SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Intel Corp. today announced plans to acquire privately-held Trillium Digital Systems Inc., a Los Angeles-based communications software provider. The acquisition for $300 million in cash and stock will give Intel additional software and support to accelerate its move into telecommunications and networking applications.

According to Intel, more than 500 projects in wireless, Internet, broadband networks and telephony products are now using Trillium's source code software. The software reduces development time, costs, and risks in implementing industry standards for communications, such as Internet protocols, ATM, ISDN, and wireless connections, Intel said.

"Networking and telecommunication OEMs are recognizing the value of more complete solutions from their suppliers," noted Tom Franz, vice president and general manager of Intel's Network Processing Group. "In addition to off-the-shelf silicon, customers are looking for off-the-shelf software components that enable them to reduce development time and focus their internal resources on differentiating their products.

"We expect Trillium, as an Intel subsidiary, to continue developing and supporting portable software solutions for the communications industry, while adding a new line of solutions that are optimized for the Intel Internet Exchange architecture," Franz said. "Trillium also intends to build relationships with other technology providers to enable more integrated and value-added solutions for OEMs."

Intel said it intends to offer a broad range of portable source code for communications applications through the Trillium subsidiary, which will become part of the Network Processing Group when the purchase is completed. The Trillium's software will also become an integral part of the Intel Internet Exchange (IX) architecture to provide an even broader set of solutions, which meet the flexibility, feature and performance demands of next-generation networking and telecommunications equipment, said the Santa Clara chip giant.

"The synergy between Trillium's software architecture and the Intel IX architecture will enable us to deliver hardware and software offerings to our customers that help save them time and money," said Jeff Lawrence, CEO of Trillium.