Thursday, June 16, 2011

Ikanos names interim President and CEO

Editor's Note: This is the second CEO transition in the last 14 months.

FREMONT, CA--(Marketwire - Jun 15, 2011) - Ikanos Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: IKAN), a leading provider of advanced broadband semiconductor and software products for the digital home, today announced that, effective immediately, John Quigley has resigned as president and CEO, and as a member of its board of directors. Diosdado Banatao, the executive chairman of Ikanos' board of directors, was elected interim president and CEO effective immediately. The Company will begin a search for a new president and CEO.

"We thank John for the job he has done as Ikanos' president and CEO," said Banatao. "His engineering expertise, business acumen and leadership will be missed. He helped the Company turn an important corner, brought greater focus to the organization and drove the development of truly breakthrough broadband technologies that should propel Ikanos' future growth."

"Working together as a team we have established both a truly compelling roadmap and the disciplined processes and thinking to execute and deliver it. Moving forward, I will now be pursuing interests more aligned to my passion for change management and enabling both individuals and organizations to explore the unfettered art of the possible," said Quigley.

Banatao has been the Company's chairman of the board since August 2009 and executive chairman of the board since April 2010 and previously served as the Company's interim president and chief executive officer from April 2010 to July 2010. Banatao has served as a founder and managing partner of Tallwood Venture Capital, a venture capital firm, since July 2000. From April 2008 to June 2009, Banatao served as interim chief executive officer of SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc., a publicly-traded company that was acquired by CSR plc in June 2009 (SiRF). From October 2006 to August 2007, Banatao served as interim president and chief executive officer of Inphi Corporation. Prior to forming Tallwood, Banatao was a venture partner at the Mayfield Fund, a venture capital firm, from January 1998 to May 2000. Banatao co-founded three technology startups: S3 Graphics Ltd in 1989, Chips & Technologies, Inc. in 1985 and Mostron in 1984. Banatao holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Mapua Institute of Technology in the Philippines and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Ikanos Reconfirms Guidance
In addition, the Company confirmed its revenue and earnings outlook for the second quarter of fiscal 2011. The Company expects its revenues for the second quarter to be between $31.0 million and $34.0 million.

About Ikanos Communications, Inc.
Ikanos Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: IKAN) is a leading provider of advanced broadband semiconductor and software products for the digital home. The Company's broadband DSL,communications processors and other offerings power access infrastructure and customer premises equipment for many of the world's leading network equipment manufacturers and telecommunications service providers. For more information, visit www.ikanos.com.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Analog Devices acquires Lyric Semiconductor

Norwood, MA (06/13/2011) - Analog Devices, Inc. (NYSE: ADI) today announced that it has acquired Lyric Semiconductor, a privately-held Cambridge, Massachusetts, company. Comprising a talented team of circuit design and algorithm experts, Lyric Semiconductor has developed an innovative set of techniques that have the potential to achieve an order of magnitude improvement in power efficiency in mixed-signal processing and enable additional signal processing functionality in a broad set of applications.

“As a leader in signal processing, ADI continually looks for opportunities to incubate ideas and invest in promising technologies for the future,” said Sam Fuller, ADI CTO and vice president of R&D. “Lyric’s domain knowledge, commitment to advancements in signal processing, and innovative spirit are a great fit for ADI and a strong addition to our long-term technology strategy.”

"Analog Devices and Lyric Semiconductor are extremely well aligned from a strategic perspective," said Ben Vigoda, Lyric co-founder and CEO. "We are excited about the commitment ADI is making to our team and technology and look forward to leveraging ADI's leadership and strengths to further innovate in the signal processing domain." The entire Lyric team, including co-founders Ben Vigoda and Dave Reynolds, are now ADI employees.

Analog Devices completed the acquisition of Lyric Semiconductor on June 9, 2011.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Qualcomm to Acquire the Assets of Rapid Bridge

SAN DIEGO, June 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced it has agreed to acquire substantially all of the assets of Rapid Bridge LLC, a San Diego-based inventor of advanced techniques for the design and development of semiconductor products. The company's technology reduces complexity in integrated circuit (IC) development at advanced technology nodes to enable greater design flexibility and optimized die size and power consumption.

Rapid Bridge's San Diego design team and San Diego/Bangalore engineering services operations will be integrated into Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. The asset acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval and fulfillment of certain terms and conditions, is expected to close by the end of fiscal year 2011.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Intel acquires SiPort for digital radio technologies

From the SiPort web site:

Dear Valued Customer:

On May 25, 2011 Intel Corporation acquired SiPort. On behalf of Intel Corporation, we want to take this opportunity to assure you of Intel’s commitment to our customers and a seamless transition.

Digital radio is poised to become an important ingredient for handsets and other mobile devices as broadcast radio transitions from analog to digital. Intel’s acquisition of SiPort enhances our abilities to continue as the leading provider of low power, single-chip CMOS solutions enabling wide spread adoption of broadcast digital radio. SiPort’s digital radio expertise and solutions will leverage Intel’s market and technology leadership to provide best-in-class digital radio solutions. 

The sales support and order management system provided by SiPort prior to the acquisition will continue in a ‘business as usual model’ for your product support needs on SiPort branded products. We are currently in transition planning phase, with the objective of making this transition as smooth as possible for you. Please be assured that as transition plans firm up we will provide you with detailed updates. 

Please continue to contact the sales representative you worked with at SiPort before the acquisition for support or questions until directed otherwise by Intel through future communications.

Intel is excited about this acquisition and values your business. We look forward to working with you during this transition and in the future. Thank you in advance for your support during this transition.

Sincerely,

David Rolston
Senior Director, Mobile Wireless Group
Intel Corporation

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

BCD Semiconductor Manufacturing Agrees to Acquire Auramicro

SHANGHAI, China, May 31, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BCD Semiconductor Manufacturing Limited ("BCD Semiconductor") (Nasdaq:BCDS), a leading analog integrated device manufacturer, or IDM, based in China, specializing in the design, manufacture and sale of power management integrated circuits, or ICs, today announced that it has acquired Auramicro Corporation, a private company incorporated in Cayman Islands with main operations in Taiwan, for approximately $5.6 million in cash. The acquisition will add a significant engineering team to BCD's power management IC research and development team. In addition, the acquisition will expand BCD's rapidly growing DC/DC product portfolio with solutions that can leverage BCD's Fab 2 manufacturing process currently under development.

"The addition of Auramicro's analog design team and power IC product portfolio will be a great complement to BCD's growing power IC business," said Chieh Chang, CEO of BCD Semiconductor. "We feel our differentiated business model will allow us to continue to take share in the multi-billion dollar power IC market and we are excited to have Auramicro's team join the BCD family."

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the second fiscal quarter of 2011. The acquisition, which initially adds approximately $500 thousand in operating expenses per quarter, is expected to be neutral to BCD's earnings per share in the company's 2011 fiscal year and accretive in 2012.

About BCD Semiconductor

BCD Semiconductor Manufacturing Limited ("BCD Semiconductor") is a leading analog integrated device manufacturer, or IDM, based in China, specializing in the design, manufacture and sale of power management integrated circuits, or ICs. Our broad portfolio of power management ICs primarily targets rapidly growing, high volume markets such as mobile phones, LCD televisions and monitors, personal computers, adapters and chargers and other electronics products. As an IDM, BCD Semiconductor integrates product design and process technology to optimize product performance and cost. We offer system-level solutions with the quality, performance and reliability required by our customers. Our China-based operations provide proximity to the rapidly growing electronics industry in Asia, enabling us to align our product development effort with customers and market trends and to provide timely and effective technical support. For more information, please visit http://www.bcdsemi.com.

About Auramicro

Auramicro designs analog and mixed signal products including power management ICs, LED drivers, and touch screen controllers for LCD panels. The Company targets data communication, set-top box, LCD monitor, LCD TV, mobile, and LED lighting applications. Auramicro is registered as a Cayman Islands company with headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan and an office in Shenzhen, China.

Maxim Acquires Edinburgh-Based Calvatec Ltd.

Maxim Integrated Products, Inc., has acquired privately-held Calvatec Ltd., based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Calvatec is a leader of highly integrated, analog and mixed-signal system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for consumer and communications applications. Calvatec brings Maxim breakthrough IP as well as industry-leading design methods and production flows. It employs 15 people.