2nd Ex-IBM Executive Resigns From Tandon

William L. Sydnes, one of four ex-IBM executives Tandon Corp. hired as part of its effort to launch a personal computer line this year, has resigned as vice president of engineering and development to become a private research and development consultant, the company said.

In a separate announcement, the Chatsworth-based computer products company said Monday that it has tentatively agreed to buy San Jose-based Atasi, a one-time leader in making hard-disk drives, which emerged earlier this year from reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Sydnes, 42, is the second of the four executives instrumental in launching IBM’s personal computers who has left Tandon recently. In late September, H.L. (Sparky) Sparks, senior vice president of sales and marketing, resigned for what the company said were personal reasons.

Sydnes, who worked on the design team for the IBM-PC, received an annual salary of $150,000 from Tandon when he was hired one year ago, a hiring bonus of $40,000 and another $40,000 in relocation payments, according to the company’s latest proxy statement.

Salaries for him and Tandon’s other officers, however, were slashed by 30% in September as part of widespread cost cutting by Tandon, which makes personal computers and disk drives used in computers to store and retrieve data.

Sydnes, who could not be reached for comment, will remain a consultant to the company, Tandon said Friday. He has been replaced by Robert G. Taylor, 40, a vice president with the company’s Tandon Computer Corp. marketing affiliate. Taylor has been given the title of corporate director of engineering/systems.

The two former IBM executives remaining in key positions with Tandon are Dan H. Wilkie, president and chief operating officer, and Joseph A. Sarubbi, who heads the disk drive/subsystem unit.

Tandon said it signed a letter of intent to acquire Atasi, but did not disclose details. In buying Atasi, Tandon would acquire a line of fast, high-capacity drives that it does not offer now.

James N. Porter, who publishes the annual Disk/Trend Report in Los Altos, said Tandon probably wants to use Atasi’s drives in sophisticated personal computer and workstation systems it plans to build.

In the early 1980s, Porter said, Atasi was a leader in building fast-access, hard-disk drives that store information on rigid, 5-inch disks. But the company fell on hard times because of management turnover, failure to develop low-cost products and increased competition from companies such as Chatsworth-based Micropolis.

Tandon began shifting its emphasis to the personal computer business late last year, and in July introduced its first U.S. brand-name computer. Securities analysts have said the company’s venture has been hurt by IBM price cuts last summer and the proliferation of so-called IBM clones in the market.