fortune checks out 25 cool companies for products, ideas, and investments - company name plates stainless steel

(
Fortune magazine)
You're Conan O'Brien. Try to calm down.
Stop trying and CBS pays you $42 million to host this late show.
Try to stay calm, you are 3 years old.
Stop trying, you're Logitech, which thinks the computer mouse is not a thing for it, but now it ships more mice every year than powerful Microsoft.
Create better products-
Or a better joke. -
You may cause a sensation. In an info-
The age of technology is rapidly losing its innocence.
Will the Justice Department take Bill? Gates to court? )
Every company in our review has qualities that can inspire you.
But that doesn't mean they are all great successes.
Only some will conquer the universe and make you regret that you have not invested ---
Or not, because many of them are privately held. Info-
Technology companies don't need to be young to create amazing products, and their founders don't need to be young.
The youngest executive at Infosafe Systems is 51.
Elwood Norris
Like the head of Norris Communications, 55 years old, with nine children.
One factor distinguishes this group from a similar list we collected last fall: the Internet.
McAfee Associates writes software for it, sells products through it, and enterprise integration technology helps others trade their business on it.
The founder of the women's wire met through the internet and they called it the "Post-90 s blind date" introduction model.
"Like every cool company since IBM's brilliant times, these companies have shown enviable ability to ignore the old rules.
The CEO of a company does not think that the headquarters is needed, so there is no headquarters.
Another company did not stipulate the number of days off and told employees to take time off when they were tired.
The third requires the customer to pay for the software on the honor system and will not be particularly troublesome if they do not pay.
Cool company, like cool people, don't waste time looking at what the other person is doing from the shoulder.
Stephanie Losey Mosaic Communications (founded 1994)
Internet business software sales in Mountain View, California: no staff: 18--
Master cash: You are Jim Clark, 50, a Silicon Valley legend.
You just left to bring 3-
Computer graphics for workstations and Hollywood.
You left with about $37 million in stock, not to mention any other money you 've made over the past ten years since you started the company. What to do?
You have a great yacht. -
Why not go to Fiji anymore?
Your old company is now working on video servers and design suits
Top box for interactive TV enterprise testing.
But you think the real action is the Internet, which connects 20 million people around the world, and it is growing at a rate of 20% per month, according to some estimates.
You said, "before the first batch of 100,000 users had broadband --
There will be billions in TV service.
Dollar deals on the Internet.
"You know how to start a company.
Just hire a smart kids team from a popular computing university like Stanford or Illinois.
After all, that's how you create Silicon Graphics.
The trick of the country
How: you're 9-year-old Mark Anderson, a smart kid in New Lisbon, Wisconsin (pop. 1,450). You're bored.
So you go to the library, look at computer books, and teach yourself how to write Basic, a programming language.
This is before you touch the computer.
When you get one, you write a math program that day.
After graduating from high school, you leave New Lisbon for the University of Illinois, home to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).
You set up a team and created a software program, Mosaic, to help people browse the Internet through hypertext links that connect information
Rich computers around the world.
In March 1993, you can provide mosaic online for free.
A year later, more than a million people are using it. Now you're 22.
Palo Integration Technologies is a Palo Alto company interested in developing commercial applications for Mosaic, which pays you a lot of money, so you can go to the West.
A few weeks after you arrived, Jim Clark, Jim Clark, emailed youmail.
He asked you to travel on his yacht.
He offered you a job.
You struggled with this decision for more than a month.
Your employer will make you feel guilty.
You are in pain playing Hamlet.
But, as the employer now admits, "When you're 22, Jim Clark calls you and wants you to find a company with him and you do it.
"So you moved to Jim's new office in Mountain View.
You recruit your university partner.
Now you can make real money.
Investors with questions: Read the story and you'll think, "How can I get a part of it?
"Because you know the Silicon Graphics have been returned 33.
6% per year since its listing in 1986;
Mosaic is the hottest software on the Internet;
Employees of General Electric and J. P.
Morgan's already in use.
Business growth on the Internet may indeed be as fast as Jim Clark thinks.
The problem is, this time, Jim is not the only one who has a good idea of creating and supporting mosaics --
Basic products for commercial use.
At least eight companies have obtained commercial development licenses for NCSA (
Please see the story below).
Some companies may offer products before Mosaic Communications.
So this area is very open.
But are you going to bet Jim Clark? --
Enterprise Integration Technology (1990)
Palo Alto e-commerce software & consulting sales: $5 million (est. )Employees: 27 --
Don't feel sad if you haven't figured out how to do business on the Internet.
Until April, even technical experts like Intel and HP
Packard does not know how to buy, sell or collect payments on e-highways that become the world's de facto.
Because Marty tenbaum was pushing them, they combined their actions.
"We need to create markets," said Tenenbaum, CEO of Enterprise integration technology . ".
The EIT operates eticenet, a non-profit consortium of more than 50 companies who want to use the Internet as a medium to initiate, negotiate and conclude transactions.
Although companies have long been doing pre-arranged transactions through private networks ---
For example, banks have reached an agreement with the Fed on its own network ---
They use the wide land very slowly. open Internet.
This global network is not easy to browse or secure.
Business may help change that.
By adding privacy features to software such as Mosaic, which users of Internet navigation tools can get for free, teccenet aims to make the exchange of sensitive data secure.
For example, chip manufacturers will be able-
Daily catalog and price adjustment-or hourly --
Reflect the ebb and flow of demand.
The customer will look for the best deal from several vendors and send the order equivalent to "encrypted" or encrypted credit card numbers over the network.
The seller will decrypt the number with on-
Line clearing office and ship chips.
Tenenbaum did not start a market.
After 20 years as a researcher at Schlumberger and other companies, he believes that EIT is a software and consulting company that will help businesses make transactions using the Internet.
The business of EIT grew by 1992, but not very fast.
EIT decided to stimulate online business by allowing everyone to agree to start doing business immediately ---
At least major Silicon Valley companies like Apple, Intel and HPPackard.
Then, it signed a large regional bank to develop-
Line mechanism for billing and inspection
Writing and issuing of letters of credit.
Finally, EIT applied for a start-up fund from Uncle Sam.
"It's natural to ask the government to take the last point," said Alan hefman, chief technology officer at EIT . ".
"Cover things that are not in the interests of any company.
"The promotion of EIT for technology reinvestment projects, this is a multi-project
Using defense research funds to try to make the United States the organization of the U. S.
More competitive, won $6 million.
Commercial advertising deals in the first few months were mainly limited to information sharing.
In order to ensure the security of financial transactions, the coding system can not be fully implemented until autumn.
When the first real market of the Internet should turn on its lights. --
Jennifer Reese women's clothing (1992)On-
Women's hotline service income in southern San Francisco, California: N. A. Employees: 8 --
When Alan Parker decided to step down as chief operating officer of a small software company in Palo Alto to start a business
Line service for women, no competition. No wonder --
Although the service was long overdue in her view, 90% of Internet users were men.
"All I hear is that women don't use-
"Line service," she said.
"It's like a joke.
Two men selling shoes went to a tropical island.
Someone called his office and said, 'I'll be back tomorrow--
No one is wearing shoes here.
The other called his office and said, don't expect me to come back in a month ---
No one wears shoes here! ' " An on-
Line acquaintance recommends that Pack, 29, contact Nancy Rhine, 43, who runs a consulting business for telecom startups.
The Rhine has extensive experience in building an electronic community and a real community.
She spent 1970 of her time on the farm, 1,500
Member commune of Tennessee
After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, Rhine eventually became the manager of the best well on the Internetknown on-line community.
Regulars in the computer industry wonder whether the couple's services are more than a hobby. But focus-
Many women are eager, according to group research. line service --
As long as it is easy to use.
Women's Wire was launched in January with a clear, simple graphics that made the web look so tempting that Women called to ask what kind of PC they should buy to join.
The service has 1,300 users, paying $2 per person.
50 or more per hour, attend any of the following 240
Line meeting.
These chat groups range from SAFU and friends who solve lesbian issues to cooking corners that include recipe tips.
For women working from home, the female wire is a virtual water cooler and a forum for networking and research.
Business people seeking female feedback can simply log in and ask for feedback, as can a Jockey underwear executive who is surrounded by complaints about itchy labels.
Non-profit organizations can issue tenders free of charge;
Businesses that want to advertise must pay-yet-
Starting this fall, the undetermined cost of participating in the service market segment.
The woman's wire is absolutely low. rent operation.
The headquarters has a large room with tables and computers and two other founders offices.
Pack and Rhine rely on the revenue of advertisers, coupled with an increasing number of users and a 55% profit, to make this service a force for online servicesline world.
Pack expects 10,000 users in a year-
What does she think is the break-even point of the company.
All forums are open to men except sex, with 10% of male users. (
The host of the sexual Forum checks their gender by calling participants when they join. )
Is the founder worried that men will become too intrusive?
The Rhine said: "If a man wants to come in
Queuing and reading about menopause or children
They can have bras, but I don't think there's much super
Very interesting for them. " --S. L.
Data security (1982)
Sales of data encryption Redwood Coast, California: $5 million $10 million (est. )Employees: 30 --
The struggle over how to ensure the privacy and security of cyberspace communications has put the NSA's spy masters in trouble, with thousands compared to a small privately held California company, the budget is said to exceed $10 billion per year.
Almost everyone in Silicon Valley supports this little guy.
RSA is the darling of libertarian hackers, as it sells a way to make the unwanted eye unable to recognize the digital exchange ---
Including the big brother.
The National Security Agency wants manufacturers of computer and communications equipment to deploy its so-
It's called Clipper chip.
If technology works-
This is a big assumption, according to the latest research ---
Clipper will make it possible for the FBI to read emails
Mail from citizens and businesses.
The reason is: the government wants a way to stop the use of cyberspace by cheaters and terrorists from being punished.
Jim beizos, president of RSA, thinks this is a ridiculous argument: "It's kind of like the Interstate Highway System that the FBI said in the 1940 s?
Are you kidding?
Do you know what kind of interstate crime is going to happen?
"Bidzos claims that the NSA has threatened to lose government contracts if many companies use RSA technology.
Still, RSA's customer list is part of the computer industry, including Microsoft, Apple, Motorola, IBM, December and HPPackard.
RSA was created by MIT mathematicians Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Len Adleman.
They are outstanding scholars but inexperienced businessmen.
The company quickly overran its liabilities and was nearing collapse in 1986, when it made a huge breakthrough: reaching an agreement with Lotus to put encryption technology into products known as Notes.
RSA generates its code by multiplying it by a large prime number;
In theory, breaking them is just an arithmetic problem.
But this task requires such a mind.
The computing power is amazing, and the thief is not worth it.
RSA, as a market research tool, released sample codes and challenged hackers to crack them.
It has paid about $100,000 in rewards to those who have been successful over the years.
But to collect, code spoilers have to tell RSA how much computer power they have applied in how long.
In this way, RSA can advise customers on how much encryption customers need before they potentially crack the program.
A team led by Bellcore researchers recently broke 129-
By assigning work between 600 people running 2,000 workstations in 8 months, the digital RSA code.
Don't worry: most financial institutions use more than 150 digits of code to protect their data transmission, which is at least 20 times more difficult to break through than the data transmission solved by Bellcore.
"Encryption is like a condom," said Bidzos . ".
"I can't guarantee it will work, you don't know it will work, but it will be safer to use it. " --
Logitech International (Germany)1981)Add-
Ons revenue for personal computers in Fremont, California: $0. 3 billion Employees: 2,400--
"We don't want to be in mice," said Pierluigi Zappacosta, president of Logitech, who naturally refers to computer mice.
"They seem to be under our intelligence.
We want to be a software company. -like Microsoft.
"However, Logitech, a Zappacosta company founded with chairman Daniel Borrell, now produces nearly 20 million mice a year, or one for each mouse. 6 seconds.
This makes Logitech the most important mouse manufacturer in the world. The runner-up? Microsoft.
How can two guys who don't want to touch mice breed them like rabbits?
"We learned that small things are not always simple or unimportant," Zappacosta said . ".
In fact, this humble mouse is a key step in the development of personal computers, and is the predecessor of a series of increasingly complex peripherals manufactured by Logitech and called "senseware.
"Actually Borel and Zappacosta have expanded to make the computer's eyes, ears and sounds as much as possible in as many forms as possible.
They even believe they will make a nose one day. -
A chemical sensor that allows the computer to sniff out the emotions of the owner.
Logitech has the mouse for the rest. Right or right handhanded.
There is a mouse for children. -
Like a real mouse.
There is a wireless mouse that uses radio waves rather than the usual infrared, so objects on messy tables cannot prevent communication with computers.
And a 3-
D mouse that allows the user to move behind the object displayed on the screen.
The price of this rodent is $1,000, which is used on a computer.
Auxiliary design system.
Logitech also produces video cameras and static cameras, 3-
Joystick, trackball, scanner and soundboard.
Zappacosta believes that the diffusion of specialized sensory equipment has just begun: "We are like packaged --
Before packing coffee, tomato sauce, margarine, the commodity industry.
He said the holy grail of the company--
Although he may not see it. -
It's a direct brain. to-computer link.
Borel is Swiss and Zappacosta is Italian. He met more than 1970 students in his teens while studying computer engineering at Stanford University.
They were moved by Silicon Valley's enthusiasm for starting a business and dreamed of "transplanting that flower to Europe ".
Zappacosta recalled, "but there was no venture capital in Europe at the time, and bankers would not go to 27-year-olds.
In 1981, the couple managed to secure the right to sell Swiss wine
Mouse design in USAS.
Logitech was born.
The company made $6 last year. 3 million.
Although headquartered in California, Borel and Zappacosta have also appeared in the United States recently. S.
At the investment conference, Logitech's shares were traded only on the Swiss stock exchange. --
Peter Nulty radish communication system (1990)
Software combined with phones and PCs, Boulder, ColoradoA. Employees: 50 --Radish co-
Founder and Chairman Richard Davis wants to change the way you use the phone now.
No need to wait for a digital phone line or two-
Cable System for tomorrow.
In a few months, you should be able to hang your phone and computer on the radish.
Equipped with a modem and ready to speak and share files on the screen during the same call.
A modem equipped with the company's VoiceView technology transmits data in a burst manner, interrupting conversations for two or three seconds to send text or simple graphics of page value.
Some of the biggest names in the modem and voice --
Processing equipment is considered a successful method. U. S.
Robots, Hayes micro-computer products, Intel and eight other companies are planning to add VoiceView to their upcoming offerings.
Davis, 49, said he thought of voice views when trying to make an airline.
Booking: "The travel agency is reading the information from her screen and I am trying to copy it as quickly as possible.
When I hang up the phone, I think there must be a better way.
"After 21 years at & t Bell Labs, he already knows a better way ---
Some operators began to install digital networks, but he felt it was too slow.
Why not try to provide consumers with the best features of sdn on existing lines?
The funding for Davis Vision comes first from the sale of his beloved 1978 Porsche 911, then from family and friends at his wedding, as well as the union of former AT&T Marketing Manager, radish companyfounder. (
The guests bought radish bonds, which they later exchanged for stock options. )
But funding remained low by the end of 1991.
Venture capitalists worried about the couple's lack of management experience advised them to hire a professional.
David Klein, 51, helped Xerox launch its first fax machine.
One of the earliest products of radish is the modem. plus-display-
Screen for stock brokers and travel agents.
Customers are reluctant to invest $600 per user in proprietary equipment from a company nobody has ever heard.
Therefore, Klein and Davis began to make VoiceView an open standard licensed manufacturer using the VoiceView protocol (
Instructions to tell the modem how to communicate).
Getting the attention of industry giants like Hayes was a challenge until a Microsoft executive saw VoiceView at a trade show.
In February, Microsoft promised to advise 300,000 Windows software developers on how to add VoiceView to its products. VoiceView-
The equipped modem will appear this fall.
Even AT&T was giving it.
The staff nodded.
It makes a sound.
Span system compatible with Radish, allowing users to talk and exchange data at the same time. --Alison L. Sprout MAXIS (1987)
Sales of simulation software in Olinda, California: $23 million employee: 95--
Here's a reliable way to make money: sell software that makes people play God. Environment-
SimCity 2000's manufacturer Maxis's simulation software makes you a city planner, mayor and God by allowing you to create and control a city on the screen.
You can carve the terrain and add hills, trees and lakes.
Use a badly shrunk currency-
A hydropower station costs $400. -
You build highways and hospitals for your residents.
But once you set the simulation to motion, you have to bear the consequences of your choice.
The public will cheer when the park is built.
Building enough police stations to reduce crime to memory, and the Sims may resist ---
The tax on all police officers was paid. Co-
38-year-old founder and CEO Jeff Braun fell in love with the simulation, who played a program called "small computer man" on the Amiga computer in the middleEighties.
There is an animated character in the game that the user can observe on the screen, walk around his small house and perform tasks such as decorating a tree on Christmas Day, or burning fireworks on July 4.
The user's job is to feed the little guy by clicking the space bar;
If he doesn't get the food, the guy beats on the screen.
Braun was determined to "starve" the character "---
There is no quick task because the game is operated in real time.
Even after Braun left a message on his screen saying don't feed this little guy, his colleague
The workers will sympathize with him in an attempt to defeat his plan.
Braun recalled: "I finally got it to the point where he fainted on the floor, dead, so cool.
"A new school was born. Meanwhile, co-
Will Wright, the 34-year-old founder, invented SimCity as a free programmer at Broderbund.
The company refused because there was no way to win. Clearly, Br--
Debon does not appreciate the charm of creating the universe;
Maxis sells millions of sequels such as SimCity and SimEarth, SimFarm and SimAnt (
Turn your PC into a simulated ant colony).
These items usually cost $50.
Sales of Maxis grow at a rate of 70% per year.
It wants to attract customers to SimWorld, a greatly enhanced fantasy that allows them to follow their own interests no matter how unlikely.
If you 've always wanted to manage a military base, you'll buy a military module and worry about how federal budget cuts will affect your money.
Or the next step is to buy local newspapers and disrupt budget proposals by publishing hawkish editorials.
When you realize all your dreams, your pocket will be a few hundred dollars lighter, which is why Maxis is doing research and development to SimWorld.
The first module will not come out in about two years.
In the meantime, Maxis will promote the following products to the market
SimCity's ons, like a program that lets you draw landmarks to add to your burg.
Eventually players will be able to locate their SimWorld--
But not the other way around. --S. L.
McAFEE Support (1989)
Santa Clara, California network security management company sales: $28 million employees: 105--
McAfee Associates, a software manufacturer, may have mastered the Zen of business.
CEO Bill Larson said: "Our point is that money will come back to you if you give up your desire to make money.
"It's not just talk ---
McAfee offers its VirusScan products on-on
An online service that is evaluated free of charge and requires continued use of their customers to pay for their honor.
McAfee provides technical support and free monthly upgrades for thieves and paying customers.
If this business model sounds like a recipe for disaster, consider a few numbers. McAfee (pronounced MAC-a-fee)
Profit margin before tax is 65%.
In 1993, the income per employee reached $400,000.
The company has a 67% market share in anti-corruption. Virus Software--
Programs that prevent dangerous codes from entering the computer through a modem, office network, or contaminated floppy disk, and destroy any incoming viruses.
Some viruses, like stone worms, put harmless information on your screen (
"Your computer is now stoned ");
Others will throw away every file on your hard drive.
In the face of rival Symantec, McAfee has maintained its dominant position, and Symantec is almost ten times the size of Symantec.
It's not bad for a company that claims to have abandoned material products.
John McAfee, the 48-year-old founder, lived in the dojo in 1987 when he invented the first program to fight computer viruses.
Now he lives in a million.
Dollar beach house in Santa Cruz is the chairman and executor of the company's Taoist principles.
McAfee recently fought Larson over the latter's decision to scale down.
Pack the software and sell it in the store.
"John told me that software is an electronic moment and should not be used on disk," Larson said . ".
He added that he convinced the chairman-
Naturally, no extra charge-
Program for automatic dialing-
Online service where users can find more McAfee software for free evaluation.
Until this year, McAfee focused on anti-virus.
It collects the latest samples sent by customers around the world, develops treatment protocols, and provides monthly updates to its products that kill 98% to 99% of the viruses they encounter
Separate PCs and workstations, as well as NetShield for the network.
But Larson, a marketing veteran at Apple and Sun Microsystems, is not happy.
He said: "Just in the fight against corruption, our annual sales can reach $50 million.
But not $100 million.
In order to take McAfee to this range, Larson decided that it should provide more products for its main customers-administrators running the company's computer network.
McAfee bought a pair of networks this year-
Management software company;
It now offers a dozen software tools to help automate network management.
Some programs cost thousands of dollars, but McAfee still offers them for freetrial basis.
What would McAfee do if some hackers invented an incurable virus that made its flagship product useless and weakened its growth?
One thing is certain, says Larson: The company will never hire former virus writers to crack the code.
He said, "The question is, do you stand on the side of good or on the side of evil? " --S. L. CISCO SYSTEMS (1984)
San Jose company network equipment sales: $0. 649 billion Employees: 2,200--
Wall Street people are always looking for a stock with a good story behind it.
Cisco is not a good story, but four good stories.
No wonder the stock was the darling of his 90 s until investors were frightened two months ago. Story No. 1: an aw-
Shucks started his own business.
Leonard Bozak and Sandy Lerner are husband and wife who work in different departments at Stanford University.
Each department has a LAN but they are not connected which makes it difficult for the couple to share the data.
The only solution available is expensive hardware for mainframes.
Leonard and Sandy were frustrated to recruit some graduate students and developed a device called a router to connect to the PC network for a very low price.
They bought their right to invent from Stanford and started Cisco.
Eight years later, the rich retired and left the company to professional managers. Story No.
Sexy product promotion.
From mainframe to so-called client-
The server network requires routers to stitch their departments together for company-wide file sharing and e-commercemail.
Routers are also essential for any cost
Aware of the information highway of the company's internal network to be connected by kudzulike. Story No.
3. Market dominance.
Cisco has more than 50% of its router business, more than double that of its recent rival Wellfleet.
Under the leadership of 61-year-old CEO John Morgridge, the company fosters demand by launching products that combine multiple networks.
It also set up a market for foreign routers.
No one will soon break Cisco's dominance.
It has a huge barrier to entry embedded in its router: few proprietary software to solve network problems can be cracked.
In the last three years
Cisco's lucrative profits have attracted competitors like IBM to the router market.
No one has made more than modest progress. Story No.
4: socko number.
Income has approximately doubled annually since 1990;
Cisco's net profit margin last year was 26%.
The company's stock market performance makes it one of the great opportunities missed by investors who didn't buy in advance: its stock has appreciated by about 30-
Since its listing in 1990, it has been discounted.
George Kelly, general manager of Morgan Stanley, said Cisco has become the leader of the entire network industry in four years.
As shareholders have discovered in May, there will be two-way cuts as leaders.
Cisco reported a slight slowdown in its growth, resulting in a sudden 20% drop in its shares and shares of a dozen other online companies.
Kelly and other influential analysts just reiterated their purchase proposals.
According to Kelly's estimate of 1995 earnings, the stock is now selling at a multiple of 11.
The story itself, he believes, illustrates everything. --
Information security system (1993)
New York City sales data instrument: N. A. Employees: 17 --
They call themselves "excessive. the-
Because the youngest executives are 51, the oldest is 67.
They operate in an unlikely environment.
Tech pioneer: skyscrapers a block from the bustling central station of New York City.
Infosafe Systems is addressing a problem that prevents publishers and other traditional information providers from entering the digital age: how to control and measure the transmission of data over the phone or CDROMs.
Publishers need an electronic way to market their vast amount of "content ".
They want to be able to retail it piecemeal and bill customers for each chapter, article, photo, map or form they use.
They want to avoid intermediaries like Compuserve and Prodigy, which typically retain 60% to 80% of the fees users pay for the data.
The alternative to Infosafe is a data meter connected to a PC and a phone line.
It includes a modem, a coding and decoding chip, and a storage circuit that tracks billing information, about the size of a cable converter box.
The customer uses this box to download data directly from | information providers or to publish information encoded on the CD-ROM.
For example, the disk of Infosafe's first customer International font company.
4,000 fonts, artwork and photos are provided;
Artist with CD on personal computer
ROM drive and Infosafe box can browse the disk and buy the items they need.
Infosafe authorizes its system to the information provider and collects royalties from each subscriber.
A key selling point is ease of use.
The customer only needs ten minutes to install the software to activate the data meter.
The meter is very simple: it has no knob, switch or button, only two small lights ---green ("all is well")and red ("Call Information Security "). Says co-
Thomas H, founder and CEO
Lipscomb: "We're from industries like book and magazine publishing where people are interested in making money, not the flashing lights and vertical lines on the screen.
Former CEO and publisher of The New York Times Book Company
Lipscu, 55, met his colleague.
Founder at a party or through friends.
Alan Arjen, 67, is a lawyer, investor and marketing director;
Robert Nagel, a 58-year-old technical director, is a well-known computer scientist and brain researcher.
They recruited Vignelli, 63. known Italian-
A natural graphic artist seen by the late wife of Arjen. What the over-the-
The members of Hill gang foresee that it makes them feel young: it is a huge market in companies, law and accounting firms, libraries and schools.
Lipscomb says such customers spend up to $15,000 a year on purchases
Line information,.
Typical users like AOL need $150.
As Lipscomb said, Infosafe hopes to earn its first operating profit next year by chasing "low-hanging Apple. --
Arts and Entertainment Lucas (1982)
Electronic game software sales in San Rafael, California: N. A.
Staff: 120--
There is no logo to identify the headquarters of Lucas art, which occupies a low group
In an office park about 20 miles north of San Francisco, buildings are being built.
The lucasers removed the signs a few years ago, as fanatic fans would be peeping around to find clues about how Ortel's epic Star Wars movie will develop.
When they wait for the remaining six periods of the projected nine periods --
In the film series, about 1 million fans of Luke Skywalker indulge their fantasies by playing video games, allowing them to immerse themselves in the world of the film's morniche.
Lucas art is a popular game publisher for PCs, consoles, Sega and Nintendo consoles.
Game use 3-
D graphics and plenty of film footage-
Some borrowed the trilogy, some brands. new --
Make the player feel like a fighter pilot in the Battle of the universe.
Sales are as hot as Han Solo's temper.
In last December, Rebel Assault sold more than 100,000 copies in the first month of listing.
Lucas Art launched Star Wars Screen Entertainment in June ($36)
, A beautiful program with screen saver animation (in one, Obi-
Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader show the lightsaber on your screen)
Trivia about characters, copies of original scripts and artist storyboards ---
And Lucas himself sent a joke about the upcoming movie. (
Colleagues said that the director had already conceived the rest of the Star Wars story in his mind, and speculated that he would complete the next issue by May 1997, the 20 th anniversary of the original film. )
In addition to taking advantage of the mission of Star Wars, a rich intellectual property, Lucas art has been rolling out original and delightful titles to attract adults who don't like flying or shooting.
Sam and Max are on the road ($48)
Funny adventure starring an unusual detective-
A dog and a rabbit.
According to the comic book by underground artist Steve Purcell, this solutionit-
Your own mystery imitates the model of black movies, as characters will go around the country to solve their problems with imaginary quirky tourist attractions. Even in mid-
In the afternoon, the office of Lucas art was filled with strange darkness.
As the game designer watches the PC screen, the California sun flashes.
The 39-year-old president Randy comisal has become obsessed with working with creative people in the medium term.
1970, when he started his career, he promoted concerts for rock artists such as Elvis Costello and the death of gratitude.
He continued to earn a law degree from Harvard University and worked as a lawyer at Apple.
Everyone calls him George and his boss plays the role of consultant, mentor and visionary.
These people are the most important in creating software. --A. D.
Norris Communications (1988)
Sales: $8 million employees: 138--
I found it, my God!
At Norris Communications, okay, old-Old fashioned, I will-be-out-in-the-garage-
The invention of honey is alive.
That's because the founder, Elwood.
55-year-old Woody Norris is a tinder who squirts ideas in the hot summer with lawn sprinklers.
One of his most recent brainstorming sessions includes headphones that combine speakers with microphonessize device.
The microphone detects the wearer's sound through the vibration of the skull bones, but does not trigger harsh feedback that usually occurs when the microphone and speaker are close.
Apple computers use headphones in hardware and software packages, which enables Macintosh to make phone calls, send faxes, and play voice mail.
Another creation, flashback, is a palm of the hand
No size recorder for tape and moving parts.
It integrates flash memory chips. -
Unlike ordinary random circuits, Intel's circuits
Access the memory and don't forget everything when the power is off.
There were similar recorders on the market, but they only had a few minutes of conversation.
Flashback can pack up to two hours of conversation into four hours
A slightly larger mega box than a poker chip.
The user can dump the data in the recorder into any computer that accepts a PCMCIA card, or can transfer voice mail from the computer to flashback.
The device, which has 30 minutes of memory, sold for about $200 when it went public in August.
Norris is a typical inventor: too busy, full of ideas to finish school, but as smart as a whip.
He studied engineering, philosophy and business for 11 years at the University of Washington.
He said he wanted business training because "the inventor died poor.
After he sold a device called skin Doppler (
Earlier versions of ultrasonic charts)
In 1970, Norris left the university for $300,000 and opened a shop in Poway's garage, 15 miles north of San Diego.
He invented a digital mini plug and provided food for the nine children he worked.
Norris Communications, which uses its bread and butter to assemble electronic parts for its customers, such as Kodak and iwatts, is a division of Lilly's production of digital thermometers.
It can be the existence of a rock.
The company lost $5 last year.
7 million as it moves to a bigger quarter and is ready to make a flash back.
Norris was angry.
"We haven't invented anything yet," he said . "
"This is just beginning.
"His engineers are developing flash memory for digital music recording and digital cameras. --P. N. VERIFONE (1981)
Transaction automation system sales in Redwood, California: $0. 259 billion Employees: 1,800--
Even if you have never heard of VeriFone, you may be one of them; customers.
It builds small boxes on the retailer's counter and authorizes credit card transactions.
The company holds a 60% stake in the United States. S.
Automated trading market
All of this, VeriFone doesn't even have a proper headquarters.
This company is close.
A virtual organization in which employees in 30 global offices maintain contact through computers.
The company's external focus comes from the charismatic leadership of 49-year-old CEO Hatim Tyabji
Mumbai, lunch on Kit Kats and potato chips.
Tyabji spends 85% of its time each year visiting up to 200 customers on the road.
"Before me, our competitors didn't have a chance to find out," he boasted . ".
An example of the opportunity is SmartCash--
VeriFone will be launched next year in a joint venture between gemnos and Gemplus in France.
Smart cards are already popular in that county.
SmartCash allows users to trade under $20 through a plastic card.
Stick the card to the reader on the merchant counter and your purchase will be deducted from the card.
Once the amount on the card runs out, you can add on the ATM --like machine.
Consumers don't have to carry nasty coins with them, businesses can save cash
This could consume 2% of the transaction value.
VeriFone is proud of its computer network, but does not think of the brightest new technology.
In fact, much of the company's business was carried out on the dusty December VAX machine.
Still, its software provides a lot of information for employees.
Every night, at midnight Pacific time, VeriFone collects progress data for each department and broadcasts it on the system.
About 30% of VeriFone employees are on the road half the time, but they never lose touch.
All tour VeriFoners have their own laptop of choice and they expect to connect to the main network multiple times a day.
Therefore, key projects can be passed from staff to staff without suspension, time zone to time zone--
No overtime for an hour.
For example, recently, senior vice president William Papé put forward a plan for his system at the end of a Friday in Santa Fe.
Throughout the evening, staff in San Francisco and Honolulu were working on a new plan.
He said: "I have a brand new document to play with when I log in on Saturday morning.
VeriFone's sales have grown by an average of 25% per year since 1988, in part because of its heavy investment in tourism and technology.
Soon the public will know the name of the company.
At May, VeriFone has launched Folio, a portable device designed to mimic the stylish folder where Tony's restaurant displays checks.
It allows diners to pay their bills electronically at the table with a credit card or ATM card, saving time and avoiding uncertainty about the restaurant's authorized fees before customers fill in the tip amount. --S. L. COLLABRA (1993)
Mountain View, California group sales: no staff: 18--
Nowadays, Fushui has encountered problems that many managers may encounter.
Vice president of marketingC.
Nelson, he wants to develop a team spirit among a wide range of sales and other employees.
They use electronics. mail for one-to-
A newsletter, but Waters hopes
Group discussion.
He envisioned an electronic bulletin board.
Members of The Flung team can gather information and discuss the store.
Unlike the basic electronic bulletin board, this bulletin board will organize information.
If you want to see all posts on a topic-
For example, quarterly sales meetings-
You don't need to browse irrelevant chats;
Messages about the meeting will be saved in a file reserved for that topic.
What Waters needs is electronic forum software, a population of pieces, programming for networks that support this collaborative work.
What he doesn't need is Lotus Notes, which is the only option on the market.
Notes offers many features Waters don't want for $495 per user.
It also needs a new electronic.
The mail system, Nielsen's system works very well. Why replace it?
Last year, at a software industry conference, Waters met the staff of Collabra, a newly established small company, who seemed to want to do one thing: solve waters's problems.
They are developing software that connects scattered computers into electronic groups. -
Not by replacing the existing electronics.
But adapt to it.
Their software, Collabra Share, has revolutionized in a gentle way.
"When I saw the stock being executed, I said, 'This is my answer, '" Waters recalls '. ".
This does not damage the share of $69 per user.
How can a startup solve waters's problem so skillfully?
34-year-old CEO Eric Hahn, a former vice president of Lotus, studied the market before he founded the company and met many people like waters.
"The company told me that we put a lot of money into e-commerce," says Hahn.
Mail, we want to get more from it.
We don't want to give up on this in order to deploy Lotus Notes.
"So far, Collabra has tried out Share in 12 companies including Nielsen, and the feedback is positive.
This is not surprising: the company is listening to customers before they have customers. --J. R. PF. MAGIC (1991)
San Francisco sales of video games: N. A. Employees: 25 --
Parents of video games
Addicted kids, get ready for the phone bill for September.
That month AT&T will be rolling out Edge 16, a $150 gadget that connects Sega Genesis machines and phone lines so kids can play games with each other while talking, it's like they're in the same room.
But don't spend all your anger on AT&T.
Small PF is part of the reason.
Magic, the inventor of the new barrier to homework. Co-
The 38-year-old founder, John Sculley, an alumnus of Apple computers, worked closely with John Sculley complaining that he had mistakenly received many calls from his boss but had not received any
Skur, the son of a Baptist missionary, said his childhood in Indonesia and Singapore made him a permanent game fan.
He said: "There, the game is not a child's thing; 45-year-
The old man plays marbles and the winner takes all of them.
You have to play the game yourself--
In Indonesia, you didn't go shopping in toys city.
"Scull, responsible for marketing during collaboration
Ron Fulop, a 35-year-old founder who is in charge of research and development, claims PF.
The Magic Power is "Constraint Design "---
Create a great experience within the scope of current technology.
One example is the upcoming Ballz, the only 3-
D fighting game provided by Sega Genesis system.
Until now, the real 3-D --
Both of them look like three characters.
3D space and movement
Size space--
It's almost impossible to succeed on systems like Sega and Nintendo.
Reason: the console does not have enough processing power or memory to quickly adjust 3-
D characters when moving. PF.
Magic solves this problem by creating villains entirely made up of spheres, who bleed apart and then regroup when they receive direct blows from their opponents.
For computers, balls are easier to recalculate than irregular human parts. PF.
Magic's employees seem to be immune to amnesia adults when they try to remember how they feel when they are kids.
The company's office in the San Francisco warehouse covers a variety of toys from floor to ceiling, from stuffed animals to slides and ladders.
Scull said he clearly did not know that not all employees were eager to use G. I.
Joe doll: "I hope this is a place to make them feel comfortable.
People spend a lot of time here.
"Even the name of the company is like a grammar --
School password;
You have to either join the company or buy the company to understand what that means. (
Bet on the beautiful F-ing Magic. )
This is, of course, a culture that promotes productivity; PF.
There are more examples of magic.
The broken game will be released this year.
One is PaTaank (pronounced Puh-TONK)
His name is the sound of impact.
PaTaank is a point of view. of-
Watch the pinball game, which means you are the ball.
You hit the bumper, go through the tunnel, change the level of the game, while pressing the controls that help you change direction and avoid falling into the sewer.
Yes, it does give you motion sickness. --S. L.
Iterative system (1987)
Digital image compression Norcross, Georgia Sales: $7 million employee: 65--
Who will quit the job of life guarantee to build a company around a set of equations?
Who else is the double-digit scientist?
Alan Sloan and Michael Barnsley, lifelong professors at Georgia Tech, believe that their mysterious field of fractal equations has great potential in the real world of digital imaging, in particular, compressing the large amount of data needed to generate moving images on a computer screen.
When Iterated opened, the compression was small potatoes.
But the founders can see that responding to image data will pose a fundamental challenge to any new information infrastructure.
When the phone was invented, the video data sent through the wire was 1990 s, and the sound sent through the wire was 1870 s.
The traditional method of storing images on a computer draws inspiration from printing: copying pictures using a large number of small dots, taking a step back, it gives a reasonable impression.
Want to be more realistic? Add more dots.
This is the so-called bitmap model.
Technicians use various schemes to reduce the amount of data required for storage points.
But Sloane, 48, and Barnsley, 47, believe that it is possible to completely abandon these points and decompose the image into a constituent equation.
A fractal is a mysterious mathematical formula that seems to be well suited to describe natural convolution, such as jagged profiles of the front or ridge of ferns.
For compressed images, the fractal can be more effective than bitmap technology.
Like true academicians, the couple found their first client and attracted venture capital by writing academic articles in computer magazines.
Iterated has developed a large number of software development tools and hardware and software for the technology market.
More importantly, it has invested in research and development and established a large number of patents.
Microsoft uses iterative formulas in its encyclopedia CDROM;
The Berkeley system uses them in some of its popular screen protection programs. In 1992 the U. S.
The government has issued $2 million in funding to apply fractal compression to high-definition television.
Recently, Iterated entered the security system market.
The company sells a $495 circuit board that can send videos from surveillance cameras over regular phone lines.
All this has more than doubled the sales of the emerging company in 1993.
Sloan and Barnsley realized that they needed professional management.
Recently, they recruited John Festa, 43, an executive from the Atlanta trading company --
Processing Service company as CEO.
Who would hire a person from a number?
Run an image processing company? You guessed it.
Two-digit scientist--D. L.
Association of Scientific Computing (1980)
Sales of idle workstation software in New Haven: N. A. Employees: 20 --
It can be said that the least adequate resources used in today's business are not the time of the deputy president or the company's aircraft, but mainly idle personal computers and workstations.
Hard data on the use of these machines in the company is lacking, but it is estimated that there are only 10% to 20% units during the day and almost zero at night.
However, many companies are buying more desktop systems-
Their fate is the same under-employment.
The Association for Scientific Computing has jumped into this gap.
Its Linda software is designed to patrol the office network, take over idle computers, and coordinate them into temporary parallel processors comparable to mainframes and even supercomputers.
Founded by two Yale professors and serving the oil industry, the company began serving Linda in 1990 and has users in about 400 organizations, many of which are Fortune 500 companiesIBM, Hewlett-
Packard and Intel provide Linda with services to use with their machines.
The software is now only running on the workstation network;
The version of the PC network is scheduled to be released later this year.
Geophysical scientists at Phillips Petroleum used Linda to construct images of the underground formation;
Financial experts at ITT Hartford Life analyze bond portfolios.
Some Wall Street companies gave up buying big machines and switched to Linda after testing Linda for supercomputers.
No wonder: Instead of spending $2 million to $5 million on a supercomputer, users can get the same power from the $5,000 basic Linda program, the same power can also be obtained from each $20,000 workstation.
In principle, there is no limit on how many workstations Linda can connect.
A major manufacturer who asked for anonymity for competitive reasons connected more than 300 workstations to the program.
What is Linda's secret?
The genius of her creator
Linda is the brain of David Gelernter, a computer scientist at Yale University, who was almost killed last year by a crank letter bomb.
Gelernter, 39, is an advisor to SCA;
He started studying Linda in his 1970 s.
He named the show after Linda lovelles. movie star. (
This is a complex pun on the early computer language Ada, named after the 19th-century pioneer Ada Lovelace
Century programmer working with Charles Babich, inventor of mechanical computers. )
Linda often checks the usage of each computer on the network.
If you daydream on your keyboard, or turn around and call, Linda will assign a task to your workstation.
But she gives up control when you touch the keyboard or mouse.
"The elegance of writing software is to get the most out of the smallest complexity," Gelernter said . ".
"Like excellent prose ---
Get the most value from each word you write.
"He is likely to write an elegant new chapter in computing. --G. B. INDIGO (1977)
Sales of Eindhoven digital offset color printer in the Netherlands: $31 million employee: 550--
In the history of printing, right next to the Gutenberg Bible, there may be a complete place
Color sales manual for Indigo.
The company has developed the first digital offset color printerPrint 1000.
Its purpose: to combine the convenience of laser imaging with the quality of traditional offset printing machines.
Offset printing to make the page you are reading;
It involves creating a master copy or plate that transfers ink to the rubber roller and then pressing the image to the page.
The edges of Indigo are in the ink.
Canadian Landa.
The company was founded to develop a liquid ink that can be used in conjunction with an electronic printer.
The laser printers use dry toner, which limits their resolution and speed.
The industry giants of canon and 3m joined the game, but eventually gave up.
Landa found this formula in 1983.
Ordinary ink particles observed under a microscope look like marbles;
Indigo looks like playing. In the E-
When printing, the ink is attracted like the toner in the laser printer by the laser marks on the charged metal drum.
The ink is then transferred to the roll and heated slightly on the roll to become a film-
One Millionth inch thick
The roller is pressed on paper and film is deposited. The E-
Printing makes color images by superimposing films of different shades.
It gives 30 letters.
One-Minute page
Five color laser printers.
Because it's digital.
Compared with offset printing machine, printing has advantages.
The printing machine requires professionals to make plates, balance ink and supervise
Printing can be operated from a workstation or PC.
The color offset is too expensive for less than 5,000 jobs, while the cost per page is about 25 cents-
Similar to color copiers--the E-
Printing can even handle small jobs.
Indigo has shipped 45 E-
The printing price is about $500,000 per unit, mainly the printer.
In January, the company opened a sales office in Woburn, Massachusetts;
Its R & D and manufacturing is still in Rehovot, Israel, where Landa, 48, lives.
It may be difficult for competitors to catch up.
Landa has more than 200 patents to protect printers and inks.
This is tempting enough for investor George Soros, who has paid $50 million for minority stakes.
Landa himself boasted about the prospect of Indigo: "from 59 to 74, we will have similar products from Xeroxhad.
"Of course, this is not the first time an entrepreneur has touted his company as the next Xerox company, and ordinary investors still need to be persuaded.
Since the company went public in May 25, shares traded through the counter have fallen from $20 per share to around $16. --
Time and Space (Justin Martin da Vinci)1994)
Interactive TV network sales for children in San Mateo, California: N. A. Employees: 13 --DaVinci co-
Founders Carol Peters and Jeff Apple know that their business plans are hard to achieve.
They want venture capital to make interactive TV software for children, which Peters calls "a product that does not exist in a non-existent industry ".
"Their resume convinced investors to put the pen on the checkbook.
In addition to producing and directing more than 1,500 TV commercials, Apple, 45, also made the film in FireWire.
He also developed the first interactive store shopping channel. at-
Home cable TV show in 1981.
Peters, 47, an artist and engineer, spent 16 years in December and continues to lead the team of Iris Indigo workstations that have successfully designed Silicon Graphics.
Three months after entering the venture capital circle, they had nearly $5 million in their pockets.
The money was paid for boys and girls aged 3 to 12 to start interactive channels.
Peters and Apple say their goal is to create a virtual reality for children that can play and learn, not just a bunch of computer games that are transferred to TV.
Children will explore a theme park full of trails and playgrounds using the remote control.
They will interact with characters, listen to stories and play games through the Internet.
Virtual reality usually means wearing a stupid helmet to get the feeling of an activity that doesn't actually happen: Peters and Apple want their work to be so engaging that they don't need such hardware.
The tiny da Vinci does not want to program a network himself.
It is making software samples and introduction programs to attract other developers to create places and entertainment.
Advertising on the Internet will interact as much as entertainment.
When a child "walks" through a "billboard" on a "street", The Billboard may play an advertisement and she can hang around if she wants.
Da Vinci will help the company make its first attempt on multimedia advertising, but Peters joked that this hand-in-hand is --time-
Only provided: "We just want to jump-
Make you our source of income.
"Apple and Peters aim to run a small, sensible and intelligent organization.
Apple said: "We are designing a network for children, but we assume that everyone who works here is an adult.
"There is no company time and there is no pre-set vacation benefit.
The theory is that da Vinci's employees work hard and rest when they are tired.
They have to settle for the hand-me-
Typical startup furniture, but not in all respects
Important office chair
Each employee can buy at his own expense. --S. L.
Micro-module system (1992)
Multi-chip module revenue in Cupertino, California: N. A.
Staff: 125--
As long as the MicroModule is a department of digital devices
It seems safe to exist.
Its $0. 3 billion factory is producing multi-chip modules for the mainframe of the December VAX series computers, combining two or more integrated circuits in one shell.
The production costs of these modules are high, but they offer a great advantage in terms of speed, energy efficiency and miniaturized compared to silicon chips individually packaged.
When VAX sales fell a few years ago, the outlook was bleak.
All of a sudden, December does not require all modules that the factory can produce, and the department is unable to sell the remaining modules due to the absence of an external market. (
Other manufacturers of large computers make their own modules, which are too expensive for small computer manufacturers. )
Therefore, in 1992 and December, the business was sold to W by leveraged acquisition. C.
Bill Robinette, current chairman and CEO, and Michael Grove, current president.
They bet in their careers that the department can adapt to the thorns of open competition, like Brer Rabbit, to prove themselves completely at home in briar patch.
Robinette, 51, and Grove, 50, are good reasons for rabbits.
The competition to make computers smaller and faster is good for multi-chip technology.
Module by reducing the connection length between chips to about 1-
Third, the common distance in the stateof-the-
Art circuit board.
"We have integrated circuits," says Grove . "
The multi-chip module is one of the reasons why personal digital assistants such as Apple Newton and PCMCIA circuit cards are compact.
Robinette and Grove had to cut costs to stimulate demand.
The first thing they attacked was a lot of lemons on the production line.
Chip manufacturers usually install silicon wafers of integrated circuits in ceramic or plastic shells and test them before selling.
But the Micromodule is assembling the module using the "bare mold--
Chip not installed, not tested.
Many modules failed in the end.
In partnership with Texas Instruments, the company has developed a temporary housing that can accommodate integrated circuits for testing.
The cost of the module was reduced by 50% after improvement.
In the two years since independence, Micromodule has more than 35 customers, with revenue (
Not disclosed by the company)
Growth of 200% to 300% per year.
This is almost double the overall market for multi-chip modules, which Yvette estimates will increase from about $1 billion this year to $2.
5 billion next year
Good for the briar patch. --P. N. SPECTRALINK (1990)
Sales: N. Wireless office phone in Boulder, ColoradoA. Employees: 70 --
Bruce Holland, 42, seems unable to quit the startup game.
He graduated from college in 1973.
NBI, an early manufacturer of word processors, was founded.
He founded the computer pioneer Cadnetix-
Auxiliary design in 1982.
Six years later, when Cadnetix was acquired, he decided to take his bonus (which he said reached millions) home.
To avoid boredom, he has set up a think tank where he and his engineer friends can fiddle with new technologies and perhaps license their ideas commercially.
It soon caught the attention of SpectraLink.
After reading a forecast in a technical journal, The Netherlands wondered, "Why couldn't that day be the present?
"There are a lot of technical barriers to creating an indoor wireless phone network.
Analog signals used by ordinary mobile phones are vulnerable to interference and eavesdropping, and sometimes cannot penetrate the walls of the office.
To solve this problem, the Netherlands and the United States
The 44-year-old founder, Gary bliss, and William palambo, 51, turned to 900-
The FCC recently approved MHz bandwidth for commercial use, as well as digital transmission technologies used in World War II to secure radio communications.
SpectraLink's pocket communication system uses the ceiling
Installed "units", each of which has the size of a smoke detector ranging from 5,000 to 50,000 square feet.
When the caller goes from room to room in another room on a building or office campus, the cells send a signal.
While normal phone charging can run 45 cents or more per minute, SpectraLink's system relays conversations through the office PBX, so the cost of a wireless call is the same as a call made from a desktop phone.
Depending on the number of phones required, the system costs between $700 and $1,500 per phone.
The hospital is one of the best clients in SpectraLink. Hewlett-
Packard, MCI Communications and Whirlpool have mobile phones;
The managers of the Nordstrom Distribution Center will take them with them so that they can roam and supervise employees without losing their phones.
According to data quest, the market size of the wireless office telephone system will reach US $0. 279 billion by 1997.
Competitors are scrambling to catch up with SpectraLink, or wait for the FCC to allocate bandwidth to the all-digital cellular phone network.
But now it seems that the Dutch game is the best in town. --A. S.
Security Dynamics (1984)
Digital Keys Cambridge, Massachusetts: $12 million (est. )Employees: 85 --