December 14, 2012 –
Greenberg (left) and Jenks help disassemble a wall on moving day.
In a high-definition example of successful startup strategy and implementation, Hiperwall Inc. is leaving the nest.
The spinoff company, which grew out of NSF-funded visualization research conducted in the CALIT2 Building, is moving into its own Irvine facility. The company has been leasing space in CALIT2’s Visualization Lab, where it was conceived and launched in 2008.
Hiperwall Inc. produces a software system that converts standard computer monitors into ultra-high-resolution display walls. The displays, which can range from 4 monitors to 80 or more, are capable of showing a wide variety of content with speed, flexibility and functionality in extremely high-resolution – up to more than one billion pixels. Images, HD video, HD streaming content and PC applications can be displayed simultaneously in a variety of presentations.
The company has hundreds of customers around the world, including universities, law enforcement and intelligence agencies and recently, JetBlue headquarters.
“We have managed to grow Hiperwall to the point that we have actually outgrown our space here at CALIT2,” said company CEO Jeff Greenberg. “It’s a position we never could have attained without CALIT2’s constant support.”
Hiperwall, Inc. co-founder Steve Jenks said, “No matter how big we get, we will remember that we got our start here at CALIT2. And even though we’re moving, CALIT2 will always have a special place in our hearts.”
The original HIPerWall (Highly Interactive Parallelized Display Wall), built in 2005, consisted of 50 flat-panel tiles that provided a total resolution of 200 million pixels. At the time, that was 100 times the resolution of state-of-the-art high-definition television and was nearly twice the resolution of the world’s next-highest display wall.
The original wall, which remains in the CALIT2 lab, has been used for visualizing a wide range of research data sets from astrophysics to medicine, and from Earth systems science to biomedical engineering.
“We wish Hiperwall Inc. continued success,” said CALIT2 Irvine director G.P. Li. “We’re very pleased that we were able to play a role in the company’s development and we will be watching proudly as Hiperwall Inc. continues to grow and prosper.”
— Anna Lynn Spitzer
