Gao Research
GAO Research Inc. is a North American B2B software vendor that licenses embedded communications software — VoIP/FoIP stacks, softmodems, fax, speech codecs, and telephony signal processing — to electronics equipment manufacturers, telecommunications companies, and semiconductor firms.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1996
- HeadquartersToronto, Canada
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Gao Research does
GAO Research Inc. is a Toronto-headquartered (with US presence in New York) B2B software vendor specializing in embedded communications software for electronics equipment manufacturers, telecommunications companies, and semiconductor firms. Founded in the mid-1990s and operating for roughly three decades, the company sells a broad suite of standards-compliant protocol stacks (SIP, H.323, V2 over IP), softmodems (V.90, V.92 with legacy fallbacks), Group 3 and Super G3 fax software, T.38 Fax over IP, speech and video codecs (G.711 through G.729, AMR-WB/AMR-NB), and a telephony software suite including G.165/G.168 echo cancellers, VAD/CNG, DTMF, and MF R1/R2 signaling. The portfolio is engineered to run on what the company describes as the industry's broadest range of DSPs and microprocessors, with particular emphasis on MIPS/memory efficiency and support for legacy chipset designs as those parts phase out of the supply chain.
The company's revenue model rests on three streams: embedded software licensing and royalties to OEMs (its core), technical support and testing services, and hardware products distributed through affiliated members of the GAO Group — GAO Tek Inc. (fiber optic and embedded development tools) and GAO RFID Inc. (RFID readers, tags, antennas, and solutions). GTM is sales-led and direct, targeted at enterprise OEMs in North America, with the customer inquiry path going through the company website and a sales team; specific pricing is not publicly disclosed. The firm also hosts TekSummit, a year-round virtual conference series spanning IoT, RFID, drones, 5G/6G, and AI in R&D, and operates Aperture Venture Studio, an internal AIoT startup incubator within the GAO Group.
Operationally, GAO Research is a privately-held, founder-led company under CEO Frank Gao with 11–50 employees and no disclosed external funding or institutional investors. The firm is independent, with parent/owner information unconfirmed in available data, and has expanded beyond its legacy embedded communications franchise into adjacent testing services (structural, environmental, electrical, chemical/water quality) and venture-building activities. Customer concentration, revenue size, and headcount growth rates are not publicly disclosed, and the underlying legacy standards (V.90/V.92 modems, G3 fax, MF signaling) operate in mature or declining end-markets, even as the company invests in AIoT and emerging ICT adjacencies.
Gao Research firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Gao Research
- Legal name
- GAO Research Inc.
- Website
- https://gaoresearch.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1996
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- GAO Research Inc. is a North American B2B software vendor that licenses embedded communications software — VoIP/FoIP stacks, softmodems, fax, speech codecs, and telephony signal processing — to electronics equipment manufacturers, telecommunications companies, and semiconductor firms.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Gao Research industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Embedded Communications Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (51321), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Audio & Voice Mixed-Signal ICs (Codecs/Amplifiers) (HDAHAIAG)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- AV/Collaboration & Unified Communications Support (VoIP, Video, UCaaS) (BPAAACAJ)
Keywords
Where Gao Research is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Toronto
- HQ country
- Canada
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Gao Research business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Embedded Software Licensing: GAO Research licenses embedded modem software, fax modem software, speech codecs, and telephony software to electronics equipment manufacturers, telecommunications companies, and semiconductor companies. Software is embedded into customer products.
- Technical Support and Services: The company provides technical support and testing services alongside their software products, providing comprehensive solutions to embedded engineering customers.
- Hardware Products: Through affiliated companies GAO Tek and GAO RFID, the company also offers hardware products including embedded development tools and embedded RFID solutions.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Gao Research product offering
Product offeringCore offering
GAO Research Inc. licenses embedded communications software — including VoIP/FoIP protocol stacks (SIP, H.323, T.38), softmodems (V.92/V.90 with legacy fallback), Group 3 fax software, speech and video codecs, and a telephony software suite (echo cancellers, VAD/CNG, DTMF, MF R1/R2) — to electronics equipment manufacturers, telecommunications companies, and semiconductor firms for integration into their products such as MFPs, set-top boxes, and point-of-sale terminals. Software is portable across the broadest range of DSPs and microprocessors, and is bundled with technical support and testing services.
Product overview
GAO Research Inc. is a software solution provider specializing in embedded communications software for electronics equipment, telecommunications, and semiconductors. The core portfolio consists of a unified set of embedded modem, fax, speech, video, and telephony software products that support the broadest range of DSPs and microprocessors. The product suite is organized around V2 over IP Stacks (SIP and H.323 protocol stacks) as the foundational framework, supplemented by VoIP and FoIP solutions, V.92 and V.90 softmodems with fallback options, Super G3/G3 fax software, speech vocoders (G.711 through G.729 and GSM-AMR), video codecs, and an extensive Telephony Software Suite (including G.165/G.168 echo cancellers, VAD/CNG, DTMF, MF R1/R2, and AEC). Supporting services include RFID Embedded Software, RFID Solutions & Services, and the Aperture Venture Studio AIoT startup incubator. The company also hosts TekSummit, a year-round virtual conference series on emerging ICT technologies.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- V2 over IP Stacks Complete suite of high-performance, field-proven Voice and Video over IP protocol stacks enabling network interoperability. Modular, efficient in MIPS and memory consumption. Built for electronics equipment manufacturers and telecom equipment vendors integrating VoIP/videotelephony into embedded products.
- V.92 Softmodem
- V.90 Softmodem
- Super G3 / G3 Fax Software
- Fax Over IP (FoIP / T.38)
- Voice Over IP (VoIP)
- Speech Vocoders
- Video Codecs
- Telephony Software Suite
- RFID Embedded Software
- RFID Solutions & Services
Companies that use Gao Research
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Gao Research technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature7 records
Gao Research partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- GAO Tek Inc.coreMember company of The GAO Group of Companies. GAO Tek is a leader in fiber optic and other high-tech products for businesses. Both companies collaborate on TekSummit events and serve common markets in North America.
- GAO RFID Inc.coreMember company of The GAO Group of Companies. GAO RFID is a leader in RFID readers, tags, antennas, and solutions for access control, parking, asset tracking, people tracking, inventory management, WIP, etc. Both companies collaborate on TekSummit events and share market presence.
- Aperture Venture Studio by GAOminorVenture studio within The GAO Group focused on building AIoT startups. Provides career opportunities, co-founder opportunities, engineering roles, and startup executive roles. Part of the company's innovation ecosystem.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Gao Research competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- AudioCodes: AudioCodes develops VoIP, speech codecs, and SIP/H.323 stacks for enterprise and carrier equipment. It is the closest commercial analog to GAO Research's embedded VoIP and speech codec portfolio, serving the same OEM customer base.
- Radisys: Radisys delivers embedded communications software platforms (VoIP, media processing, SIP stacks) to OEMs and service providers. GAO and Radisys compete for embedded software design-wins in similar telecom-equipment accounts.
- Bicom Systems: Bicom Systems supplies VoIP/PBX software, telephony stacks, and SIP/H.323 protocol implementations to OEMs and service providers. It targets a similar SMB-and-OEM customer profile with comparable protocol-stack products.
- Dialogic: Dialogic supplies communications software and platforms (media gateways, Session Border Controllers, signaling) for service providers and enterprises. It overlaps GAO's telephony/VoIP software and OEM integration model directly.
- TelcoBridges: TelcoBridges provides telephony media gateways and signaling software (SS7, SIP, ISDN) to telecom OEMs and integrators. Its telephony-software licensing model is structurally similar to GAO's embedded telephony suite.
- Patton Electronics: Patton Electronics builds VoIP gateways, SIP/SS7 devices, and embedded telephony hardware/software for SMB and carrier customers. It licenses embedded telephony functionality to OEMs in a similar fashion to GAO's telephony and protocol stack business.
- Octasic: Octasic builds DSP software and silicon for VoIP media processing, echo cancellation, and telephony. Its embedded VoIP/codec stack focus closely mirrors GAO's speech-vocoder and echo-canceller product family.
Broad incumbents
- Ribbon Communications: Ribbon Communications (formed from the merger of GENBAND and Sonus Networks, now also including Sangoma's solutions business) is a large incumbent offering carrier VoIP, SBCs, and session management. It competes with GAO at the OEM/carrier software layer but with a much broader portfolio.
- Sangoma Technologies: Sangoma (now part of Ribbon) provides Asterisk-based telephony software, SBCs, and VoIP hardware. Its open-source-Asterisk + commercial-telephony approach directly competes with portions of GAO's telephony and VoIP product lines.
Emerging players
- VocalTec: VocalTec historically pioneered VoIP softswitches and SIP stacks for carriers and OEMs. Although much smaller today, its IP-communications software heritage and carrier-class protocol focus make it a thematic peer to GAO's V2 over IP stacks.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Gao Research social profiles
Digital presenceGao Research financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Gao Research leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Gao Research subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries5 records
Gao Research funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Gao Research M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Gao Research
What does Gao Research do?
GAO Research Inc. licenses embedded communications software — including VoIP/FoIP protocol stacks (SIP, H.323, T.38), softmodems (V.92/V.90 with legacy fallback), Group 3 fax software, speech and video codecs, and a telephony software suite (echo cancellers, VAD/CNG, DTMF, MF R1/R2) — to electronics equipment manufacturers, telecommunications companies, and semiconductor firms for integration into their products such as MFPs, set-top boxes, and point-of-sale terminals. Software is portable across the broadest range of DSPs and microprocessors, and is bundled with technical support and testing services.
Is Gao Research a public or private company?
Gao Research is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Gao Research founded?
Gao Research was founded in 1996. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Gao Research based?
Gao Research is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, in the North America region.
How does Gao Research make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Embedded Software Licensing is the primary driver. The others are technical Support and Services and hardware Products.
Who are Gao Research's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are AudioCodes, Radisys, Bicom Systems, Dialogic, TelcoBridges, Patton Electronics and Octasic. Broad incumbents are Ribbon Communications and Sangoma Technologies. VocalTec is listed as an emerging player.
Does Gao Research have an API?
No public API is recorded for Gao Research.
What industry is Gao Research in?
Gao Research's product category is Embedded Communications Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAHAIAG, Audio & Voice Mixed-Signal ICs (Codecs/Amplifiers), with a secondary code of BPAAACAJ, AV/Collaboration & Unified Communications Support (VoIP, Video, UCaaS). Its NAICS code is 51321 and its SIC code is 7372.