Masinter.pa@XEROX.COM (09/04/88)
I thought the following announcement would be of interest to those of you who hadn't already heard it: XEROX ANNOUNCES SPIN-OFF OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS BUSINESS Xerox has announced that its Xerox Artificial Intelligence Systems Business Unit has become an independent, employee-owned company. The new company is called Envos Corporation. Its charter is to develop and market sophisticated software development tools that will help engineers design and deliver complex software applications. Envos will market advanced applications for industrial and business environments and will act as a consultant to software engineering departments. The new company also will continue to sell and support Xerox 1186 artificial intelligence workstations. Xerox has transferred to Envos all support and maintenance responsibilities for current Xerox Lisp-based AI software. Customer support services include field analysts, hotline telephone support, and training. Envos, which has its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., is majority-owned by its employees, most of whom came directly from the Xerox AI organization. Xerox and Rank Xerox each owns a minority interest in the new company. The new company has a two-year renewable agreement with the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). This agreement allows Envos to incorporate PARC's advanced programming technologies into Envos products. Because of the start Xerox has provided to Envos, the new company begins operations with a full line of products, an existing customer base and a worldwide distribution channel--Fuji Xerox Company Limited in the Pacific Rim and Rank Xerox in Europe, both of which are experienced in selling and supporting Xerox AI products. A direct sales force supported by a team of field analysts will cover the United States market. Envos Chief Executive Officer Roger G. McKee said his company will support current Xerox AI customers and provide them with a broad range of compatible products to secure and enhance the value of their current Xerox software and hardware investments. "With the agility of a start-up and access to PARC's world-famous storehouse of ideas, we are making our debut with formidable capabilities," said McKee. "Not only can we respond quickly to customer needs, we can exploit market opportunities without making major investments in research." "While Xerox will continue to incorporate appropriate artificial intelligence technologies in virtually all of its product lines, we will rely on Envos for the commercialization and marketing of the continuing AI research under way at PARC," said John C. Shoemaker, Vice President and General Manager, Xerox Document Systems Business Unit, the organization that formerly handled Xerox artificial intelligence products. "We feel that the formation of Envos will allow Envos customers, including Xerox, more expeditious commercialization of products and applications." Envos customers include U.S. corporations, government agencies and leading research institutions. Envos also has begun to establish consulting relationships with many of these organizations. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Some addenda (Expect some further detailed announcements): a) Envos has a new location! Their new address is 1157 San Antonio Road Mountain View, California 94043 The main switchboard is (415) 966-6200. All operations (including those formerly located in Palo Alto, Pasadena, and Sunnyvale) have consolodated in one location. The hotline & at least some other phone numbers forward to the new Envos numbers. b) No electronic mail changes. Envos has full network access thru the Xerox network. As far as I know, no electronic mail addresses (support, individuals) have changed. (There may be some changes later, but they'll be announced.) c) New products! The Medley release runs on Sun workstations (Sun3 & Sun4) as well as on Xerox 1108, 1186. Loops is available for Medley. Rooms, a new windowing management system, is a new product. These were demo'd at AAAI last week.