| Tao Group | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Type | Limited company |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Headquarters |  Reading, Berkshire, England |
| Slogan | Imagine Tomorrow. |
Tao Group was a software company headquartered in Reading, Berkshire,UK. It developed intent, a software platform. intent enabled content portability by delivering services in a platform independent format called Virtual Processor (VP). Its business was sold in May 2007.
History
- Tao Group was set up by Francis Charig and Chris Hinsley in 1992.
- In 1992, Tao Group released the first generation of its virtual machine called Virtual Processor (VP).
- In 1998, Tao Group released the second generation of its virtual machine called VP2.
- In 2002, Tao acquired SSEYO, a British audio company specializing in generative music technologies, and creators of the Koan generative music engine. In 2007 the founders of SSEYO established intermorphic [1], a generative tools company.
- SSEYO won a BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award in 2001.
- Tao won a BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award in 2005 for the miniMIXA product.
- Tao licensed more than 20 million copies of intent to clients such as Sony, NEC and Panasonic.
- The Open Contents Platform Association, headquartered in Tokyo and chaired by Yasuo Nishiguchi, the President of Kyocera and then by Francis Charig, the Chief Executive of Tao spent three years from 2001 looking at networked device standardization using intent. More than 50 companies were members, mostly Japanese.
- Red Herring included Tao in its top 100 European privately held companies in both 2005 and 2005.
- In 2006 Francis Charig, Chief Executive of Tao was named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer.
- Tao ranked 26th in the Fast Track 2006 Tech Track 100 in association with the Sunday Times.
- Investors in Tao Group included Motorola, Freescale Semiconductor, Sony, NEC, Sharp, Kyocera, and Mitsubishi.
- In June 2007 Cross Atlantic Licensing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cross Atlantic Capital Partners LLC acquired the IP assets. Licensing of the technology is now managed by an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle), Replevix LLC.
- Replevix LLC sued Taiwanese handset maker HTC in November 2007 for patent violations.
- Antix Labs Ltd. is a service company founded in mid-2007 by Francis Charig and headquartered in Reading, England employing more than forty of the team previously working at Tao.
References
- Announcement of formation of Open Contents Standard Association: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ECZ/is_2001_July_16/ai_76556099
- Interview with Tech Pioneer, Tao Group: http://www.weforum.org/en/fp/TechPioneerTaoGroup/index.htm
- Red Herring Europe 100 Award in 2006: http://www.redherring.com/Home/16775
- Kyocera invests in Tao Group: http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2003/01/29/28063/reading-based+tao+wins+japanese+mobile+backing.htm
- Tao acquires SSEYO: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ECZ/is_2002_March_28/ai_84240630
- Tao wins BAFTA for its SSEYO miniMIXA product: http://msmobiles.com/news.php/3645.html
- Tao ranked 26th in the Tech Track 100 and confirmation Charig & Hinsley as the founders: http://www.fasttrack.co.uk/fasttrack2002/migration/dbDetails.asp?siteID=3&compID=1885&yr=2006
- "Entertainment software platform maker Tao Group Ltd went into administration on 31 May" [2]
- Replevix sues High Tech Computer Corporation [3]
