Did Xperinet go out of business?
There hasn’t been anything in the news, but apparently Xperinet isn’t answering their phones. A Remote Cental forum has one member saying two of their three phone numbers are disconnected and they’re not answering on the third. Another member says Xperinet is not accepting UPS deliveries at their office.
I can confirm the report about the phone numbers. You can call them yourself to confirm, their numbers are on their website.
One member on the forum posted a quotation from the company, but it was not attributed to anybody and it is not clear where they received this information. (From my own sources, this was an email sent to sales representatives.)
Xperinet is presently undertaking a significant restructuring due to weakness in the US economy. Slow US sales have placed considerable pressure on the company, and we are having to retrench, and focus on engineering before we can resume sales and marketing efforts in the US.
If this is true, they haven’t posted this information on their website, they haven’t informed their dealers. However last week at least one sales representative was let go from Xperinet. (This comes to me third- or fourth-party, and I’m unable to confirm it 100%.)
Xperinet manufactures hard-drive based DVD and CD storage for home theaters and home video distribution. Last year they announced support for Blu-ray Disc. They were the first to offer slim-clients for mounting behind TVs, and the first to offer synchronization between multiple units at different locations over the internet.
If they don’t come out soon confirming they have closed up shop or otherwise, I’m sure we’ll have final confirmation at CEDIA Expo in September.
Dear Xperinet Dealers,
I regret to inform you the Xperinet Board of Directors has voted to discontinue operations effective immediately, pending filing of bankruptcy proceedings. Economic factors in the US market have left the company insolvent, and made it difficult for the company to find additional sources of capital. Unless the company is able to secure a further investment of $400,000 or find a buyer in the next few days, it intends to file for bankruptcy. If you know of any interested parties, please have them contact me.
This decision was driven largely by certain economic factors resulting from the downturn in the US housing market. Reduced investment in housing resulted in a marked reduction in revenues for Xperinet, as with many CEDIA manufacturers. Secondly, the soft market caused numerous dealers to default on their credit terms, dramatically increasing our bad debt experience. These events came on the heels of a major development effort that drained the company of cash. Finally, uncertainty about the US economy and the CEDIA market dried up all our sources of capital. The convergence of these four factors proved insurmountable for the company.
I know this event will create many difficulties for you and your customers, as you seek to support the installed base of product. All product manufactured during the last two years was built by our contract manufacturer, FutureIT. FutureIT provided a 3-year guarantee on the performance of the hardware, and also has sufficient expertise in supporting the software that they may be able to assist you with minor issues. They also are in possession of all MIRV units that have been returned for repair. Following is contact information for FutureIT.