Meet the Minds Behind Octavo: How Innovation and Experience Drive Our Mission
At Octavo Systems, we believe simplifying embedded design leads to faster innovation. Our System-in-Package (SiP) technology exists to break down the barriers that slow down hardware development—especially for small, fast-moving teams. But behind every SiP we build is a team of industry veterans, problem solvers, and systems thinkers who are passionate about making complex embedded systems easier to design, scale, and ship.
In this post, we share the story of how Octavo began, introduce a few of the minds behind our mission, and give you a closer look at how we’re building a smarter foundation for embedded development.
How Octavo Systems Started
Octavo Systems was founded in 2013 in Sugar Land, Texas, by three semiconductor veterans—Gene Frantz, Masood Murtuza, and Erik Welsh—with deep roots in embedded systems and decades of combined experience, particularly at Texas Instruments (TI). Their vision was clear: make powerful embedded systems more accessible by dramatically reducing the complexity of building them.
While System-on-Chip (SoC) technology continues to evolve and integrate more functionality, it’s still only a piece of a larger system. Designing around it still requires specialized knowledge—memory layout, power sequencing, component selection, and system-level debug are just a few of the many layers developers have to manage.
System-in-Package (SiP) technology offers a smarter approach. Rather than providing a chip and leaving developers to build the rest of the system around it, our SiPs combine the SoC with memory, power, and other essential components in a single, production-ready module. That means minimal external connections, fewer variables to debug, and significantly faster development cycles.
Meet Our CTO: Erik Welsh
One of our founders, Erik Welsh, serves as Octavo’s Chief Technology Officer. With a background in embedded systems design across industries—from medical devices to consumer electronics—Erik understands firsthand the challenges developers face when moving from prototype to production.
At Octavo, Erik focuses on architecting SiPs that don’t just work well—they work better for developers. By building around real-world constraints (budget, board space, team size), he helps make our SiPs intuitive, flexible, and highly usable for a wide range of applications. His engineering-first mindset ensures we continue to reduce complexity without compromising performance.
What Drives Us: Our Mission
Our official mission says it best:
“To free developers to focus on innovation by minimizing the challenges of electronic system design through the integration of system-level functionality into easy-to-use System-in-Package (SiP) solutions.”
That mission is baked into every product we build. Whether it’s our SiPs based on the TI AM335x, the STM32MP1 from STMicroelectronics, or our most complex integration yet—the AMD ZU3—our goal remains the same: make it easier for teams to develop with advanced processors, without getting stuck in the weeds of system architecture.
Engineering With Purpose: The Octavo Culture
We don’t just build advanced technology—we build it with intent. Here’s what defines how we operate:
- Innovation-Driven – We look for smarter, more efficient ways to solve deep hardware problems.
- Developer-Focused – Our users are engineers. We build tools and documentation with their workflow in mind.
- Agile & Collaborative – As a tight-knit team, we move quickly, iterate fast, and work closely with our customers.
- Community-Oriented – We believe in educating the ecosystem. That’s why we offer extensive resources, documentation, and support.
These principles allow us to punch above our weight, delivering robust solutions that empower developers across industries—from startups to enterprise engineering teams.
Helping Teams Move Fast
By taking care of memory layout, power sequencing, and system-level integration, our SiPs enable small teams looking to move fast to spend less time troubleshooting hardware and more time building real products.
Our integrations are designed to shorten development cycles and eliminate common pain points—no more managing DDR layout, sourcing and qualifying dozens of components, or debugging low-level power-up sequences.
And because our SiPs encapsulate so much of the system complexity in a compact, production-ready package, they also help reduce BOM risk, simplify supply chain management, and make your product more reliable out of the box.
Real-World Impact Across Industries
Octavo Systems’ SiP solutions are already making a difference in real products:
- Medical devices that demand reliability and compactness
- Industrial automation and robotics where long lifecycles and ruggedness are critical
- IoT gateways and edge AI devices where connectivity and compute need to scale
- Consumer electronics and AR where size and power efficiency are everything
- Startups and small teams needing to bring proof-of-concept to production—fast
Our customers come to us because they want to build more, debug less, and get to market faster. We’re proud to be part of what makes that possible.
Looking Ahead
Octavo Systems is committed to pushing SiP technology forward—not just in capability, but in accessibility. As new applications and architectures emerge, our focus will remain on empowering the developers behind them. We’re not trying to replace great engineers—we’re trying to give them the tools to move faster, think bigger, and build smarter.
Because we believe the future of embedded systems will be built by those who can out-innovate, not just out-engineer.
Want to simplify your next embedded project?
Contact Us and learn how our SiPs can help accelerate your development.
