Rearden Companies - Innovation Incubation

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Steve Perlman

Founder / CEO

Steve Perlman, Rearden Founder & CEO, is an entrepreneur and inventor devoted to pioneering Internet, entertainment, multimedia, consumer electronics and communications technologies and services. He has more than 30 years of technology development experience, over 15 years of start-up experience and a track record of bringing media-rich products and services quickly to market.

Steve's technology work is built into all iPhones, video iPods, Macs and most PCs and has been deployed by DirecTV, Dish, Comcast, Time Warner, Charter and Adelphia cable TV and satellite TV networks; and retailed as consumer products from Sony, Philips, RCA, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Samsung, Fujitsu, Motorola, Scientific Atlanta and Sega. Products he has created include Mova Contour^TM Reality Capture, WebTV, the Moxi Media Center and the underpinnings of Macintosh multimedia technology, including QuickTime.

Steve's production companies work includes video game motion capture for Electronic Arts' From Russia with Love (2005), The Godfather (2006) and Vivendi Universal's Eragon (2006); HD video/audio editorial work for Santana, Electronic Arts and independent film; and art/production design for Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis for major motion pictures War of the Worlds (2005), Monster House (2006) and Beowulf (2007).

Steve holds over over 80 patents in an array of multimedia and communications technologies and has more than 50 additional patents pending.

Details

Steve introduced Mova Contour Reality Capture, the first photoreal production motion capture system, offered as a service through Rearden's Mova subsidiary. Also, Steve launched woa.tv :: The Women of Action Network, an online HDTV destination for active women.

Steve founded Rearden Studios, providing HD video and audio services. Rearden Studios has produced advanced HD video tuned for internet-based distribution through woa.tv. Additionally, its clients have included Santana, Electronic Arts, and Home Depot, and it has provided editing services for indie films such as Quality of Life (2005), Hope (2005), and Hanuman (2006).

Steve founded Mova to develop advanced motion capture technology and provide world-class motion capture services. Mova's work has included video game motion capture for Electronic Arts' The Godfather, and From Russia with Love and Vivendi Universal's Eragon. Steve also co-founded Ice Blink Studios with renowned artist Doug Chiang. Ice Blink's work can be seen in major motion pictures War of the Worlds (2005), directed by Steven Spielberg; Monster House (2006), produced by Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis; and Beowulf (2007), directed by Robert Zemeckis. After wrapping Beowulf, Doug and the Ice Blink team became part of Image Movers Digital.

Steve introduced the Moxi Media Center, a low-cost replacement for a digital cable or satellite set-top box that integrated Digital Video Recording, Music Jukebox, DVD player, and Internet Gateway into one device that wirelessly networks video, audio, and broadband connectivity throughout the home. Moxi is currently deployed by Comcast, Time Warner, Charter and Adelphia cable TV networks, among others.

Steve founded Rearden, an incubator of art and technologies. Also in 2000, Steve founded Moxi Digital focused on revolutionizing home entertainment.

In April, Steve deployed the world's first Digital Video Recorder (DVR), the Dishplayer satellite receiver on Dish Network. Within a year, over 200,000 units were sold, almost triple the number of DVRs sold by all other manufacturers combined. Dish continued to be a leader in the DVR market.

Steve created and co-founded WebTV, and was president and CEO for its first 4 years. He is credited with introducing the first true convergence product, combining Internet TV, interactive TV, digital TV, Digital Video Recording, and games into an integrated, simple and inexpensive consumer electronics device. Twenty months after it was founded, WebTV Networks was acquired by Microsoft Corporation for over $500 million. A financially and strategically successful acquisition, WebTV (now MSNTV) was still earning $150 million annually with 65% gross margins in 2005, and has produced over a billion dollars in revenue. Also, both of Microsoft's TV distribution platforms, Cable TV Foundation and IPTV, and the XBox360 hardware were created by the WebTV team. WebTV products have been sold throughout the world, and have been deployed to both DirecTV and Dish Network satellite customers, and have been retailed under license by Sony, Philips, RCA, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Samsung, Fujitsu, Sega, Scientific Atlanta and On Command.

Steve co-founded Catapult Entertainment and was its Chief Technology Officer. Catapult developed the XBand modem for Sega and Nintendo video game systems that online-enabled existing multi-player games.

Steve was managing director of advanced products for General Magic, where he architected its second-generation technology, including system-on-a-chip silicon deployed within the first Windows CE PDAs and software-based high-speed modem technology deployed by Broadcom.

Steve was a principal scientist of Apple Computer, Inc., where he led the development efforts for much of the underlying multimedia technology incorporated into the color Macintosh, including Road Pizza, the enabling technology behind QuickTime, that grew out of QuickScan, a massively-parallel graphics animation and video decompression chip.

Steve designed a parallel-processing graphics system at Atari. At Coleco, Steve developed a massively-parallel 3D animation chip and a software-based high-speed modem.

Building his first computer from a kit during high school in 1976, Steve proceeded to design and build several computers, graphics/video systems, modems, displays, audio systems, interface devices and video games, as well as all kinds of software, both for fun and for clients. Steve graduated from Columbia University in 1983.