Based in Silicon Valley, Nadeem Firasta joins Dirac as the Swedish company’s first US-based executive, with responsibility for all North American business development and new product strategies.
Dirac Research, the global leader in platform-optimized audio optimization technology, today announced the appointment of Nadeem Firasta as Vice President of Product Strategy & Business Development, North America. Nadeem joins Dirac after a 17-year career in various leadership positions at Intel Corporation.
“2017 is proving to be a pivotal year for our company. We’ve witnessed the launch of Dirac VR and its critically-acclaimed reception; completed a new round of funding that raised over $4.85-million USD; and forged several key partnerships with leading HiFi audio and mobile manufacturers,” said Mathias Johansson, Dirac Co-Founder and CEO. “Indeed, the global demand for our audio technologies has now grown to the point where a US-based footprint is necessary to fully leverage the opportunities being created by this growth. Nadeem’s product and business development acumen, along with his Silicon Valley community connections, are precisely what we need to propel our company to the next level of success. All of us at Dirac are thrilled to have Nadeem on board.”
Before joining Dirac, Nadeem spent 17 years at Intel leading product planning, architecture development and competitive marketing. Amongst his other leadership roles at Intel, he was also responsible for heading Intel’s Audio, Voice & Speech technology strategy & product planning for multiple product lines. During this time, he directed strategic technology sensing & commercialization in futuristic audio technologies for a diverse set of experiences and end-user applications.
“The last two decades have witnessed major advancements in computing, memory, storage, I/O and energy technologies that have fueled dramatic innovation across nearly all product categories; however, for various reasons, the industry’s focus on component audio technology has lagged behind,” said Firasta. “In recent years, though, with the emergence of AI and natural language processing, and especially with the imminent mainstream adoption of AR, VR and Mixed Reality, audio and sound are becoming a critical element of the overall experience. For a truly immersive experience, audio is as important as the visuals.”
Furthermore, according to Firasta, the growing consumer demand for premium audio in mobile, gaming and home audio products is further driving the industry’s focus on component audio technology. “As a result of these evolving market conditions, numerous players are positioning themselves to capitalize on this opportunity, and no one is better positioned to do so than Dirac Research. I’m thrilled to join this amazing team at such a pivotal time in the company’s history, and contribute to their North American growth.”
In addition to his tenure at Intel, Nadeem has served as a trusted advisor and a close partner to CxOs of various Hi-Tech companies. He holds several patents in the area of microprocessor and SoC design and is also the author of numerous industry white-papers. Nadeem has a M.S. in Computer Engineering from University of Southern California and a M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Business.
Dirac’s suite of audio optimization solutions is currently used by leading blue chip technology companies in the mobile, automotive, and home theater markets such as Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Volvo, Harman, NAD Electronics, Storm Audio, Datasat, Pioneer, and many more. For hi-res photography, click here.