Vitesse Semiconductor

Vitesse Semiconductor is a fabless American semiconductor company based in Camarillo, California, which develops high-performance integrated circuits solutions for Carrier and Enterprise networks.

Corporate history

Vitesse was founded in 1984 as Vitesse Electronics Corporation. Its founders came out of Rockwell International and were funded with $30 Million from the Norton corporation. It later raised venture capital from Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates. It changed its name to Vitesse Semiconductor in 1987. It became a public company in 1991. In 1999, it acquired XaQti and in 2000, acquired Orologic.^[1]

Products

Vitesse was one of the early developers of Gallium Arsenide based integrated circuits. It now offers a line of Ethernet switching products consisting of Carrier Ethernet switch engines for customer premise equipment, access network equipment, wireless base stations, mobile access equipment, fiber and microwave wireless backhaul equipment, and metro networking equipment; and Ethernet switches that enable desktop, workgroup, and LAN infrastructure. The company also provides Ethernet media access controllers that offer addressing and channel control mechanisms and are used in enterprise class modular Ethernet switch platforms, as well as in Ethernet-over-SONET/SDH and Ethernet-over-OTN systems used in access, metro, and long-haul carrier networking systems; Ethernet transceivers, including single, quad, and octal devices that allow the transmission of 10/100/1000 BASE-T data over category 5 copper cable and fiber optic cabling for use in personal computers, home electronics, and LAN applications; and Ethernet transceivers with packet timing and synchronization capabilities. In addition, it provides a line of connectivity products, which comprise mixed-signal physical media devices, physical layer devices, crosspoint switches, and signal integrity devices that are used for the connection of systems via optical fiber, copper cable, or backplanes. Further, Vitesse offers a range of transport processing products, such as framers, mappers, and switches, which support data rates up to 10 Gbit/s for SONET/SDH, EoS, and OTN applications. It markets and sells its products directly to OEMs and original design manufacturers, as well as through third-party electronic component distributors and manufacturing service providers.^[2]

Securities fraud

In 2007 the company paid US$10.2 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging securities fraud though option backdating, saying that the company failed to disclose and misrepresented some adverse facts.^[3] Subsequently, in 2010, two of its former executives, founder Lou Tomasetta and the former executive vice president Eugene Hovanec were charged with securities fraud related to the backdating.^[4] In December 2010, Vitesse finalized a settlement with United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), over the SEC's investigations into the firm's historical stock options practices and accounting. Vitesse agreed to pay $3.0M to the SEC, which concluded the SEC's investigation of Vitesse.^[5]

Restatement

On April 26, 2006, Shares of Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. were pounded on Thursday after the company said it would need to restate financial statements going back more than three years as a review panel found indications of additional accounting improprieties.^[6]

References