Cylink sells wireless division to P-Com

Cylink Corp. announced today that it will sell its wireless communications division to P-Com Inc. for $60 million and focus solely on its information security division.

Cylink plans to sell its 8-year-old wireless division, which accounted for 39 percent of the company's $80 million in total revenue in 1997, to Campbell, Calif.-based P-Com, which develops, manufactures and markets network access systems for the worldwide wireless telecommunications market. The acquisition is subject to the Justice Department's approval.

Cylink's wireless division accounted for only a small fraction of the company's federal government work. Most of Cylink's federal business is generated in its information security division, which reported a 91 percent increase in revenue last year, according to a company spokeswoman. Cylink plans to focus exclusively on its Internet and remote-access security solutions, wide-area network encryptors and security management software, according to officials.

Cylink's federal government customers include the Army, DOJ, the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Aviation Administration. Cylink also is working with the U.S. Postal Service to build an electronic commerce system that will authenticate identities for secure transactions.