Pen Interconnect Sells Cable Assembly Unit

Pen Interconnect Inc., a Utah company that is in the process of merging with Brea-based Transdigital Communications Corp., has sold its unit that manufactures cable assemblies, part of a strategy to refocus the company on online entertainment and database systems for the transportation market.

Terms of the deal, in which the subsidiary Pen Technology was sold to Dayton-based Cables to Go, were not released.

Pen Interconnect, a manufacturing services provider, plans to move its headquarters to Irvine where its InCirT Technologies division already makes equipment for Transdigital. After the merger, which is expected to be completed in three months, the company will take on the Transdigital name.

“They wanted to go public to get access to the markets, and we wanted to change direction,” said Stephen J. Fryer, president and chief operating officer of Pen. “So we got together.”

The company hopes to market its system of sending live audio and video broadcasts to commercial aircraft using digital transmissions from satellites. The company contends that its system takes up less space than those marketed by rivals such as Irvine-based Sony Trans Com and Rockwell International Corp. in Costa Mesa, allowing it to fit into smaller aircraft.

Last year, Monarch Air Lines awarded the company a contract to install a system on five new Airbus aircraft, and Disney Cruise Line is installing Transdigital’s products on two ships, Disney Magic and Disney Wonder.

Jonathan Gaw covers technology and electronic commerce for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-7818 and at jonathan.gaw@latimes.com.