No financial details were given by Intel (Santa Clara, Calif.) although EE Times understands from a source that Intel paid about $3 million or $4 million for Conformative.

“Intel Corporation has acquired Conformative Systems, a key provider of hardware-based XML acceleration technologies. The acquisition combines Intel’s proven platform capabilities with Conformative Systems’s substantial hardware-based XML acceleration IP and engineering expertise. The acquisition support’s Intel’s strategy to deliver added value to computing platforms through products that help our customers implement end-to-end web services solutions,” Intel said in statement sent to EE Times on Wednesday (Feb. 8).

Charles River Ventures, one of two venture capital companies that backed Conformative (Austin, Texas) with $11 million in 2004, said on Tuesday (Feb. 7) that the startup had been acquired but declined to name the buyer. This provided an explanation of why Conformative’s website had been inoperative for several days and why Conformative executives had either been unavailable or had not returned calls.

Conformative, founded in 2003, was initially led by cofounder and former IBM server engineer John Derrick as chief executive officer. As part of the Series A round of funding that raised $11 million, Conformative accepted former Sun Microsystems executive, John Shoemaker, on to its board of directors in November 2004. At that time the company planned to have its first processor products out in the first quarter of 2005.

In June 2005, former Sun Microsystems executive Paul Rochester was brought in as chief executive officer, with Derrick moving to the role of chief strategy officer. At that time no mention was made of processors and the company had shifted its position with Conformative now described as an XML server company.