Video: Inside CSwitch headquarters

7/2/2009 6:41 PM EDT

Tired of being stonewalled by executives at programmable logic startup CSwitch Corp., fearless colleague Mark LaPedus and I stopped by the firm's Santa Clara, Calif., headquarters Wednesday (July 1) on a quest for answers. Unfortunately, we didn't get many.

The office was not shut down, as had been rumored. But there appeared to be few people inside, and nobody there was willing to speak to us about the status of the company. We were referred to President and CEO Doug Laird, who, we were told, was out on vacation.

We spoke briefly with the firm's office manager. When we asked to speak with an executive about the firm's status, we were told that everyone was currently in a meeting. We said we would wait. Later, the office manager said she had spoken with Laird and that he was eager to speak with us. She suggested that we email him.

We never ventured beyond the lobby. But through a glass door we saw two other employees pass by. One of them, I believe, was Godfrey Paul D'Souza, a CSwitch co-founder and the company's vice president of engineering.

At one point during our visit, someone else noticed us through the glass doors and asked if we needed help. When we identified ourselves and asked if the company was out of business, the man said he couldn't comment. When we said we were waiting to speak with someone he said he didn't think anyone was going to be willing to talk to us about that. Then he closed the glass door.

While we were waiting in the lobby, we shot this Eyewitness News-style video.

We finally gave up. But at the polite suggestion of the office manager, I emailed Laird and requested once again a brief interview. Nearly 24 hours later, Laird has not responded. He also failed to respond to a voicemail left for him Tuesday.

Meanwhile, emails from sources saying that CSwitch has shut down keep coming in (see my previous post). One reader said he learned Wednesday that CSwitch had cancelled its bottled water delivery service.

High-tech startups are frequently the subject of rumors. You've got to take them with a grain of salt, particularly when the rumor is that a company has thrown in the towel. But in this case, where there is smoke their appears to be fire. We've heard from several credible sources that CSwitch has ceased operations and that its employees are looking for work.

My take is that the information from credible sources, combined with the failure of executives to respond to inquiries and the skittish behavior of employees at the company's headquarters, leads to an inevitable conclusion.

Not only that, but even my post yesterday suggesting that the company may be kaput has failed to draw any response. That's telling, given that misspelling an executive's name in a piece is typically enough to prompt quick, angry reaction.

In defense of Laird and the other CSwitchers, I am sure their hands are tied. This is obviously a very difficult situation for them, and they've likely been instructed to say nothing. Investors are probably strategizing on how to sell the firm's assets, including intellectual property.

How about you? If anyone out there has heard anything about what is going on at CSwitch, please don't be shy. Share with the group via the forum below.