Panda Project

The Panda Project, Inc.

Company type	Public
Industry	Computer hardware
Founded	1 April 1992 (1992-04-01) in Boca Raton, Florida, United States
Founder	Stanford W. Crane Jr.
Defunct	2000 (2000)
Fate	Computer systems division sold to Round Stone Holdings; later became Coda Octopus Group
Headquarters	Boca Raton , United States
Products	Archistrat series workstations and servers, VSPA integrated circuit packaging technology

The Panda Project, Inc. was a U.S.-based computer manufacturer operational from 1992 until 2000, primarily recognized for its Archistrat series of premium workstations and servers. These systems featured a proprietary 256-bit backplane design that supported various processor architectures. The Archistrat line had a brief market presence and was produced in limited numbers.

History

Established in April 1992 in Boca Raton, Florida, The Panda Project was founded by Stanford W. Crane Jr., who previously held executive roles at AMP Incorporated and Molex Corporation. The company took over the former office space of IBM PC innovator Philip Don Estridge. Crane selected the name to imply confidentiality and to discourage competition. Within two years, he brought on board several former IBM professionals, such as Joseph A. Sarubbi, Bruce Smith, Greg Simco, and H. L. "Sparky" Sparks, strengthening the firm’s technical expertise.

Between March and May 1994, Panda Project initiated an initial public offering that successfully raised $10 million dedicated to research and development efforts. Their inaugural product was VSPA (Very Small Peripheral Array), a surface-mount integrated circuit packaging innovation introduced in September 1994. This technology achieved a reduction in IC size by 60–70% relative to existing packaging methods of the time. Developed jointly with IBM Microelectronics, VSPA incorporated a three-dimensional stepped pyramid structure to enhance lead density. In 1996, AMP Incorporated secured licensing rights for this technology.

In 1995, Panda Project launched the Archistrat workstation and server lineup utilizing Intel x86 processors. Its patented Compass connector facilitated a modular architecture where the CPU, chipset, and PCI/ISA slots resided on one board, while RAM and I/O components were placed on separate boards linked via the high-density backplane. This design intended to simplify hardware upgrades and enable support for multiple CPU platforms such as PowerPC or DEC Alpha through interchangeable boards. The Archistrat stood out with its distinctive rounded and colorful tower chassis, contrasting sharply with the conventional beige computer cases.

The Archistrat made its debut at PC EXPO in June 1995 and garnered significant attention, even gracing the cover of Byte magazine’s October 1995 edition under the headline "The PC is dead". Critics acknowledged its innovative design but observed that its raw performance was average.

In April 1998, Panda revealed Rock City, a cube-shaped desktop powered by Intel Pentium MMX CPUs running at speeds between 200 and 233 MHz, featuring a unique case etched with lightning motifs. However, prior to commencing production, Panda divested its computer systems division to UK-based Round Stone Holdings in November 1998. This transaction transferred all development rights, manufacturing equipment, and inventory related to Panda’s systems to Round Stone. After this sale, Panda shifted focus to marketing its VSPA packaging technology, which achieved only modest commercial traction.

By 1999, Panda sold its VSPA patents along with remaining assets to Silicon Bandwidth located in San Bruno, California, transforming into a non-operational public shell company. In April 2000, Crane resigned from his roles as chairman and CEO alongside his spouse. Later in June 2004, Panda acquired three divisions of Coda Octopus—a vendor specializing in seafloor mapping software—and rebranded itself as Coda Octopus Group, which continues operations today.

External links

• Archistrat 4S server hosted by the Computer History Museum