DSP Group (Nasdaq: DSPG), today announced that it has exercised its option to acquire the remaining founders' shares of VoicePump for 161,433 shares of DSP Group common stock, as provided in the original stock-purchase agreement executed March 22, 2000.
As a result of the purchase of the remaining equity, VoicePump will become part of DSP Group's U.S.-based broadband products group and will continue to focus on the development of its VP100 family of products, first announced last October.
"In acquiring the remaining shares of VoicePump, we shall be able to expand our product line of emerging solutions for voice-over-broadband (VoB) gateways in the small- and medium-enterprise markets," noted Eli Ayalon, chairman and chief executive officer of DSP Group.
In a further development, Didier Boivin has been named Chief Executive Officer of VoicePump. Boivin joins VoicePump from Alcatel, where he was General Manager of Alcatel Microelectronics USA, the semiconductor arm of Belgium-based Alcatel (NYSE: ALA; Paris: CGEP.PA), a leading supplier of chip sets for asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) applications. At Microelectronics USA's headquarters in Texas, Boivin was responsible for sales and marketing of DSL modem chips to major DSL and integrated-access-device (IAD) OEMs in the United States.
"The addition of Didier Boivin to our senior management team, in combination with the purchase of the remaining VoicePump equity, demonstrates our commitment to VoicePump, its product line and the key role it will play in the future as part of DSP Group's long-term growth strategy," added Ayalon.
Boivin joins VoicePump as the Company approaches its first product shipment, following on the heels of its announcement last October of the VP100 family of solutions for VoB applications. The VP100 family of products is based on DSP Group's TeakLiteDSPCore(R) processor, which includes an integrated set of peripherals optimized for VoDSL IADs and other packet voice applications.
"With VoicePump joining DSP Group, we hope to be able to leverage the considerable engineering expertise and capital provided by DSP Group," stated Boivin. "DSP Group's resources and the entrepreneurial vision of VoicePump provide an opportunity to position VoicePump and its current and future product lines as low-cost, efficient applications for both VoDSL and VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) solutions."
Published by Israel's Business Arena - 2001.