's top digital subscriber line (DSL) engineers, including designers of analogue front-end and digital ICs, xDSL modem software and specialists in asymmetric DSL (ADSL) and very high rate DSL (VDSL) systems, and thereby acquired an engineering centre in Mechelen, Belgium. This reflected a shift towards the companies targeting of the DSP technology away from Media and towards DSL markets.[15]

Element 14 developed IPTV over standard phone lines and worked with telcos such as Canada's NBTel.[16] It continued to develop its DSP products until it was purchased by Broadcom Corporation in November 2000 for £366 million[17] and Element 14 became Broadcom's DSL business unit.[18][19]

References
  1. "Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 1998". Companies House. p. 24. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  2. Gain, Bruce (4 October 2000). "Broadcom to pay $594M for European DSL supplier". EE Times. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  3. Wilson, Dave (4 October 2000). "Broadcom acquires Element 14". The Engineer. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  4. Fairbairn, Douglas (31 January 2012). "Oral History of Sophie Wilson 2012 Computer History Museum Fellow" (PDF). Computer History Museum. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  5. "Acorn : Acorn and Element 14 - Questions and Answers". 6 May 1999. Archived from the original on 6 May 1999.
  6. Clarke, Peter (14 January 1999). "Acorn renamed, refocused as Element 14". EE Times. EE Times. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2011. Acorn Computers Ltd. has changed its name to Element 14 Ltd. as part of its conversion from a computer designer and manufacturer to a developer of software and silicon intellectual property (IP).
  7. Santarini, Mike (25 January 1999). "Acorn reinvents itself as IP-vendor Element 14". EE Times. EE Times. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2011. Acorn Computers Ltd. (Cambridge, England) has changed its name to Element 14 Ltd. as part of its conversion from a computer designer and manufacturer to a developer of software and silicon intellectual property (IP).
  8. "Acorn plans name change to reflect new ambitions". Computergram International. 5 January 1999. Archived from the original on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  9. "Ailing Acorn agrees to pounds 270m US takeover". independent.co.uk. 28 April 1999. Archived from the original on 21 March 2016.
  10. "Acorn Group PLC - Preliminary Announcement of Audited Results for the Year Ended 31 December 1998" (PDF). marutan.net. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  11. "Companies". www.bvp.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2011.
  12. "Atlas coughs up $13m for Acorn spin-out". theregister.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017.
  13. "Element 14". www.amadeuscapital.com. Archived from the original on 18 December 2010.
  14. Element 14 snatches Alcatel DSL designers, Electronics Weekly, 9 February 2000
  15. Swift, Caroline (13 April 1999). "From little Acorns, Element 14 grows". Personal Computer World. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  16. Broadcom buys Element 14 Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Electronic News, 9 October 2000
  17. "Broadcom acquires Element 14 - The Engineer The Engineer". theengineer.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012.
  18. Gain, Bruce (10 April 2000). "Broadcom to pay $594M for European DSL supplier". EE Times. EE Times. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2011. Broadcom Corp. [...] agreeing to offer $594 million in stock [...] to purchase Element 14 Ltd. [...]


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