Investment Firm Buys Netcom, Maker of Computer Workstations

Phoenix Group, a Newport Beach investment company headed by entrepreneur Charles Missler, said Friday that it has purchased Netcom Research Inc., a Fountain Valley maker of computer workstations.

The current value of the purchase is less than $100,000, but the sellers could receive as much as $1 million depending on the company’s future performance, said Netcom spokesman Charles Harrocks.

Harrocks also said Netcom will hire eight new employees in the next five months and that present management will remain.

Phoenix will attempt to combine Netcom’s technology with telecommunications equipment made by Resdel Engineering Corp., an Irvine subsidiary of Resdel Industries, which is mostly owned by Phoenix. Resdel is a maker of anti-submarine warfare communications equipment.