Montalvo Systems
Encyclopedia
Montalvo Systems was a Silicon Valley
start-up reportedly working on an asymmetrical, x86 capable processor similar to the Cell microprocessor
. The processor was to use high-performance cores for performance-intensive threads, and delegate minor tasks to the simpler cores to save silicon and power. Matt Perry, former Transmeta
CEO, served as CEO and president of Montalvo; Peter Song, founder of failed x86 manufacturer MemoryLogix, served as chief architect. Another founding member, Kevin Lawton, of bochs
(x86 emulation
) and plex86 (x86 virtualization
) fame, was the processor simulator architect.
The official description of business from Montalvo's security filings was:
As of 24th April 2008, Sun Microsystems
had acquired the company's assets for an undisclosed sum.
,
and nearby to Intel and Sun. It had offices in Boulder, Colorado
and Bangalore, India. According to news reports, it had close to 300 employees.
In March 2008 news broke that Montalvo was seeking funds to avoid shutdown. According to a news article released on March 31, Montalvo had laid off two-thirds of its engineers. At the same time, rumors surfaced that Sun Microsystems
was in talks to buy Montalvo. About three weeks later, on the 24th April 2008, The Register
confirmed the rumors to be true.
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
start-up reportedly working on an asymmetrical, x86 capable processor similar to the Cell microprocessor
Cell microprocessor
Cell is a microprocessor architecture jointly developed by Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment, Toshiba, and IBM, an alliance known as "STI". The architectural design and first implementation were carried out at the STI Design Center in Austin, Texas over a four-year period beginning March 2001 on a...
. The processor was to use high-performance cores for performance-intensive threads, and delegate minor tasks to the simpler cores to save silicon and power. Matt Perry, former Transmeta
Transmeta
Transmeta 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...
CEO, served as CEO and president of Montalvo; Peter Song, founder of failed x86 manufacturer MemoryLogix, served as chief architect. Another founding member, Kevin Lawton, of bochs
Bochs
Bochs is a portable x86 and x86-64 IBM PC compatible emulator and debugger mostly written in C++ and distributed as free software under GNU Lesser General Public License...
(x86 emulation
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
) and plex86 (x86 virtualization
X86 virtualization
In computing, x86 virtualization is the facility that allows multiple operating systems to simultaneously share x86 processor resources in a safe and efficient manner, a facility generically known as hardware virtualization...
) fame, was the processor simulator architect.
The official description of business from Montalvo's security filings was:
A fabless semiconductor company developing ultra low-power system-on-chips for mobile devices.
As of 24th April 2008, Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
had acquired the company's assets for an undisclosed sum.
Locations
Headquarters were in Santa Clara, California, next door to the remnants of TransmetaTransmeta
Transmeta 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...
,
and nearby to Intel and Sun. It had offices in Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
and Bangalore, India. According to news reports, it had close to 300 employees.
In March 2008 news broke that Montalvo was seeking funds to avoid shutdown. According to a news article released on March 31, Montalvo had laid off two-thirds of its engineers. At the same time, rumors surfaced that Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
was in talks to buy Montalvo. About three weeks later, on the 24th April 2008, The Register
The Register
The Register is a British technology news and opinion website. It was founded by John Lettice, Mike Magee and Ross Alderson in 1994 as a newsletter called "Chip Connection", initially as an email service...
confirmed the rumors to be true.
Finances
From the Cal-EASI database, the following info is available about Montalvo's financing.| Date | Type | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-05-03 | Series A | $1,997,751.36 | non-money, assumption of previous company's financing? |
| 2005-05-03 | Series A | $4,548,247.70 | |
| 2005-10-11 | Warrants | $302,000.00 | |
| 2005-10-24 | Series A | $9,548,247.70 | |
| 2006-03-10 | Series B | $26,299,998.53 | |
| 2007-08-29 | Bridge | $11,607,573.06 | subordinated convertible promissory notes |
| 2007-12-17 | Bridge | $20,000,000.00 | subordinated convertible promissory notes / warrants |
News
- 2008-04-24 Sun buys low-power x86 disaster Montalvo
- 2008-04-03 Sun Microsystems could use Montalvo as a strategic lever against Intel
- 2008-04-01 Sun close to buying Intel would-be competitor Montalvo
- 2008-03-31 Montalvo Systems cuts two thirds of staff
- 2008-03-31 Rumor: Intel competitor Montalvo bracing for cuts
- 2008-03-20 Montalvo seeking a hoard of cash to avoid shutdown
- 2008-02-18 VIA Continues Transition From Chipsets To CPU To Profitability. Skeptical on Montalvo X86 Chip Success
- 2008-02-15 Montalvo, a competitor of Intel and AMD, not yet born and already in trouble
- 2008-02-14 Secret recipe inside Intel's latest competitor
- 2008-02-13 Cash-burning Montalvo tapes out Silverthorne rival
- 2008-02-06 Silent start-up readies to take on Intel in notebooks
- 2007-06-05 http://www.agami.com/site/press-release-6-5-07Montalvo CFO leaves and joins Agami SystemsAgami SystemsAgámi Systems, Inc. was an enterprise-class unified network storage company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Agámi Information Servers have components of both Network Attached Storage and Storage Area Network...
] - 2006-08-25 Is that a VMware CTO and Transmeta CEO at your start-up?
- 2006-08-19 Former Transmeta CEO goes at Intel with another low-power chip
- 2005-10-27 Chip start-up Montalvo looks to speed mobile devices