Transcription
A Brief History of Silicon ValleyNick MilnerMilner Company Marketing LLPDecember 2008 Copyright 2008 Milner Company Marketing LLP
IntroductionSilicon Valley is about 25 mileslong and 10 miles wide, and isapproximately 45 milessoutheast of San Francisco.It has the University of Stanfordat its centre.The original companies thathave grown up here are allbased in one way or anotherupon the semiconductor whichgave rise to a new name for thearea: "Silicon Valley“. Copyright 2008 Milner Company Marketing LLP2
It is not just a place, it’s a legendDon Hoefler is credited withcoining the phrase Silicon Valleyin 1975. Its roll of GoogleHPIntelMySpaceNetscapeOraclePayPalSilicon GraphicsSunTandemYahooYouTubeTo understand Silicon Valley, ithelps to know how it came about. Copyright 2008 Milner Company Marketing LLP3
Silicon Valley Milestones 1891—Stanford University wasfounded by Governor Leland and JaneStanford.1903—Valdemar Poulsendemonstrates the first arc radiotransmitter for high-quality voicetransmission in his Palo Altolaboratory. He later invents the firstpractical device for magnetic soundrecording and reproduction.1912—Lee de Forest invents thevacuum tube amplifier in Palo Alto.His “audion” became the foundationfor radio, radar, television, computers,and the electronics age. Stanfordfaculty and officials helped finance thework, the first of many cooperativepartnerships between higher educationand Silicon Valley. Copyright 2008 Milner Company Marketing LLP4Stanford University Hoover Tower
Silicon Valley Milestones 1930’s—Professor Frederick Termanis recruited by Stanford University andstarts a lifelong promotion of thebenefits of the Valley. Later, Termanbecomes known as the father ofSilicon Valley.1937—Encouraged by Terman,William Hewlett and David Packardstart a company to produce theiraudio-oscillator. Walt Disney becomestheir first customer, purchasing theproduct for use on the film Fantasia.1937—Stanford professor WilliamHansen teams with brothers Sigurdand Russell Varian to develop theklystron tube. Their work continuesthrough WWII and leads to thedevelopment of radar and the 1948founding of Varian Associates.1946—The Stanford ResearchInstitute is founded to support nonprofit research. Copyright 2008 Milner Company Marketing LLP5
Silicon Valley Milestones 1951—Stanford Industrial Park is established as a “center of high technology closeto a cooperative university.” Varian Associates, General Electric, and EastmanKodak sign the first leases.1952—IBM locates a key research facility to the valley.The First building of Silicon Valley - Varian Associates building, Stanford Industrial Park, Palo Alto, California, 1953. Copyright 2008 Milner Company Marketing LLP6
Silicon Valley Milestones 1956—Dr. William Shockley foundsShockley Transistor Corporation toproduce semiconductor-based transistors toreplace unreliable vacuum tubes. Earlyemployees read like a who’s who of thehigh-technology future.1958—Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, andsix other engineers from ShockleyTransistor found Fairchild Semiconductor,the first company to mass produceintegrated circuits.1958—NASA moves a research facility tothe valley.1968—Douglas Engelbart and team at theStanford Research Institute (now SRIInternational) give first public demonstrationof the computer mouse, windows, andnetworking.1968—Robert Noyce (pictured left) andGordon Moore (Moore’s Law) create Intel.1970—Intel introduces first 1k DRAM chip. Copyright 2008 Milner Company Marketing LLP7
Silicon Valley Milestones 1971—Alan Shugart invents the floppy diskfor data storage.1973—Intel introduces 8008 CPU andushers in the new era of the microprocessor.1973—Stanley N. Cohen of StanfordUniversity and Herbert W. Boyer of UC SanFrancisco invent a technique for splicinggenes, leading to the formation of the biotech industry.1974—Development of the Graphical UserInterface (GUI) at the Xerox Palo AltoResearch Center (PARC) led to the intuitivedesign of Apple's Macintosh computer andMicrosoft Windows.1975—The Homebrew Computer Club isfounded to experiment with homecomputers.1976—Homebrew founder Steve Wozniakteams with Steve Jobs to form AppleComputer and build the first microcomputerin Jobs' garage in Cupertino. Copyright 2008 Milner Company Marketing LLP8Steve Wozniakand Steve Jobswith early Applecomputers
Silicon Valley Milestones Copyright 2008 Milner Company Marketing LLP91970's—Relational databasetechnology invented at IBM'sAlmaden Research Centre.1982—The Stanford UniversityNetwork is the catalyst behind thefounding of Sun Microsystems.Silicon Graphics uses the samenetwork chips to create its first graphicworkstations.1984—Cisco Systems is founded byLeonard Bosack and Sandra Lerner(top left)1989—Don Eigler (bottom right) aresearcher at IBM’s AlmadenResearch Centre, usesnanotechnology to spell “IBM” with35 xenon atoms.
Silicon Valley Milestones 1993—Stanford Professor Jim Clarkhires web browser pioneer MarkAndreesen to found MosaicCommunications, predecessor toNetscape CommunicationsCorporation and the browser thatmade the Internet an everyday tool1994—Jerry Yang and David Filo starta directory of websites that explodesinto Yahoo!1995—Netscape IPO at 28 per sharewent to 75 at close valuing it at 3bn1999—Kleiner Perkins and Sequoiaagree to co-invest in Google at 12.5meach2003—Google purchases Pyra Labs tosupport blogs, today’s onlinecommunity forums2006—Google buys 15 month oldYouTube for 1.6bn2007—29th June Apple launch iPhone Copyright 2008 Milner Company Marketing LLPBrin and Page in Susan Wojcicki’s garage in 1998– Google’s first offices after moving out of Stanford10
More history to come In Michael Mandel’s 2000 book “Coming InternetDepression: Why the High-Tech Boom Will Go Bust,Why the Crash Will Be Worse Than You Think, andHow to Prosper Afterwards” he believes this depressionwill be significantly worse than the dotcom crash. In the short term, I predict the restless and relentlessinnovation entrepreneurial spirit will temporarily beobscured with stories of company failures and job cuts. Even in a depression, bright and adventurous people will bedrawn to Silicon Valley, to graduate from Stanford, to startup in garages, to want to change the world. As a result, we are not witnessing the end of the story.There will be further historic invention and companycreation in the future to add to the 70 years of history inSilicon Valley. Copyright 2008 Milner Company Marketing LLP11
AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by theMais Bursary from The WorshipfulCompany of Marketors.The Mais Bursary is open to Members of the Companyand their immediate families, supporting the recipient witha bursary of 3,000 to enable them to study an aspect ofmarketing of personal interest.The Company of Marketors is the 90th in the City ofLondon Roll of 107 Livery Companies. Twenty-nine'Modern' Livery Companies have been created since 1926,a gap of 400 years since the previous Company, theMaster Keith Arundale presenting the 2007 Mais Bursary toCarmen, was granted its charter in 1517.Nick Milner at the Fishmongers Hall, October 2007 Copyright 2008 Milner Company Marketing LLP12
For further information contactnick.milner@milnerllp.comvisit www.milnerllp.com Copyright 2008 Milner Company Marketing LLP13
Silicon Valley Milestones 1930's— Professor Frederick Terman is recruited by Stanford University and starts a lifelong promotion of the benefits of the Valley. Later, Terman becomes known as the father of Silicon Valley. 1937 —Encouraged by Terman, William Hewlett and David Packard start a company to produce their audio-oscillator.
