| Type | Public (LSE: PIC) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Information technology |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Headquarters | Saltaire, West Yorkshire, England |
| Key people | Allan Leighton, Chairman Mike Pulli, CEO |
| Revenue | £1,330.9 million (2010)[1] |
| Operating income | £71.1 million (2010)[1] |
| Net income | £49.9 million (2010)[1] |
| Website | www.pace.com |
Pace plc (LSE: PIC) develops set-top boxes (STBs), advanced residential gateways, software and services for the pay-TV and broadband services industry. Pace's customer base includes cable, telco, satellite and IPTV operators in markets across the globe. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index.
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The Company was founded as Pace Micro Technology plc in 1982 and introduced the first low-cost commercially available modems in 1985.[2] In 1987 it started selling its first analogue satellite set-top receivers.[2] In 1995, it manufactured the world's first DVB decoders for Australian satellite company Galaxy.[2]
Pace was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1996.[2] In 1998 the company started shipping digital satellite television equipment for BSkyB.[2] In 1999, Pace purchased the set top box division of Acorn Computers and converted it into its Cambridge office.[2] As a result, for a number of years, Pace owned the GUI RISC OS, and used technologies based on it in its decoder equipment. The Cambridge office was closed down in 2003.[3]
Pace achieved a breakthrough into the United States market in 2000 when it started delivering products to Comcast; the Company also now delivers to AT&T and DirecTV.[4] In 2001, Pace announced that it was outsourcing the last of the manufacturing capacity which remained at Saltaire: the head office was reduced to an administration and development centre.[5]
In March 2002, Pace became the first company to market free-to-view Personal Video Recorders (PVRs).[6] In 2005, Pace in conjunction with Australian subscription television provider Foxtel launched the first DVB-C PVR.[7] In April 2006 Neil Gaydon became CEO, taking over from John Dyson, and Mike McTighe became the new Chairman, taking over from Sir Michael Bett.[8]
In April 2008, Pace acquired the 'Set-Top Box and Connectivity Solutions' division of Royal Philips Electronics, approximately doubling the size of the company.[9] In May 2008, Pace changed its name from Pace Micro Technology plc to Pace plc.[10]
In 2010, Pace acquired US home networking equipment maker 2Wire,[11] IP and Cable specialist, Bewan Systems SA[12] and pay-TV software specialist, Latens Systems.[13] In June 2010, Allan Leighton became the new Chairman, taking over from Mike McTighe. [14]
In December 2011, Neil Gaydon was replaced as CEO by Mike Pulli, formerly president of Pace Americas[15]
Pace's head office is in Saltaire, near Bradford in West Yorkshire. It occupies a large proportion of the Victorian textile mill complex called Salt's Mill. The company has major operations in the USA, France and India as well as the UK HQ.
The company's customers include:
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