Octasic Appoints Robert Blake as CEO

Blake joins Octasic with extensive knowledge of the telecom industry. He has been developing ASICs and programmable logic for high-performance communication applications for more than 20 years. At Altera, Blake was responsible for defining the programmable logic product portfolio, ensuring that Altera's products leveraged the most advanced technology and precisely met customers' requirements. Prior to Altera, he developed ASIC technology at LSI Logic and Fairchild, where he worked in both engineering and strategic marketing positions.

Since its inception over 10 years ago, Octasic has established a solid reputation in the semiconductor industry. Having achieved both consistent growth and profitability over the last several years, Octasic has built a strong financial foundation for continued R&D investment and market expansion. The recent introduction of the Vocallo DSP family is based on Opus, an innovative clock-less DSP core technology targeted at the media gateway and Software Defined Radio (SDR) macro cell market. Having already gained significant design win momentum, this unique technology produces devices that are highly silicon efficient and exhibit ultra-low power consumption, unmatched by conventional synchronous design methodologies.

“We’re very pleased to bring someone with Robert’s qualifications, experience, and familiarity with our industry and customer base to Octasic,” said Michel Laurence, co-founder and retiring CEO of Octasic. “We felt it was the right juncture to make a leadership transition to bring aboard someone who could usher Octasic into its next growth phase and bring even greater success to the company. Robert is the person the board retained after a very rigorous and extensive selection process. I am very pleased with our choice and I look forward to working with him and actively supporting him in my new role as executive chairman.”

Blake holds a master’s degree in business and microelectronics and a BSc. in applied physics and electronics from the University of Durham in England. He has experience developing high-performance chips combined with a broad knowledge of customer requirements gained during his tenure as vice president of product planning at Altera.

“I was drawn to Octasic because of its highly efficient clock-less DSP technology and extensive software expertise for voice, video and wireless applications,” said Robert Blake. “We will continue to innovate by bringing new products to market that excel in power/performance benchmarks. I’m excited to work with this technology and to leverage my experience to benefit Octasic and its customers worldwide.”