clients & industry contributions

Due to the confidentiality of most of our client relationships and work, below is a partial, public list of "the company we keep". This list includes enterprise and recent startup clients, as well as past and other spinoffs, spinouts, licensees, and ventures with PARC contributions. 

To see a list of clients and at-a-glance overview of PARC today, please download our fact sheet.

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Microglyph
embedding digital data

Microglyph Technology GmbH, a provider of customized auto-ID solutions headquartered in Germany, licensed basic PARC DataGlyphs® patents to form the foundation of their proprietary Microglyph® code. PARC DataGlyphs® are an unobtrusive method of embedding computer-readable data on a variety of surfaces. Unlike most barcodes, PARC DataGlyphs® are flexible in shape and size making them suitable for curved surfaces.

 

 

dpiX
displays & sensing for digital medical imaging

Xerox PARC spinoff dpiX, the world's leading source for high-resolution amorphous silicon (a-Si) sensor arrays, was acquired by Trixell (a Siemens Medical/ Phillips Medical/ Thomson-CSF joint venture), Planar Systems, and Varian Medical in 1999. dpiX a-Si technology provides the foundation for medical, industrial, military, and security X-ray imaging.

 

 

ContentGuard / acquired by Microsoft, Time Warner, Thomson/ acquired by Pendrell
digital rights management (DRM)

ContentGuard was spun-out in 2000 to develop and license software for digital rights management. Its eXtensible rights Markup Language (XrML) digital rights-management software, developed at PARC, authorizes access to content or a network service in a language that multiple systems can read. In 2005, Microsoft, Time Warner and Thomson acquired ContentGuard. In 2011, Pendrell Technologies announced they would work with Time Warner to accelerate ContentGuard -- "a leading inventor, developer and licensor of DRM and related content distribution patents and technologies" -- to provide flexible DRM solutions for the growing digital content distribution market.

 

 

Kirtas
book scanning technology

Kirtas Technologies, Inc. holds an exclusive license for page-turning technology developed by PARC and the Xerox Wilson Center for Research & Technology. Kirtas, a pioneer in high-quality digitization, is known for its patented automatic book scanners, software, and services which reduce the cost and overhead of mass digitization.

 

 

GroupFire / Outride / acquired by Google
personalized search technology

GroupFire, Inc. was spun off from PARC in 2000 to commercialize almost 70 PARC intellectual property claims covering information retrieval, personalization, contextualization, data mining, natural language semantic analysis, and artificial intelligence. GroupFire enabled personalized and simplified Internet searches by managing bookmarks and allowing access to them from any computer connected to the Internet. GroupFire later became Outride, Inc., whose intellectual property and technology was acquired by Google in 2001.

 

 

Uppercase / acquired by Microsoft
portable document reader

Uppercase, Inc. was spun out in 1988 to commercialize a result of PARC’s ubiquitous computer research: a thin, lightweight, pen-based, page-oriented, network-accessible portable document-reading device (PDR) for the mobile professional. The technology was acquired by Microsoft in 2000.

 

 

Inxight Software / acquired by Business Objects / acquired by SAP
information visualization & knowledge extraction

Inxight Software, Inc. was spun out by PARC in 1996 to provide information visualization and knowledge extraction software. The software commercialized PARC’s unique approach to information visualization by using a hyperbolic browser and other focus-plus-context visualization techniques to give the user 3-D views of text databases. Business Objects acquired Inxight in 2007. Business Objects was acquired by SAP in 2008.

 

 

Placeware / acquired by Microsoft
web-based meeting & presentation solution

PARC’s research on how a sense of place can create more meaningful interaction on the Internet resulted in a 1996 spin-out company called Placeware. The company provided users with a live, Web-based presentation solution for field and customer communication, and became the largest Internet meeting solutions provider. Placeware was acquired by Microsoft in 2003 to become Microsoft Office LiveMeeting.

 

 

LiveWorks
electronic whiteboard technology & collaborative meeting tools

PARC’s research on computational support for real-time, multi-media collaboration in face-to-face and remote meetings resulted in the creation of the LiveBoard, a blackboard-sized touch-sensitive screen capable of displaying an image of approximately a million pixels, which utilized a keyboard and electronic pen for collaborative annotation and drawing.  LiveWorks was spun out in 1992 to market LiveBoards.

 

 

Semaphore Communications
network encryption

Semaphore Communications was spun out in 1990 to bring advanced encryption systems for networks technology to the marketplace. A distinguishing feature of this technology was that it performed encryption in the hardware, which made it faster than most software-based products.

 

 

Documentum / acquired by EMC
document management processes

Documentum was spun out in 1990 to commercialize document management solutions. Documentum software enabled a change made in one place in a document to be automatically replaced in all appropriate places in a document. Documentum was acquired by EMC in 2003.

 

 

AWPI
print controller system

Advanced Workstations Products, Inc. was spun out in 1989 to productize a high-performance, low-cost, non-proprietary print controller system for Xerox high-end printers to operate on a network. Xerox bought back the company in 1991.

 

 

ParcPlace Systems / ObjectShare / acquired by Cincom Systems
object-oriented programming

The Smalltalk-80 object-oriented programming language was commercialized through the formation of ParcPlace Systems in 1988. Smalltalk was the first object-oriented programming language with an integrated user interface, overlapping windows, integration documents, and cut & paste editor. ParcPlace became ObjectShare in 1997, and its VisualWorks business unit was acquired by Cincom Systems in 1999.

 

 

StepperVision / acquired by Optical Associates
wafer processing

StepperVision was spun off in 1987 to market a monitoring device that specified optimal settings for semiconductor equipment called “wafer steppers.” The technology was developed by PARC to speed up the alignment of silicon wafers during lithography in the wafer line it used for making experimental integrated circuit designs. Optical Associates, Inc. acquired StepperVision in 1988.

 

 

SynOptics / Bay Networks / acquired by Nortel
Ethernet fiber optics

PARC developed an Ethernet system that could operate on an optical cabling system. This resulted in the 1985 spin out of SynOptics Communications, Inc., who pioneered the use of Ethernet networking technology over phone wire commonly found in most buildings. It became Bay Networks in 1994, and was acquired by Nortel in 1998.

 

 

Microlytics / acquired by SelecTronics
spell-checking software

Microlytics, Inc. was spun out in 1985 to commercialize linguistics-based technology resulting from PARC’s research and understanding of the deep structure and mathematical properties of language and artificial intelligence. This linguistic compression technology was used for visual recall, intelligent retrieval and data compression technologies for spell-checking software. Microlytics was acquired by SelecTronics, Inc. in 1990.

 

 

Adobe
page description language

PARC engineer John Warnock created the Interpress Page Description Language, a proprietary computer language to control Xerox laser printers. Warnock and PARC Imaging Sciences Laboratory manager Charles Geschke founded Adobe Systems, Inc. in 1983 to develop PostScript, a next-generation Page Description language that became the standard in desktop publishing.

 

 

Spectra Diode Labs / merged with JDS Uniphase
solid-state lasers

Based on PARC’s distributed feedback (solid state) laser using gallium arsenide (GaAs), Spectra Diode Labs, Inc. (SDLI), a joint venture between Xerox and Spectra-Physics, was formed in 1983 to develop high-power state-of-the-art solid-state semiconductor laser diodes. SDLI and JDS Uniphase merged in 2001.

 

 

Komag / acquired by Western Digital
disk storage

Former PARC researcher Tu Chen founded Komag, Inc. (1983), which became the leading supplier of thin-film disks, the primary high-capacity storage medium for digital data for consumers of computers, enterprise storage systems and electronic appliances such as digital video recorders, game boxes and consumer electronic storage systems. Komag was acquired by Western Digital in 2007.

 

 

Metaphor / acquired by IBM
database manipulation

Metaphor Computer Systems, Inc. was founded by former PARC researcher David Liddle in 1982 to develop systems that enabled nontechnical professionals to access and manipulate data in large computer data bases on high-powered workstations. While at PARC, Liddle worked on the Ethernet local area network for personal computers and the graphical user interface. Metaphor was acquired by IBM in 1991.

 

 

ScanSoft / Nuance
image decoding

PARC technology for document image processing was part of Xerox Imaging Systems' (later ScanSoft) award-winning digital imaging software. ScanSoft was acquired by scanner software product developer Visioneer, which then became ScanSoft and acquired/merged with SRI spinoff Nuance in 1995. Nuance Communications today is a leading provider of speech and imaging applications -- including embedded speech recognition, optical character recognition software, and desktop imaging software.

 

 

Optimem / acquired by Cipher Data Products / acquired by Archive Corporation
non-erasable magneto-optical storage

Optimem was spun out in 1980 to commercialize non-erasable magneto-optical storage device technologies developed at PARC to enable high-speed access of information for the Xerox Alto personal workstation. Optimem was acquired by Cipher Data Products, Inc. in 1986, which was acquired by Archive Corporation in 1990.

 

 

Aurora Systems
computer paint (graphics) system

PARC researcher Dick Shoup invented SuperPaint (1973), a pioneering graphics program and pixel-based frame buffer system. Shoup left PARC in 1979 to co-found graphics company Aurora Systems to develop and market further generations of painting and animation systems and to supply computer graphic services for the video broadcast and production markets.  Shoup won an Emmy award in 1983 for his work done at PARC in the 1970s and an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement in 1998.

 

 

GRiD Systems / acquired by Tandy (Radio Shack)
portable computer

John Ellenby led the Xerox Alto II personal workstation development team at PARC prior to leaving in 1979 to found GRiD Systems Corporation. GRiD developed the Compass, a “clamshell case” portable high-end computer for executives and other specialized application laptops before being acquired by Tandy Corporation (Radio Shack) in 1988.

 

 

VLSI Technologies / acquired by Philips Electronics / NXP Semiconductors
VLSI ASIC technology

Former PARC researcher Doug Fairbairn co-founded VLSI Technologies, Inc. in 1979. The methodologies used were developed at PARC by Fairbairn and Lynn Conway with California Institute of Technology researcher Carver Mead. VLSI Technologies, Inc. became the pioneer of application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) technology. In 1999, it was acquired by Philips Electronics and is part of Philips spin-off NXP Semiconductors.

 

 

 

 

3Com / acquired by HP
networking equipment

PARC computer scientists Bob Metcalfe and Dave Boggs invented the Ethernet in 1973; it became a standard for connecting computers over short distances. Metcalfe left PARC in 1979 and founded 3Com Corporation, a manufacturer of computer networking equipment.