C-Cube
Encyclopedia
C-Cube Microsystems was a pioneer in video compression technology as well as the implementation of that technology into cost-effective semiconductors. C-Cube was the first company to deliver on the market opportunity presented by the conversion of image and video data from analog to digital formats enabling markets such as VideoCD, DVD
, DirecTV
, Digital Cable
, Non-linear editing (NLE
) and more.
and Dr. Alexandre Balkanski. The company name originally stood for Creative Circuits Corporation but over time the three C's in C-Cube referred to the markets being served by video compression technology, specifically Computer, Consumer and Communications. Early funding came from VC firms Hambrecht & Quist
and JAFCO America Ventures as well as Japanese farm equipment manufacturer Kubota
Ltd.
Image and video technology was just beginning to make the transition from analog (VHS, Betamax, etc) to new digital-base formats. The key issue was the amount of bandwidth required to transmit or store the digital content. Digital video compression was a key enabling technology that made digital video practical. C-Cube engineers drove the early standards for digital compression - including Eric Hamilton, chair of the JPEG
committee and Didier LeGall, chair of the MPEG video committee. As a result of their familiarity of the standardization process and the standards themselves , C-Cube was able to gain advantageous knowledge in the implementation of the algorithms into high-performance silicon.
Early on, the company was recognized for technical leadership but was largely unable to turn leadership into revenues and profits. The company found focus with the hiring of Bill O'Meara as CEO in 1991. He hired a new professional management staff and procured $10M in added investment from Sequoia Capital
, Texas Instruments
and AMD in late 1992 and enabled the company to drive toward profitability based on the development of leading-edge chips including the CL550 JPEG codec, the CL950 MPEG II (prototype) decoder and the CL450 MPEG I decoder.
These early-to-market devices proved the concept of digital video compression to a number of large OEM customers and led to the development of next-generation industry-enabling products including the CL4000 MPEG II encoder family that enabled the DirecTV
program from Hughes and the CL480 MPEG I decoder that drove the VideoCD market in Japan and China in the mid 1990s.
C-Cube went public on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol CUBE in 1994. O'Meara built a very strong board of directors including Chairman Don Valentine
of Sequoia Capital
, T. J. Rodgers
of Cypress Semiconductor
and Gregorio Reyes
of Sandisk
. O'Meara retired in 1995, turning over the reins to founder Alex Balkanski. Balkanski was responsible for incubating video compression equipment company DiviCom starting in 1993 and C-Cube eventually acquired them in 1996. After this acquisition, the company changed its focus from strictly semiconductors to being both a chip and system supplier. Other acquisitions bolstered PC driver software and reference design expertise including the purchase of the software driver unit of Ring Zero in 1995 as well as MCT in 1996. Umesh Padval was brought in to run C-Cube Semiconductor in 1998.
During the late 1990s, C-Cube was unable to repeat its runaway hits seen earlier in the decade. The company sold its DiviCom division to Harmonic Lightwaves in May, 2000 for nearly $1.7B. C-Cube Semiconductor (Nasdaq CUBED) was eventually sold to competitor LSI Logic in March 2001 in a stock transaction worth $878M. Balkanski is now a general partner at Benchmark Capital
. LSI sold off the consumer products business (including what was C-Cube) to Magnum Semiconductor
in 2007
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
, Digital Cable
Digital cable
Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...
, Non-linear editing (NLE
NLE
NLE is an acronym. It may stand for:* Non-linear editing system* National Latin Examination* North Luzon Expressway* N.L.E. Tractors, a codename for Cultivator No. 6...
) and more.
History
C-Cube was founded on 8 August 1988 (the number eight being significant in Chinese culture representing money) by Dr. Edmund Sun from WeitekWeitek
Weitek Corporation was a chip-design company that originally concentrated on floating point units for a number of commercial CPU designs. During the early to mid-1980s, Weitek designs could be found powering a number of high-end designs and parallel processing supercomputers...
and Dr. Alexandre Balkanski. The company name originally stood for Creative Circuits Corporation but over time the three C's in C-Cube referred to the markets being served by video compression technology, specifically Computer, Consumer and Communications. Early funding came from VC firms Hambrecht & Quist
Hambrecht & Quist
Hambrecht & Quist was an investment bank based in San Francisco, California noted for its focus on the technology and internet sectors. H&Q was founded by William Hambrecht and George Quist in California, 1968....
and JAFCO America Ventures as well as Japanese farm equipment manufacturer Kubota
Kubota
, is a tractor and heavy equipment manufacturer based in Osaka, Japan. One of its notable contributions was to the construction of the Solar Ark. The company was established in 1890.The company produces many products including:...
Ltd.
Image and video technology was just beginning to make the transition from analog (VHS, Betamax, etc) to new digital-base formats. The key issue was the amount of bandwidth required to transmit or store the digital content. Digital video compression was a key enabling technology that made digital video practical. C-Cube engineers drove the early standards for digital compression - including Eric Hamilton, chair of the JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
committee and Didier LeGall, chair of the MPEG video committee. As a result of their familiarity of the standardization process and the standards themselves , C-Cube was able to gain advantageous knowledge in the implementation of the algorithms into high-performance silicon.
Early on, the company was recognized for technical leadership but was largely unable to turn leadership into revenues and profits. The company found focus with the hiring of Bill O'Meara as CEO in 1991. He hired a new professional management staff and procured $10M in added investment from Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is a Californian venture capital firm located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. The Wall Street Journal has called Sequoia Capital "one of the highest-caliber venture firms", and noted that it is "one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture-capital firms"...
, Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
and AMD in late 1992 and enabled the company to drive toward profitability based on the development of leading-edge chips including the CL550 JPEG codec, the CL950 MPEG II (prototype) decoder and the CL450 MPEG I decoder.
These early-to-market devices proved the concept of digital video compression to a number of large OEM customers and led to the development of next-generation industry-enabling products including the CL4000 MPEG II encoder family that enabled the DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
program from Hughes and the CL480 MPEG I decoder that drove the VideoCD market in Japan and China in the mid 1990s.
C-Cube went public on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol CUBE in 1994. O'Meara built a very strong board of directors including Chairman Don Valentine
Don Valentine
Donald T. "Don" Valentine is an influential venture capitalist who concentrates mainly on technology companies in the United States. He has been called the "grandfather of Silicon Valley venture capital"...
of Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is a Californian venture capital firm located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. The Wall Street Journal has called Sequoia Capital "one of the highest-caliber venture firms", and noted that it is "one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture-capital firms"...
, T. J. Rodgers
T. J. Rodgers
Thurman John Rodgers, better known as T.J. Rodgers, is the founder and chief executive officer of Cypress Semiconductor. He is known for his public relations acumen, brash personality, and strong advocacy of laissez-faire capitalism.-Early life:...
of Cypress Semiconductor
Cypress Semiconductor
Cypress Semiconductor Corporation is a Silicon Valley-based semiconductor design and manufacturing company founded by T. J. Rodgers and others from Advanced Micro Devices. It was formed in 1982 with backing by Sevin Rosen and went public in 1986. The company initially focused on the design and...
and Gregorio Reyes
Gregorio Reyes
Gregorio Reyes is a private investor and a Management Consultant; co-founded Sunward Technologies in 1985 and served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until 1994...
of Sandisk
SanDisk
SanDisk Corporation is an American multinational corporation that designs, develops and manufactures data storage solutions in a range of form factors using the flash memory, controller and firmware technologies. It was founded in 1988 by Dr. Eli Harari and Sanjay Mehrotra, non-volatile memory...
. O'Meara retired in 1995, turning over the reins to founder Alex Balkanski. Balkanski was responsible for incubating video compression equipment company DiviCom starting in 1993 and C-Cube eventually acquired them in 1996. After this acquisition, the company changed its focus from strictly semiconductors to being both a chip and system supplier. Other acquisitions bolstered PC driver software and reference design expertise including the purchase of the software driver unit of Ring Zero in 1995 as well as MCT in 1996. Umesh Padval was brought in to run C-Cube Semiconductor in 1998.
During the late 1990s, C-Cube was unable to repeat its runaway hits seen earlier in the decade. The company sold its DiviCom division to Harmonic Lightwaves in May, 2000 for nearly $1.7B. C-Cube Semiconductor (Nasdaq CUBED) was eventually sold to competitor LSI Logic in March 2001 in a stock transaction worth $878M. Balkanski is now a general partner at Benchmark Capital
Benchmark Capital
Benchmark Capital is a venture capital firm responsible for the early stage funding of some very successful startups. In 1997, the firm invested $6.7 million in eBay, which became worth more than $5 billion by the spring of 1999. Other high-profile investments include Ariba, Juniper Networks, Red...
. LSI sold off the consumer products business (including what was C-Cube) to Magnum Semiconductor
Magnum Semiconductor
Magnum Semiconductor Inc. is a video compression technology company. The headquarters of the company is in Milpitas, California. The company has an engineering branch at Waterloo, Ontario, Canada....
in 2007
Key Products
| Product | Year | Features |
|---|---|---|
| CL550 JPEG codec | 1990 |
|
| CL950 MPEG-1 decoder | 1991 |
|
| CL450 MPEG-1 decoder | 1991 |
|
| CL4000 MPEG-1 encoder | 1993 |
|
| CL9100 MPEG-2 decoder | 1994 |
|
| CLM4400 (VideoRISC) MPEG-2 encoder | 1994 |
|
| CL480 MPEG-1 decoder | 1994 |
JVC , usually referred to as JVC, is a Japanese international consumer and professional electronics corporation based in Yokohama, Japan which was founded in 1927... and Philips Philips Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company.... . |
| DVx single chip MPEG-2 codec | 1997 |
|
Notable alumni
- Mark Allen - nVidiaNVIDIANvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
, TransmetaTransmetaTransmeta Corporation was a US-based corporation that licensed low power semiconductor intellectual property. Transmeta originally produced very long instruction word code morphing microprocessors, with a focus on reducing power consumption in electronic devices. It was founded in 1995 by Bob... - Alex Balkanski - Benchmark CapitalBenchmark CapitalBenchmark Capital is a venture capital firm responsible for the early stage funding of some very successful startups. In 1997, the firm invested $6.7 million in eBay, which became worth more than $5 billion by the spring of 1999. Other high-profile investments include Ariba, Juniper Networks, Red...
- Prakash Bhalerao - Amber Networks, Ishoni Networks, Alopa Networks, Optim Networks, ECTone
- Brian Connors - LSI Logic, SynopsysSynopsysSynopsys, Inc. is one of the largest companies in the Electronic Design Automation industry. Synopsys' first and best-known product is Design Compiler, a logic-synthesis tool. Synopsys offers a wide range of other products used in the design of an application-specific integrated circuit...
, Venture Capital - Didier LeGall - LSI Logic, AmbarellaAmbarella Inc.Ambarella Inc. is a supplier of processors for professional video compression, digital cameras and IP cameras.- History :Founded in 2004, Ambarella started with professional high definition H.264 Video Encoders for the Broadcast market...
- Bill O'Meara - LSI Logic, Early director of Cisco SystemsCisco SystemsCisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
- Rick Rasmussen - LSI Logic, @Road@Road@Road is an American company offering "Mobile Resource Management" services to its customers, using GPS, wireless, voice and Internet technologies to deliver Software as a Service to manage fleet vehicles, dispatchers and mobile professionals. @Road is headquartered in Fremont, California...
, BuzMe - Steve Zadig - MarvellMarvell Technology GroupMarvell is an American producer of storage, communications and consumer semiconductor products.Founded in 1995, Marvell Technology Group Ltd. has operations worldwide and approximately 5,700 employees. Marvell’s U.S. operating subsidiary is based in Santa Clara, California and Marvell has...
, Telegent Systems