Equiinet sale adds to Jones legend

Serial entrepreneur Bob Jones has sold his fourth company, Equiinet, to German security appliance company Dica Technologies for an undisclosed sum.

Serial entrepreneur Bob Jones has sold his fourth company, Equiinet, to German security appliance company Dica Technologies for an undisclosed sum.

Jones said the sale is not his "exit strategy" but a step on the way to a larger goal. "Wherever we are going, we haven't got there yet. This gets us closer to a flotation, but we still have a long way to go to developing the market. We are just scratching the surface."

Equiinet builds the Netpilot 'internet appliance' that offers shared connectivity, web, email, file and print serving to SMEs.

About 40 per cent of its business goes through resellers and 45 per cent via telcos such as NTL, which offers the Netpilot as part of a managed service. The remainder goes through OEMs.

Dica, which used to re-badge the Netpilot under its own brand, develops hardware-based encryption and security technology that will now be integrated into Netpilot. Dica has offices in Germany, South America, Australia and the US, and uses a two-tier distribution sales model.

"I have a real expectation of being able to build our business much more quickly with our joint resources," said Jones.

He said it has been difficult trying to open up foreign markets for Equiinet.

Becoming part of Dica, which already has a global presence, was a great leap forward. "We have to grab market share quickly," he said.

Jones expects increased competition from Compaq and IBM. "It's an endorsement of our product, but they will be formidable rivals," he said.

IBM's web appliance, Whistle, is at present available only in the US.

Previously, Jones started up modem vendor Steebek Systems, Mayze Systems, and Sonix Communications, a firm he sold to 3Com for £47m in 1995.