Orange Micro Gets AST’s Line of Apple Devices

Irvine’s AST Research Inc. sold for an undisclosed sum its line of Apple computer products to Orange Micro Inc. in Anaheim.

AST said it sold the products to focus on its much bigger business making products for Apple’s chief competitor, IBM. AST had said earlier that its Apple lines were up for sale.

Among the products Orange Micro bought are devices that allow Apple computers to run IBM software and a device that lets Apple computer screens display video images, such as the images from a security camera.

AST executives were not available for comment Thursday.

Orange Micro, a maker of devices that allow Apple computers to use non-Apple printers, said the new product lines will more than double its sales, which it does not disclose beyond saying they are less than $10 million a year.

Nine-year-old Orange Micro said the AST products are also more expensive than the products it sells now, such as AST’s co-processor add-on boards that allow Macintosh personal computers to run IBM software.

But it is the video device that Orange Micro says may have the greatest sales potential. Among other uses, the product allows a user to take video images and incorporate them into reports on a computer.

“This is probably the most exciting product we got in terms of potential,” said Karl Seppala, director of marketing for Orange Micro.

The video device, called NuView, will be renamed Alive.