Apr 1, 2002 12:00 PM

ComSpace, Coppell, TX, known for its innovative digital-channel, multicarrier-architecture technology, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in Dallas federal court on March 25. Along with the company's other assets, the technology will be sold by the court.

Venture investors including Sevin Rosen of Dallas and Noro-Moseley Partners of Atlanta had pumped millions of dollars into ComSpace, but by late last year, more financing was needed. An effort to secure more venture funding came close but ultimately failed, and in October, half of the company's 80 employees were laid off.

The company's president, Steven E. Fulford, told the Dallas Business Journal that an angel investor agreed to invest $5 million, and Fulford promptly rehired 10 employees. Before the investment could be completed, Fulford's wife, Denise, died of a heart attack, and Fulford took two weeks off. In the meantime, the investor was injured in an auto collision and died of his injuries.

“I would be surprised if the company, under some other name or some other company, is not resurrected and starts fresh,” Fulford told the Journal.

Chuck Bolash, ComSpace's vice president of sales until the October layoff, said that he and many others were committed to the DCMA technology. “I hope someone will pick it up out of bankruptcy court and do something with it,” he said.

By Dec. 1, all but 10 employees had been let go. By the end of March, with bankruptcy looming, the company had virtually ceased operations with perhaps only Fulford and the chief financial officer, David Craig, tending to the office.

The company withdrew from exhibiting at the International Wireless Communications Expo. The ComSpace Web site is dark, and the telephones were scheduled to be disconnected on April 1.

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