Arkle Res Regulatory News (ARK)

24 Sep 2007 07:00

ARC International (LSE:ARK) today announced that it has acquiredAlarity Corporation. Alarity is a privately held U.S. multimediacompany that has a renowned team of close to 40 personnel based in St.Petersburg, Russia specializing in codec software, firmware, andadvanced multimedia architectures. The acquisition includes all ofAlarity's employees and its vast library of optimized solutions forstandard definition (SD) and HD video, hi-fidelity audio, imaging,DSP, and information security applications. £ Alarity's development team already plays a key role in selectengagements with "Tier 1" customers creating multimedia solutionsbased upon ARC's configurable processors and subsystems. Theacquisition will make available Alarity's full set of resources to abroader number of ARC customers and prospects, enhance ARC's ongoingmultimedia product development efforts, and bolster itscustomer-specific engineering capabilities. £ Alarity's engineers are experts in HD video and image processing,hi-fidelity audio algorithms, coding and compression, A/V pre- andpost-processing, encryption, digital watermarking, and digital rightsmanagement. All of these technologies are essential to create acomplete next-generation system for HD DVD, BluRay DVD,next-generation iPTV, and HDTV broadcast standards. £ As part of the acquisition ARC has established a multimediadevelopment center in St. Petersburg, which complements ARC's existingcenters in Cambridge and St. Albans, England, and Silicon Valley. Dr.Eugene Metlitski, co-founder and CTO of Alarity, will join ARC'sOffice of the CTO currently staffed by Dr. Akash Deshpande, Dr. DavidGreaves, Dr. Tom Pennello, and Dr. Nigel Topham. Renowned in the fieldof signal processing, computer architecture, and information security,Dr. Metlitski has authored more than 50 books and papers, holds 9patents in the field of computer science, and is a member of theeditorial board of an international technical journal. £ Carl Schlachte, president and CEO of ARC International, said, "Theacquisition of Alarity supports ARC's strategy of providingcomprehensive, integrated SoC solutions for advanced multimediaapplications. In engagements with major customers, Alarity has provenits ability to optimize algorithms, software, and system architecturesfor highly efficient and ultra-low power operations. By being afull-time member of the growing ARC team, a broader set of customerswill benefit from the ability to quickly leverage Alarity'sworld-class offerings for their high-volume SoC designs." £ "This is an exciting time in ARC's history as the company growsits capabilities in optimized multimedia hardware, software, anddevelopment tools," said Felix Litvinsky, co-founder and CEO ofAlarity, who also joins ARC as a vice president of the company. "Weare very pleased to be joining ARC, and look forward to extending thejoint development work already underway to customers globally." £ The consideration will be GBP 2 million in cash. An additionalconsideration of GBP 900,000 will be paid over two and half yearsbased upon completion of certain performance targets. The acquisitionmay have a cost impact of up to GBP 450,000 on ARC's financial year2007 operations. £ About ARC International plc £ ARC International is the world leader in configurable mediasubsystems and CPU/DSP processors. Used by over 140 companiesworldwide, ARC's configurable solutions enable the creation of highlydifferentiated system-on-chips (SoCs) that ship in hundreds ofmillions of devices annually. ARC's patented subsystems and cores aresmaller, consume less power, and are less expensive to manufacturethan competing products. £ ARC International maintains a worldwide presence with corporateand research and development offices in California and St. Albans, UK.For more information visit www.ARC.com. ARC International is listed onthe London Stock Exchange as ARC International plc (LSE:ARK). £ ARC and the ARC logo are trademarks or registered trademarks ofARC International. All other brands or product names contained hereinare the property of their respective owners. This press release maycontain certain "forward-looking statements" that involve risks anduncertainties, including the development, implementation, and releaseof features described herein. These are at the sole discretion of ARCInternational. Licenses from 3rd parties for certain software andessential patents may be required depending on licensee'suse/implementation. For other factors that could cause actual resultsto differ, visit the company's Website as well as the listingparticulars filed with the United Kingdom Listing Authority and theRegistrar of Companies in England and Wales. Copyright Business Wire 2007