Sigma Launches New Organization With Strategic Business Groups

Monday, April 19th, 2010
Sigma Designs logo

Aligns Business for Global Growth in IPTV, Smart Energy and Connected Entertainment

MILPITAS, Calif. — Sigma Designs (NASDAQ:SIGM), a leading provider of system-on-chip (SoC) solutions used to deliver entertainment and control throughout the home, today announced a major reorganization of the company. The reorganization includes the launch of two strategic business groups – the Media Processor Business Group and the Home Connectivity Business Group – as well as a Worldwide Sales Group.

Over the past several years, Sigma has made a number of strategic acquisitions that have created a broad technology portfolio, an expanded base of customers, and new opportunities for highly integrated platforms that form complete system solutions. These acquisitions have included the VXP video processing business, the Z-Wave home control/smart energy business, and most recently, the CopperGate entertainment networking business. Today, Sigma has over 500 employees working in 10 countries and is a key technology provider for most of the industry’s largest set-top box manufacturers, consumer electronics companies, and more than 40 service providers around the world. Sigma’s new organizational structure is being launched to maximize the strategic advantage of these complementary businesses while maintaining a strong focus on its customers and their individual needs.

As a result of this reorganization, Sigma is establishing the following major new groups:

Media Processor Business Group: Headed by David Lynch as Vice President and General Manager (formerly Vice President of Sales & Marketing), this group will have the mission of developing and marketing a wide range of system-on-chip solutions for the set-top box, consumer electronics, and home control markets. The Media Processor Business Group moves forward as the leading provider of IPTV set-top box solutions, DMA solutions, and Z-Wave home control/smart energy solutions along with an emerging position in the IP cable set-top box market and other key initiatives.

Home Connectivity Business Group: Headed by Gabi Hilevitz as Vice President and General Manager (formerly CEO of CopperGate), this group will have the mission of developing and marketing industry-leading home entertainment connectivity solutions for residential gateways, set-top boxes, optical network terminals (ONTs), bridges, consumer electronic equipment, and MDU broadband access devices. Sigma’s Home Connectivity Business Group represents the leading provider of IPTV home connectivity solutions over coax and phone lines, a leading player in Ethernet-over-Coax (EoC) solutions for MDUs and an emerging player in the HomePlug AV and G.hn segments.

Worldwide Sales Group: Headed by Sal Cobar as Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Business Development (formerly Vice President of Worldwide Sales for Silicon Image). This new unified sales group will have the mission to take all products to the market through direct sales, distribution partners, and business development teams. By integrating sales and business development into one centralized organization, this group will improve cross selling, strengthen Sigma’s relationships with key accounts globally and begin promoting integrated solutions.

Additionally, the company has established a new Corporate Development Department, headed by David Baum (formerly VP Worldwide Marketing for CopperGate and its co-founder). This department will handle all Corporate Marketing functions and will help drive the overall evolution of the company and establish a coherent strategy that unifies all business groups. The new structure maintains the existing organizations for Finance, Operations, and Strategic Marketing while streamlining processes across the various business units.

“We have strengthened our management team with seasoned executives,” said Thinh Tran, Chairman and CEO of Sigma Designs. “Having David and Gabi driving their business groups with full profit/loss responsibility while Sal manages our unified sales organization allows us to take full advantage of all our strategic acquisitions, maintain sharp focus on our goals, all while retaining the innovation, rapid progress, and agility that have always been hallmarks of Sigma Designs.”