UniSoft
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software development |
| Founded | October 5, 1981 in Emeryville, California, United States |
| Headquarters | Millbrae, California , United States |
| Products | Unix ports, standardization and conformance testing solutions for digital television |
UniSoft Corporation is a United States-based software developer founded in 1981, originally concentrating on porting Unix to multiple computer architecture platforms. Currently headquartered in Millbrae, California, the company now dedicates its efforts to developing standardization and conformance testing solutions tailored for the digital television sector.
History
Founded on October 5, 1981, in Emeryville, California, UniSoft gained early recognition as a pioneer in implementing Unix for the 16-bit microcomputer segment. By 1989, the company had successfully executed more than 225 Unix ports across various hardware systems, accounting for roughly 65% of all such implementations. Notably, UniSoft's port of Version 7 Unix served as the inaugural operating system for Sun Microsystems' Sun-1 workstation and server models. Additionally, it was responsible for creating Apple's Unix distribution, A/UX, designed for the Macintosh II.
During the 1980s, Uniplus+ was marketed as a commercial version of the Unix System III and System V operating systems. It operated on the Motorola MC68000 processor, which powered devices such as the Torch Triple X and Apple Lisa. This software later became the foundation for Silicon Graphics' GL2 OS, which eventually evolved into IRIX.
UniSoft moved its headquarters to Millbrae, California, in 1991. Although the company attempted to penetrate the Unix market on RISC platforms—developing a System V Release 4 variant for MIPS processors—its revenue diminished relative to earlier achievements with the 68000 architecture. This downturn prompted organizational restructuring and a strategic pivot toward creating testing and validation suites. By 1997, UniSoft had fully redirected its focus to the television industry, concentrating on producing standards-compliant software development tools, testing frameworks, and broadcast solutions for digital TV.