Is CSwitch dead?

7/1/2009 1:07 PM EDT

Programmable Logic DesignLine has been unable to confirm the status of the company. Messages left Tuesday (June 30) for CSwitch President and CEO Doug Laird as well as other company executives have not been returned. Some of the other sales representatives listed on CSwitch's website said that they believed the company was still in business, though at least one said it stopped representing CSwitch last month.

Rumors of CSwitch's demise have been circulating for months. But Laird has consistently denied them, saying in a June 12 voicemail that the company had no plans to shut down and that the speculation was "pure rumor."

But multiple sources say that the company has since closed its doors. The sources asked not to be identified.

In April, Laird acknowledged that the company let go an unspecified number of workers in the fourth quarter of last year. But Laird said at that time that the company—like many others in electronics—was still hoping to ride out the economic downturn.

CSwitch made a big splash in 2006 when it emerged to unveil a novel configurable array architecture that promised to deliver levels of flexibility not previously available in programmable products and narrow the gap between FPGAs and structured or platform ASICs. CSwitch's CS90 Configurable Switch Array started shipping last year, according to Laird.

CSwitch is one of several promising programmable logic startups to emerge in recent times. These companies are generally well-funded and claim compelling technology breakthroughs. But they also face big challenges in trying to compete in a market that is dominated by two large players (Xilinx and Altera) and has two other well-entrenched competitors (Actel and Lattice). The downturn has exacerbated these challenges, many say, because OEMs are vetting suppliers carefully, wary of getting involved with companies that may not hang around.

Two programmable logic vendors, Ambric Inc. and MathStar Inc., ceased operations last year as financial resources ran dry.

CSwitch is venture-backed, having secured almost $60 million in funding from a group that includes Micron Technology Inc. and several venture capital firms. Speculation within the industry is that company executives don't want to acknowledge that CSwitch has closed down because they are trying to sell its assets, including intellectual property.