Deal Boosts Alpha Microsystems Shares

Shares of Alpha Microsystems rose more than 37% after news of a two-year licensing pact with a Danish portal company boosted wary investors’ confidence in the company’s plans to form an Internet unit.

The contract announced by the Santa Ana Internet software and information technology company is the first for its recently formed NQL Solutions unit, said Peter Cardillo, director of research at Westfalia Investments.

The company’s stock rose $1.25 a share Wednesday to close at $3.94 in Nasdaq trading.

Alpha Micro, which does business as AlphaServ.com, would provide its AC Spotlight software for an undisclosed fee to Jubii A/S, the leading Web portal in Denmark. A portal is an electronic hub for Web content, like Yahoo! and America Online.

The strength of AC Spotlight is that it can search the content of Web pages and return the information it collects in an easy-to-use format at one Web site, said company spokesman Denny Michael.

The Danish portal, which averages 1.7 million users a month, plans to use Alpha’s technology to gather real estate listing information from a number of Web sites and display it as new content at its site, Michael said.

Michael attributed the stock’s rise to the Jubii license agreement.

The stock has languished since July, when rumors that the company would be acquired proved false and momentum players sold their shares, said Cardillo.

In mid-August, investors were looking for evidence of the company’s direction. At that time, Alpha said it was exploring options for its intelligent agent technology.

Other potential licensees are looking at Alpha’s technology, said Michael, who wouldn’t comment on pending agreements.

NQL Solutions was formed as the second of two divisions that make up Alpha Micro. The unit’s goal is to sell the company’s Network Query Language development tool and software products to Internet companies.

Alpha Micro provides information technology services through a separate unit.