A leading Sussex software company is part of a multi-million pound merger with an IT business in the US.

ProtoView, which employs 18 people at two sites in Worthing, is linking up with Sheridan, of Long Island, New York, with a staff of 50.

The new company, Infragistics will have a $10million turnover and its European headquarters in Worthing.

Although the company names may not be familiar, their products are used by software writers in a range of fields.

Programs designed by ProtoView are patched into other programs in specialist software, saving designers and writers many hours and thousands of pounds.

The specialist software is used with leading names including Microsoft's Visual Studio.

The enlarged business is now the largest privately-owned component seller in the market place.

Managing director Chris Geiger said: "As development environments mature from client/server to web-based application, a new breed of components and corresponding services needs to emerge to support those development efforts. The combined expertise of our two companies creates a powerful force to deliver and support this new generation of multi-platform products to the development community."

Catherine Munson, who takes on the role of sales and marketing at Infragistics, said: "This merger creates a company that has the vision and ability to deliver a multi-platform infrastructure of components and services on which corporate IT can rely."