Bristol Technology

Bristol Technology Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Software
Founded	January 1991 (1991-01)
Founder	Keith Blackwell, Ken Blackwell, Jean Blackwell
Defunct	March 2007 (2007-03)
Fate	Acquired by Hewlett-Packard
Headquarters	Danbury , United States
Products	Wind/U, TransactionVision, DataAlchemy (via subsidiary Kenosia Corporation)
Parent	Hewlett-Packard (from 2007)

Bristol Technology Inc. was established as a software enterprise in January 1991 by Keith, Ken, and Jean Blackwell. Its premier offering, Wind/U, provided an implementation of the Windows API on platforms other than Windows, such as UNIX. In March 2007, Bristol was purchased by Hewlett-Packard for an undisclosed amount.

1991–1997: Early focus on developer tools

With an initial $100,000 in seed funding from internal sources, Bristol created cross-platform development tools that were adopted by more than 1,000 corporate customers. The company's revenue started at $500,000 in 1992 and experienced a compound annual growth rate of 70% over the following five years. This rapid expansion earned Bristol recognition on the Inc. 500 list and the top position on Connecticut's Fast 50 ranking.

1998–2001: Legal conflict with Microsoft

Bristol distributed WISE SDKs to developers targeting UNIX and Macintosh systems under Microsoft's Windows Interface Source Environment (WISE), which licensed Windows compatibility technology to third parties including Bristol.

In August 1998, Bristol initiated an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, accusing the corporation of restricting access to Windows APIs to stifle competition from UNIX, Compaq's OpenVMS, and IBM's OS/390. Bristol sought a court order compelling Microsoft to provide source code for upcoming Windows versions.

The federal trial concluded in 1999 with a jury determining that operating systems did not constitute a relevant market, thereby denying Bristol antitrust standing. Nonetheless, Microsoft was found to have breached Connecticut's Unfair Trade Practices Act; although initial damages were modest, they were subsequently raised to $1 million in punitive damages plus $3.7 million for legal expenses. The dispute was resolved through settlement in February 2001 after nearly four years of litigation.

2001–2007: Growth phase and acquisition

Following the resolution of its legal issues with Microsoft, Bristol redirected its efforts toward expansion. Starting in 1999, the company embarked on two research and development projects. One resulted in the formation of Kenosia Corporation, a fully owned subsidiary whose main product, DataAlchemy, provided consumer packaged goods firms with advanced consumer data analysis capabilities. Kenosia was sold to Halo Technology in 2005.

The second R&D initiative led to U.S. patent #7,003,781 and the development of TransactionVision—a product designed to unobtrusively monitor electronic transactions across varied IT environments. To support these ventures, Bristol secured $9.1 million in venture capital funding in 2003 from Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), Apax Partners, and existing shareholders—marking the company's inaugural venture capital round.

Between 2003 and 2006, Bristol established TransactionVision within the Business Transaction Management (BTM) sector. Ultimately, Hewlett-Packard acquired Bristol in 2007 to integrate TransactionVision into its Business Technology Optimization (BTO) offerings.