Stretch Inc. Builds European Presence with New Regional Headquarters in Germany
Thomas Baumeister Appointed as General Manager for Europe; Regional Sales Representatives NamedMOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., November 1, 2004 — Stretch Inc., a pioneer and leader in software-configurable devices, today announced the opening of a European head office in Krefeld, near Düsseldorf, Germany. The office will be headed by Thomas Baumeister, who will serve as general manager for Stretch in Europe, overseeing sales, service and operational functions.
The new Krefeld office is part of Stretch's strategy of steady international expansion and is the second global office it has opened this year. In July, a sales and support office was established in Tokyo to serve the Japanese and Asian markets.
Europe is a potentially lucrative market for Stretch because it is home to a high number of embedded system designers involved in the creation of compute-intensive applications - for which Stretch's software-configurable processor is ideally suited, such as industrial vision, medical imaging, motion control and various other applications in industrial, military and network electronics. Germany was chosen as the location for Stretch's headquarters because of its central geographical position within Europe and its high concentration of potential customers.
"Since the announcement of our S5000 family of processors last spring, we have seen a surge of interest among embedded systems designers and decision makers in Europe," said Gary Banta, CEO and co-founder of Stretch. "It made sense to establish a base of operation in the region where we could work closely with new and potential customers to help resolve their design challenges. I'm pleased that Thomas Baumeister, an experienced and talented industry practitioner, has joined our team to lead this effort."
Baumeister Brings Years of Relevant Experience
Baumeister
is a European electronics industry veteran, serving most
recently as sales manager for the stocking representative
company Broadband Technology in Ludwigsburg, where he
was responsible for the sales of complex semiconductor
products including a wide range of network processors
throughout central Europe to customers such as Alcatel
and Nokia. Earlier, he was technical sales engineer for
the same company.
Before joining Broadband Technology, Baumeister was a sales engineer for ht-Mikroelektronik in Duisburg, focusing on sales of GaAs and mixed signal CMOS ASICs.
Baumeister holds a degree in electrical engineering from University of Duisburg in Germany.
"Every so often a company comes along that delivers a quantum leap in technology and has the potential to transform the industry as we know it," said Thomas Baumeister. "With its strong and unique value proposition, I believe there is great market potential for Stretch in Europe, and I look forward to helping build the company's regional presence."
Stretch Names European Sales Representatives
Baumeister
will manage Stretch's network of manufacturers' representatives, who include Broadband Technology in the UK, Germany and Nordic region, and Aptech in France. The market interest generated by these companies in Stretch over the past year led to Stretch’s decision to open its European base.
"We have a strong and highly qualified network of sales representatives that has been successful in seeding interest in Stretch across Europe," said Baumeister. "Now the objective is to leverage and develop all of that interest."
Stretch's European head office is located at: Schwarzer Weg 15, Krefeld, Germany 47809. The telephone number is +49-2151-521-425, fax number is +49-2151-521-427, and email: sales-europe@stretchinc.com.
About Stretch
Stretch Inc. is delivering a family of software-configurable processors, the first to embed programmable logic within the processor. Using familiar C/C++ programming tools, system developers automatically configure Stretch's off-the-shelf processors to achieve extraordinary performance, easy and rapid development, significant cost savings, and flexibility to address diverse markets and changing application needs. Founded in March 2002, Stretch is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., and has been funded through investments from Worldview Technology Partners, Oak Investment Partners and Menlo Ventures. For more information, visit www.stretchinc.com.