David L. O’Brien

PeopleSoft, Inc. provides enterprise software that ties together back-office applications and databases. Its software addresses such tasks as accounting, human resources management and supply chain management. PeopleSoft has expanded its product lines to include vertical applications for manufacturing firms and government agencies. In late 2003 Oracle launched a hostile attempt to purchase PeopleSoft, which ultimately agreed to be purchased for $10.3 billion in December 2004. Oracle completed the acquisition of the company in January 2005. PeopleSoft is located in Redwood Shores, CA.

Sonics, Inc. provides system Internet protocol services. It offers SonicsLX (SLX), a NoC that provides systems-on-chip designers with the connectivity needed for CPUs and other processing engines to memory. The firm provides system Internet protocol solutions, which include security, power, and memory subsystems; development tools; performance analysis solutions and topology structures for the network design. The company was founded by Drew E. Wingard, Grant A. Pierce, and Geert Rosseel in September 1996 and is headquartered in Milpitas, CA.