DSP Innovator Datum Telegraphic Acquired by PMC-Sierra

PMC-Sierra, Inc. announced the acquisition of privately held wireless semiconductor company Datum Telegraphic.
Datum Telegraphic's staff of over 30 employees will join PMC-Sierra's team of over 1000 employees worldwide (over 600 located in Burnaby, BC.). The Datum Telegraphic team will contribute wireless system design and Digital Signal Processing (DSP) expertise to PMC-Sierra's expanding portfolio of 3G wireless solutions.

Datum's technology features a new class of DSP silicon which provides breakthrough system cost improvements by allowing traffic for all major digital wireless standards including W-CDMA, EDGE, or cdmaOne to be transmitted using a single digitally controlled power amplifier architecture. Previous Base Transceiver Station (BTS) solutions required multiple power amplifiers per system. Datum's core technology also improves the performance for second-generation single carrier systems such as GSM, LMDS and Wireless Local Loop applications.

Datum Telegraphic has been working closely with PMC-Sierra and several major wireless infrastructure equipment manufacturers on the implementation and testing of Datum's patented power amplifier linearization technology.

PMC-Sierra will exchange approximately 681,000 shares of PMC-Sierra common stock for the remaining 92% of Datum Telegraphic that the company does not already own. The transaction, subject to completion, will be accounted for as a purchase and is expected to close in the third quarter.

Edited by Gregg Miller