Two UWB pioneers, Staccato Communications and Artimi, are to merge. The combined entity will be called Staccato Communications. Another $20m of venture capital has been raised to fund the new company.

Marty Colombatto stays as CEO of Staccato, and Andrew Vought, who took over from Colin Macnab as CEO of Artimi in April, will be COO of Staccato.

Asked, at the time of Vought's appointment, why he had been brought in to replace Macnab, Artimi co-founder Mark Moore, replied: "To manage the transition from being a development company to being a revenue-earning company."

Asked why Macnab couldn't have done that, Vought replied: "I have more experience in fund raising." He added: "We do need more money, product commercialisation is expensive and requires cash."

The UWB market has been slower than expected to take off and Wiquest and Intel recently discontinued pursuing the technology. Artimi expects the UWB unit market to be somewhere around a 5m unit market this year. The company has produced reference designs for an external HDD application, an LCD projector application and a printer application.

The R&D centres in San Diego, California and Cambridge, UK will be maintained, but sales offices may be consolidated. The head office will be Staccato's San Diego office.

The plan is to continue to support all the products from both the Artimi product line and the Staccato product line. Combined headcount will be 85.

See also: Mannerisms, the blog of David Manners. Updated twice daily, it's the distinctive, entertaining, authoritative and never dull commentary on the semiconductor industry, from someone who knows. Sign up for the Mannerisms eNewsletter.

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