Microsoft in talks to buy 3DV Systems

The software giant will pay between $30 million to $40 million for the Israeli company.

Software giant Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) is negotiating to acquire 3DV Systems Ltd. for $30-$40 million.

IVC reports that 3DV Systems has raised $38 million in investment funds to date.

Elron Electronic Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: ELRN; TASE:ELRN), which has a controlling stake in the company, declined to comment on the reports.

3DV has targeted the video gaming market. It has developed video camera technology capable of capturing the depth dimension of objects in real time, enabling it to sense motion and recognize shape within a dynamically defined three-dimensional space.

3DV was founded in 1996 by Rafael Development Corporation (RDC), a joint venture of Elron and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. to commercialize Rafael's missile electro-optic technology patents

If the acquisition is completed, this will be an additional expansion of Microsoft's Israel R&D center which is based on previous acquisitions of Israeli companies. Microsoft corporate VP and head of Israel R&D Moshe Lichtman has previously said that the company is especially interested in visual technologies related to the media and entertainment. There are currently 600 employees at Microsoft Israel's R&D centers in Haifa and Herzliya employed in the security, communications, virtualization, data mining, Internet analysis trends and other fields.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 17, 2009

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2009

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