Gyricon LLC and the World of Electronic Paper

Gyricon LLC was formed to commercialize electronic paper technology developed at Xerox PARC. This technology was developed through a PARC research program in the ’90s, leading to the formation of Gyricon in December of 2000. The company has recently evolved into a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox, with corporate headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company’s initial focus is in the emerging eSignage market, utilizing SmartPaper™ technology in its SyncroSign™ product family. SyncroSign™ is a portable, battery-operated electronic sign that displays dynamic content across a Wi-Fi network. SyncroSign™ utilizes SignSync™ Software to provide a total messaging and scheduling solution.

The company has recently installed pilot systems of various SyncroSign™ form factors (Message Board, Merchandiser) in a variety of market segments. Market enthusiasm exists in retail, hotel/hospitality, retail banking, event management, university athletics, airports and general business lobby applications. Gyricon will be the first company in the ePaper market to announce a commercially available product. This product announcement will be held at PARC on the day of this Special PARC Forum.

In this Forum, Nick Sheridon, inventor of the Gyricon display, will briefly describe some history of the early technology development at PARC. Robert Sprague, will overview the formation of the company and activities leading to product readiness. Bryan Lubel will present the current status of the company, along with description of the initial products launched the day of the forum, along with plans for the future. In addition, he will provide a demonstration of products.

Presenter(s)

Bryan Lubel became President and CEO of Gyricon, LLC in August of 2003. Lubel joined Gyricon from the Avery Group, where he served as chief operating officer. Prior to that, he served as executive vice president of sales and marketing at the Sutherland Group, Ltd; vice president and general manager of North American operations for the Xerox Channels Group; and Northeast region manager for systems at Compaq Computer Corp. He has over 20 years experience in general management, sales, marketing, product marketing, channel marketing, operations and systems design. Lubel holds a B.S. in Management Information Systems from the State University of New York. He has also completed both management and technology programs at Ohio State University and Laval University, Quebec, Canada.

Dr. Robert Sprague became Vice President and CTO of Gyricon, LLC after working as Interim CEO to set up the company in December 2000. Prior to joining Gyricon, Dr. Sprague was Manager of PARC's Document Hardware Laboratory, responsible for activities in advanced ink jet printing, integrated direct marking systems research, and electric paper (the predecessor to SmartPaper™). Since joining PARC in 1976, Sprague held a range of technical and management positions including that of Associate Center Manager. He holds over 60 patents, is a recipient of the Xerox "President's Award," a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and SPIE, a co-holder of the SPIE Kingslake Award, has over two dozen publications, and has been extensively involved in organization of technical meetings in the field of optics, electronic imaging, and data storage. He is also internationally known for his work as President of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering, and received the SPIE "President's Award" in 1993. Dr. Sprague has a B.S. and a Ph.D. in Optics from the University of Rochester.

Nick Sheridon was a Senior Research Fellow at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) until he joined Gyricon LLC, soon after its inception, as Director of Research. He invented the Gyricon technology and directed the Gyricon research program for more than 8 years. A physicist, Sheridon has more than 25 years experience with electronic printers and displays. He invented the first holographic blazed diffraction grating and published the first paper on acoustical holography. He has been awarded more than 90 U.S. patents.