U.S. Robotics to move to smaller headquarters

Schaumburg-based U.S. Robotics is planning to move by December to a much smaller headquarters, but won't be going far.

The modem maker has signed a three-year lease, with options to renew, at 1300 E. Woodfield Road, off Meacham, in Schaumburg. The fifth floor office provides about 8,200 square feet, roughly three times smaller than what it has nearby on National Parkway.

Wilmette-based Crossroads Development Partners LLC owns the Woodfield Road building and will build out the offices for use by the technology firm, said Crossroads manager Mike Nortman.

"They've been looking for some time," he said.

Calls to U.S. Robotics' Web and marketing manager Heidi Haas and a company spokeswoman were not immediately returned.

U.S. Robotics likely has been hit hard both with the brutal recession and the downturn in the technology field. It was one of the first companies to make and sell high-speed dial-up modems for personal computers. It later partnered with CompuService, entered the laptop modem market and produced other products, including data storage, for both the consumer and business markets.

The company moved to Schaumburg in 2001 and was then acquired by Platinum Equity in 2005.

While it had thousands of employees worldwide at one time, U.S. Robotics has roughly 125 today, according to its Web site.