Linkabit was a technology company founded in 1968 by Irwin M. Jacobs

Irwin M. Jacobs

Irwin Mark Jacobs , is an electrical engineer and the co-founder and former chairman of Qualcomm, and chair of the board of trustees of the Salk Institute. In 2010, Jacobs was listed as number 828 on Forbes's annual list of the World's Top Billionaires.-Education:Jacobs earned his B.S...

, Andrew Viterbi

Andrew Viterbi

Andrew James Viterbi, Ph.D. is an Italian-American electrical engineer and businessman who co-founded Qualcomm Inc....

 and Leonard Kleinrock

Leonard Kleinrock

Leonard Kleinrock is an American engineer and computer scientist. A computer science professor at UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, he made several important contributions to the field of computer networking, in particular to the theoretical side of computer networking...

. Linkabit created a large number of technology companies, most notably, Qualcomm

Qualcomm

Qualcomm is an American global telecommunication corporation that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services based on its code division multiple access technology and other technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA...

. Linkabit is currently a division of L-3 Communications

L-3 Communications

L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. is a company that supplies command and control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems and products, avionics, ocean products, training devices and services, instrumentation, space, and navigation products. Its customers include...

.

Corporate history

Linkabit Corporation was formed in mid-1968 in Los Angeles by Irwin M. Jacobs

Irwin M. Jacobs

Irwin Mark Jacobs , is an electrical engineer and the co-founder and former chairman of Qualcomm, and chair of the board of trustees of the Salk Institute. In 2010, Jacobs was listed as number 828 on Forbes's annual list of the World's Top Billionaires.-Education:Jacobs earned his B.S...

, Andrew Viterbi

Andrew Viterbi

Andrew James Viterbi, Ph.D. is an Italian-American electrical engineer and businessman who co-founded Qualcomm Inc....

 and Leonard Kleinrock

Leonard Kleinrock

Leonard Kleinrock is an American engineer and computer scientist. A computer science professor at UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, he made several important contributions to the field of computer networking, in particular to the theoretical side of computer networking...

 (who soon left).
One of the better known Linkabit products is VideoCipher

Videocipher

VideoCipher is a brand name of analog scrambling and de-scrambling equipment for cable and satellite television invented primarily to keep consumer Television receive-only satellite equipment from receiving TV programing except on a subscription basis. It was invented in 1983 by Linkabit...

, an analog scrambling system for television developed in 1983.

Linkabit hosted the first IETF meeting in January, 1986.

More than 75 direct or indirect Linkabit spinoff companies have been identified — a rate twice that of Fairchild Semiconductor

Fairchild Semiconductor

Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. is an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1957, it was a pioneer in transistor and integrated circuit manufacturing...

, the legendary progenitor of Silicon Valley.
The best known Linkabit spinoff is Qualcomm

Qualcomm

Qualcomm is an American global telecommunication corporation that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services based on its code division multiple access technology and other technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA...

, which was founded by Jacobs, Viterbi and five other Linkabit alumni in July 1985.

All three Linkabit founders have received National Medals for lifetime achievements.