Vesper and Linkplay Announce Partnership for Amazon Alexa Voice Service Products with Demo at CES

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 08, 2018 -- Vesper, developer of advanced acoustic sensors, and Linkplay Technology, an Amazon Alexa Voice Service (AVS) Solution Provider, today announced a partnership to integrate Vesper’s piezoelectric MEMS microphones into Linkplay’s AVS enabled modules in 2018. The two companies will demo the products and the technology behind them for the first time at CES in January 2018.

Linkplay offers qualified Wi-Fi audio hardware and software modules to help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original design manufacturers (ODMs) integrate Amazon Alexa into connected products. The company has selected Vesper’s piezoelectric MEMS microphones because of their proven durability, stability and high-quality design.

The new line of products integrates Vesper’s VM1000, VM1010 and new VM2000 piezoelectric MEMS microphones, the only MEMS microphones that maintain high system performance over the life of a product in the presence of environmental contaminants such as dust, water, oil or particles.

“Demand for voice-enabled products, such as those Linkplay is helping OEMs roll out, is skyrocketing as the world becomes more voice-powered,” said Matt Crowley, CEO of Vesper. “Vesper MEMS microphone arrays are the most durable, long-lasting, stable piezoelectric microphone arrays on the market, and the high-quality reference design will create an outstanding experience for Linkplay customers who are looking to build better products for consumers.”

The new VM2000 targets voice-activated systems such as smart speakers, smart home and Internet of Things (IoT) products — which use microphone arrays to enhance voice capture and clarity — solving a critical need for stable, reliable and accurate microphone arrays that do not degrade over time. The Vesper and Linkplay partnership will enable OEMS in disparate product categories to make voice interface hardware or to enable voice in existing hardware products.

“The robust, high-performance mics from Vesper will provide improved performance for many of our products, including smart speakers,” said Lifeng Zhao, PhD, CEO of Linkplay. “We’re thrilled to apply Vesper mics to our AVS end products that we are designing for various customers."

“Part of our Alexa Fund investment strategy is to help startups access the companies and technologies in the voice community that can accelerate Alexa integrations and create new capabilities,” said Paul Bernard, Director, Alexa Fund. “It’s great to see our portfolio company Vesper integrating with AVS Solution Provider Linkplay — we can’t wait to see the new voice-enabled products these technologies will create for customers.”

Vesper and Linkplay will demonstrate their new technology from January 9-12 during CES 2018. For more information on Vesper mics, please visit the company’s website. To schedule a private meeting with both companies, email: [email protected].

About Vesper
Vesper is a privately held advanced sensor company based in Boston, Mass. With origins at the University of Michigan, Vesper’s award-winning microphones are driving a new era of pervasive voice interfaces and acoustic event-detection products via a proprietary piezoelectric MEMS technology. For more information, visit www.vespermems.com, Twitter, YouTube, and Vesper Blog.

About Linkplay
Linkplay Technology, headquartered in Silicon Valley, CA and Shanghai, China, was founded by a global team of hardware and software engineers, business executives, and wireless audio experts. Linkplay’s patent-pending technology is a turnkey Wi-Fi audio platform with global streaming music content integration, app and cloud development for speaker brands and original design manufacturers (ODMs). Technology partners include ODMs, component suppliers and key technology investors. For more information about Linkplay, visit www.linkplay.com or email [email protected].

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