Stac Electronics
| Company type | Public (until 2002) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Technology, Software, Semiconductor |
| Predecessor | State of the Art Consulting |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Founder | Gary Clow, Doug Whiting, John Tanner, Mike Schuster, William Dally, Scott Karns, Robert Monsour, Robert Johnson, Hugh Ness |
| Defunct | 2002 |
| Fate | Assets sold to Altiris; company wound down |
| Headquarters | Pasadena, California (initially), later Carlsbad and Carmel Valley (San Diego), California , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Lempel–Ziv–Stac compression algorithm, Stacker disk compression software, STAC Coprocessor Card, ReachOut remote desktop software, Replica server image backup solution, Previo help desk and support solutions |
Stac Electronics, initially established as State of the Art Consulting and later abbreviated to Stac, Inc., was a technology firm founded in 1983. The company gained recognition mainly for its Lempel–Ziv–Stac lossless compression algorithm and the Stacker disk compression software designed for data storage enhancement.
1983–1994
The company was created by a group of five computer science graduates from Caltech—Gary Clow, Doug Whiting, John Tanner, Mike Schuster, and William Dally—alongside two engineers from the industry, Scott Karns and Robert Monsour, as well as two board members from the corporate sector: Robert Johnson of Southern California Ventures and Hugh Ness from Scientific Atlanta. The first hire was Bruce Behymer, an undergraduate student at Caltech.
Initially based in Pasadena, California and subsequently relocating to Carlsbad, California, Stac secured venture capital aimed at producing application-specific standard products for the tape drive market. The company planned to extend its reach into the broader disk drive sector, attracting investors after successes such as those achieved by Cirrus.
While modifying its compression hardware for disk drives, Stac developed a DOS driver capable of transparently compressing data on personal computer hard disks. This innovation demonstrated that software-based compression could supplant hardware solutions due to advances in processor speeds. The DOS driver was crafted in x86 assembly language under contract by Paul Houle.
In 1990, Stac introduced Stacker, a disk compression utility that effectively doubled typical hard drive capacities—from 20 to 80 MB—and frequently enhanced system performance by compressing data before writing and decompressing it when read. Over time, Stacker sold millions of copies.
The company also released the STAC Coprocessor Card, which aimed to boost compression speed and efficiency. Salient Software licensed this technology for their NuBus DoubleUp and PDS Bullet cards designed for the Macintosh, although they implemented Salient's own DiskDoubler software instead.
1994–2002
Prior to 1996, Stac relocated its headquarters from Carlsbad to the Carmel Valley area in San Diego, while maintaining a development team in Estonia. Following resolution of its legal dispute with Microsoft, Stac broadened its utility software offerings by developing and acquiring products focused on storage and communication. This strategic shift aimed to compensate for revenue declines caused by the collapse of the hard drive compression market after MS-DOS incorporated DoubleSpace and hard disk prices fell. Utilizing capital from its 1992 IPO and the settlement with Microsoft, Stac acquired remote desktop software named "ReachOut" along with a server image backup solution called "Replica." The company also created a network backup product for both workstations and laptops, marketed initially as "Replica NDM" and later rebranded as "eSupport Essentials." Innovations from this backup technology contributed to the foundation of contemporary online backup services.
Concurrently, Stac’s semiconductor division expanded significantly, culminating in the 1998 spin-off of its chip subsidiary Hifn through a primary public offering.
The remaining utility software segment was renamed "Previo," with a new focus on delivering help desk and support solutions. During the downturn following the bursting of the dot-com bubble, management divested the remaining technology assets to Altiris in 2002 and returned proceeds to shareholders before winding down operations.
Microsoft lawsuit
In 1993, Microsoft introduced MS-DOS 6.0, which included a disk compression utility named DoubleSpace. Despite having previously negotiated licensing agreements with Stac and examined its source code, Microsoft faced a lawsuit from Stac—represented by attorney Morgan Chu—alleging infringement of two patents related to data compression technology. Microsoft responded by seeking an injunction to halt the distribution of Stac’s Stacker 3.1 software, while Stac contended that Microsoft’s intent was to monopolize the compression software market following its licensing deal with competitor Novell.
A jury in California ruled in 1994, awarding Stac $120 million for patent violations, but also found that Stac had unlawfully used Microsoft’s trade secrets, resulting in a $13.6 million award to Microsoft on a counterclaim. Subsequently, a court order prohibited the sale of MS-DOS versions containing DoubleSpace; meanwhile, Microsoft had already begun distributing an updated MS-DOS version without the compression feature. By the end of 1994, both parties reached a settlement whereby Microsoft acquired a $39.9 million stake in Stac and consented to pay approximately $43 million in patent licensing fees.
See also
- Hifn
- Novell DOS 7, OpenDOS 7.01, DR-DOS 7.02 and subsequent releases
- PC DOS 7 and PC DOS 2000
- DOS Protected Mode Services
- Multimedia Stacker
- Disk compression
- File Allocation Table
- Comparison of file systems
External links
- Defunct software companies of the United States
- Software companies based in California
- Technology companies in Greater Los Angeles
- Software companies established in 1983
- Technology companies disestablished in 2002
- 1983 establishments in California
- 2002 disestablishments in California
- Companies based in Pasadena, California
- Companies based in Carlsbad, California
- Defunct manufacturing companies in Greater Los Angeles
- Microsoft criticisms and controversies
- Defunct computer companies of the United States
- Defunct semiconductor companies of the United States
- Fabless semiconductor companies
- Defunct computer hardware companies