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October 27, 1999. All rights reserved.
Sarnoff Spinoff: e-vue
Sarnoff is moving another of its hot new Internet
technologies
out of the laboratory and into a start-up called e-vue. Charles Xue,
a high-tech entrepreneur, is one of a group of deep pocketed investors
that is bankrolling Sarnoff’s 14th spin-off, an interactive multimedia
technology firm. Soon it will move to Iselin.
Aiming to make interactive multimedia more accessible on the Internet,
e-vue has licensed Sarnoff’s technology for speedy network delivery
and display of still images and video. This technology meets the new
MPEG-4 international standards, says Kenneth Sun, president of e-vue.
One feature of e-vue’s software: progressive downloading and display
of still images, so viewers first see the whole picture in a smaller
size or at low resolution, but then see it build to full quality and
size. E-vue’s first software product is due to come on the market
by the end of 1999. The firm will have products and services for both
original equipment manufacturers and consumers.
“We’re talking about leading-edge software technology that will
help us build state-of-the-art streaming media products to allow fast
delivery of images, video, and audio. Must multimedia software and
content will move to MPEG-4 eventually,” says Sun. “We’re
there now.”
Sun went to school in China at Nan Jing University, Class of 1983,
and earned his PhD in physics at State University of New York at
Buffalo.
He did computational protein chemistry and drug design for
pharmaceutical
companies until 1994 when he turned to the venture capital side of
the business and joined Global China Investments, a joint venture
between a Canadian government pension fund and a Hong Kong investment
fund. Then for 18 months, until just recently, he worked with
Princeton-based
venture capitalist, Robert Johnston, at Johnston Associates on Cherry
Valley Road.
Sun’s appointment as president of e-vue stems from his friendship
with Vince Enders, director of business development at Sarnoff, and
with a former Sarnoff employee, who was then in charge of the web
and multimedia laboratory. “They came to me and I gathered a few
investors, including Charles Xue, the Tisch family, and John Levin,
for the seed stage,” says Sun.
Xue (pronounced “shoo”), 46, went to the Chinese Academy in
China and has a graduate degree from Berkeley. With Peter Wang (U.S.
1, August 11, 1999), he founded a company, UTStarCom, that intends
to be China’s Lucent Technologies; it has 100 people at an R&D center
in Iselin and 100 more in San Francisco. (Peter Wang is the CEO of
World Communications Group and the investor responsible for World
PCS at Emmons Drive). Xue is also a close friend of Masayoshi Son
of Softbank, which is reported to own seven percent of all U.S.-based
Internet companies including Yahoo, GeoCity, and e-trade, plus ZDNet,
PCWorld, and Comdex. Son is the chairman of UTStarCom but has, as
yet, not invested in e-vue, says Sun.
The vice chairman of e-vue is another very successful entrepreneur,
Steve Chang, founder of TrendMicro, which Sun characterizes as the
largest computer virus company in the world.
E-vue is scheduled to move next month to 33 Wood Avenue in Iselin.
It is hiring product managers, software
architects/designers/developers,
software testers, and customer support staff, plus experts in
usability,
digital image coding, interactive streaming video, and Internet
technologies.
Work on the MPEG-4 standard (https://www.cselt.it/mpeg) started
six years ago. Sarnoff’s version of MPEG-4 targets high quality video
at lower bit rates, faster browsing and transfers for the end user,
more efficient compression of images and video, reduced storage
requirements,
and object-based content interactivity.
Another recent spinoff for Sarnoff is VisionJet, which boasts the
world’s first laser-based testing system for inkjet printheads. Called
“Genie,” the desktop device provides information engineers
need to make design decisions. It focuses a split laser beam on a
working printhead to analyze the droplets of ink it produces. This
technique replaces use of an optical microscope, says Ann-Marie
Lanzillotto,
Sarnoff’s group head for microstructures.
VisionJet will continue to offer Sarnoff’s microstructural analysis
services. The firm is co-founded by Sarnoff Corp[oration and Xennia
Technology Ltd., a seven-year-old specialty inks design and consulting
firm in Cambridge, United Kingdom, and part of it is located in
Cambridge.
e-vue, c/o Sarnoff Corporation, CN 5300, Princeton08540. Kenneth Sun, president. 609-720-4913; fax, 609-720-4916.Homepage: https://www.e-vue.comTop Of PageExpansionsInstitute for Defense Analyses (IDA), Thanet Road,Princeton 08540. David Goldschmidt, director. 609-924-4600; fax,609-924-3061.The research group plans expand by building a 60,000 square footbuildingon Bunn Drive, several blocks away from its current quarters on ThanetRoad, and moving 100 employees from its current quarters, north ofPrinceton Shopping Center. It made a presentation to the PrincetonRegional Planning Board (last week 10-20).Land for the new two-story office, 20 percent larger than the currentquarters, is being bought from developer Bryce Thompson’s firm,PrincetonResearch Lands Inc., and it will include a 154-space parking lot.Also near this site will be the new quarters of Princeton NursingHome. Bunn Drive will be extended to connect with Poor Farm Road.IDA does mathematical research for the National Security Agency andwas housed at Princeton University from 1959 to 1975. It has alsobeen known as the Center for Communications Research.Top Of PageCrosstown MovesIndik and McNamara, 10 Jefferson Plaza, Suite 31,Princeton 08540. Martin K. Indik, partner. 609-252-9700; fax,732-355-1010.Martin K. Indik and Thomas McNamara, both 1983 graduates of RutgersLaw School, have moved their Princeton office from 601 Ewing Streetto Raymond Road. The firm emphasizes commercial and professionalmalpracticelitigation and has four attorneys, including CarlDallarda and Steven Green.Top Of PageManagement MovesTribus Spectrum LLC., 1 Rossmoor Drive, Jamesburg08831. Janice Fox, office manager. 609-655-9220; fax, 609-655-4970.The Tribus Companies and Spectrum Insurance Group have merged to formTribus Spectrum LLC, a firm with more than 200 people and combinedannual revenues of more than $25 million. Spectrum is a 42 year-oldfirm with offices in Parsippany and Shrewsbury, and Tribus has threeoffices in the state, the homebase of Wayne, plus those in Lakewoodand Jamesburg. The 50-person office in Jamesburg, the Tribus FinancialGroup, did employee benefits, pension administration, cafeteria plans,executive compensation, and group insurance.Princeton Public Library (), 65 Witherspoon Street,Princeton 08542. Leslie Burger, director. 609-924-9529; fax,609-924-6109.Home page: https://www.princeton.lib.nj.us.Leslie Burger has been named to replace Jacqueline Thresher asdirectorof the library at a salary of $87,000. Previously she was specialassistant to the state librarian, and she also had her own consultingbusiness, Library Development Solutions.Top Of PageContracts AwardedCody Eckert & Associates PA (), 191 ClarksvilleRoad, Lawrenceville 08648. Cody Eckert, principal. 609-716-8500; fax,609-716-8686.This architectural group designed the Mercer County Veterans GroupHome being constructed on the grounds of the Mercer County GeriatricCenter. The 4,500 square foot residence will have five bedrooms, eachwith private bath and appropriate for someone physically challenged,plus a group kitchen, dining, and living room. Rent will be anestimated$550 per month including utilities.Top Of PageDeathsWilliam P. Kelliher, 51, on October 15. He was employedby the U.S. Postal Service in Princeton and had been a Trentonpoliceman.Joseph Jacob Beshel, 55, on October 16. He was vicepresidentof ESI Lederle, a division of Wyeth-Ayerst, and had been vicepresidentof marketing at Johnson & Johnson.Ora Lee Handey Holley, 57, on October 15. She worked atthe Child Care Connection and Prince Manufacturing Company.Maude E. Welch, 69, on October 17. She worked in the foodservice department at Princeton University and the Medical Centerof Princeton.M. Patricia Hanson, 63, on October 22. She worked at theMedical Center of Princeton and at St Francis Medical Center as apsychiatric nurse.Corrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
