STB Systems
| File:STB Systems logo.svg | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer |
| Founded | 1981 in Richardson, Texas |
| Founders |
|
| Defunct | Template:End date and age |
| Fate | Acquired by 3dfx Interactive |
Number of employees | 895 (1996, peak) |
| Website | stb.com at the Wayback Machine (archived June 7, 1997) |
STB Systems, Inc. was a U.S.-based manufacturer specializing in graphics adapter cards from 1981 until 1999. The company initially focused on producing expansion cards for the Apple II, but later transitioned to developing graphics accelerators tailored for IBM Personal Computers and their compatibles, leveraging the open architecture of the IBM PC. STB went public in 1995 and rose to become the world's second-largest supplier of multimedia computer products before its acquisition by 3dfx Interactive in 1999.
History
Established in Richardson, Texas in 1981 by Don Balthaser, Bill Ogle, and Mark Sims, STB’s primary founder and CEO Bill Ogle brought valuable engineering expertise from his tenure at Texas Instruments. The founders chose to avoid venture capital funding and instead launched the company with a $10,000 loan.
The company’s earliest offerings featured memory expansion and graphics enhancement boards designed for the Apple II. However, growth was constrained due to Apple's proprietary ecosystem. Identifying the broader potential within the IBM PC-compatible market, STB shifted focus in 1983 to develop products such as the Super RIO multifunction board and the Graphix Plus graphics accelerator.
Throughout the 1980s, STB experienced steady growth and expanded its international presence during the 1990s. By the mid-1990s, it operated an 80,000-square-foot manufacturing site in Juárez, Mexico, capable of producing up to 200,000 graphics cards monthly. This facility also offered contract printed circuit board manufacturing services. By 1996, STB employed around 815 personnel distributed across locations in the United States, Europe—including London, Frankfurt, and Paris—and Mexico.
In 1994, STB entered the nascent 3D graphics acceleration market with its Power 3D System board featuring a 3Dlabs Glint GPU. This product gained significant traction among CAD/CAM users, enhancing STB’s market reputation. The company also established reseller partnerships with leading PC manufacturers such as IBM, Gateway 2000, Acer, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell.
STB filed for an initial public offering in February 1995. Although chip shortages caused fluctuations in its stock price during that year, revenues increased from $89.8 million in 1994 to $129.6 million for fiscal year 1995. By 1997, STB had secured its position as the world’s second-largest dedicated multimedia computer product supplier.
In February 1997, STB inaugurated a software development center in Belfast focused on creating Windows device drivers and gaming utilities, with plans to expand staff by 40 employees by the year 2000. That same year, it acquired Dallas-based Symmetric Simulation Systems for $200,000 to strengthen its portfolio of high-end 3D accelerator products. In August 1997, STB opened a new 150,000-square-foot office at Synergy Park North near the University of Texas at Dallas.
In December 1998, graphics chipset producer 3dfx Interactive announced a $141 million stock-for-stock acquisition of STB Systems. This strategic acquisition enabled 3dfx to vertically integrate into full graphics card production but positioned it as a competitor against former partners such as Creative Labs and Diamond Multimedia who utilized its chips. The transaction was finalized in May 1999.
Following the merger, operational difficulties contributed to a rapid downturn at 3dfx; its intellectual property was ultimately purchased by competitor Nvidia in 2000 before the company ceased operations in 2002. Industry experts have cited the acquisition of STB as a factor that alienated third-party manufacturers who subsequently shifted their support toward Nvidia’s chipsets.
See also
- Voodoo3, the initial product created through the collaboration between STB Systems and 3dfx
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- Webarchive template wayback links
- 3dfx Interactive
- 1981 establishments in Texas
- 1999 disestablishments in Texas
- American companies established in 1981
- American companies disestablished in 1999
- Computer companies established in 1981
- Computer companies disestablished in 1999
- Defunct computer companies of the United States
- Defunct computer hardware companies
- Graphics hardware companies
- 5
- Companies of the United States by year of establishment