New Millennium Power's Staff Moves to Long Beach

Orange County Business Journal, Apr 28-May 4, 2008 by Tolkoff, Sarah

True Games Interactive Teams Up With Big Publisher; Tech Companies Set for AeA Awards

TECHNOLOGY

Laguna Niguel-based New Millennium Power Inc., a small maker of solar power panels, was bought by PermaCity Solar Inc., which is located just over the county line in Long Beach.

Terms of the deal, which closed last month, weren't disclosed.

New Millennium designs, installs and services solar panels that are built on the roofs of parking structures, industrial buildings and agricultural storage facilities. The panels are wired to nearby offices to provide electricity.

The privately held company doesn't disclose sales.

About half of New Millennium's dozen workers moved to PermaCity's offices.

The company's office in Laguna Niguel has been shut down, which was part of the plan, according to founder H.D. Boesch.

Boesch has taken on the role of chief technology officer at PermaCity.

The company is seeing more demand for its services as the cost of electricity goes up, he said.

Boesch, a native of Hamburg, Germany, came to the U.S. 11 years ago.

New Millennium's biggest customer is Spotlight 29, an Indian casino in the Coachella Valley, near Palm Springs.

Others include a Jack in the Box in Irvine and apartment complexes in Lake Forest and San Diego.

Before starting New Millennium, Boesch spent nearly 30 years in the semiconductor industry, including posts at Intel Corp. and Hitachi Ltd.

He started the company with his own funds.

"I was looking for a big, last challenge in my life, and this was it," he said.

Real-Time Strategies

The area's newest video game startup, Santa Ana-based True Games Interactive, teamed up with a big name publisher to produce its first PC-based game title.

True Games said it's set to work with Las Vegas-based Petroglyph Games Inc., a developer best known for its "Star Wars" themed games called "Universe at War" and "Empire at War."

Petroglyph is a maker of what's known by industry insiders as "real-time strategy" games, which usually require players to plan their moves ahead of time.

Most real-time strategy games have a birds-eye view that allows players to navigate through different sites and scenarios that are being used by multiple players at the same time.

The games are typically made for computers, not console systems, because players manipulate their characters by dragging and clicking a mouse.

Petroglyph got its start in 2003. It was formed by workers who quit when video game kingpin Electronic Arts Inc. bought Los Angeles-based Wesrwood Studios Inc. in 1998. Electronic Arts later relocated the Westwood team to Las Vegas, where it had a West Coast hub for all of its subsidiaries.

True Games was started some months ago by two former employees of Irvine video game publisher K2 Network inc.

Like K2 Network, True Games' titles are set to be built around a business model called "free-to-play micro transactions."

Players can download and play the game for free online, but buy items along the way.

The micro transaction model is biggest in Asia, but is starting to gain a foothold here.

True Games and Petroglyph won't do a typical launch. They're set to partner with publishers all over the world in order to translate it into different languages and "adapt the game for cultural tastes," the company said.

The title is set to come out during the third quarter.

High-Tec h Innovation

Tech companies large and small are gearing up for the 15th annual high-tech innovation awards presented by the Orange County and Inland Empire unit of AeA, a tech trade group. The awards are set to take place on Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine.

The keynote speaker will be Keith Bradley, president of Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc. North America.

A slew of local tech companies are in the running for about a dozen different awards.

A few honorees are: Costa Mesa's Emulex Corp., Lake Forest's Western Digital Corp., Irvine's Epicor Software Corp., Fountain Valley's D-Link Systems Inc., Irvine's HireRight Inc., Irvine's Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc., Irvine's WiSpry Inc., Newport Beach's Conexant Systems Inc., Santa Ana's STEC Inc., Aliso Viejo's SiliconSystems Inc. and Irvine's Web Visible Inc., among many more.