Updated January 5, 2007
By RICK SMITH
Google’s presence has been kept well below the radar screen of most people, including the media. And the search engine giant seems determined to maintain that low profile even as efforts to lure the company to build a new $600 million Web server farm or some other kind of facility in the state were disclosed by the state Department of Commerce last week.
Google operates an office in the Franklin Centre in Chapel Hill with a five-person software operation. Mum is the word, however, when the question is asked about what the group is developing.
“We’re not able to say much,” said Michael Reed, who runs the operation. Asked what he and the other folks are doing, he said simply, “Just engineering.”
Reed launched a software firm called Skia, picking the Greek word for the title, in 2004. Google bought Skia in late 2005. Since the acquisition, Google has added one person to the staff.
“We were a small company. We did software development,” said Reed, who is no stranger to the area or North Carolina. He attended high school in Charlotte and earned a graduate degree in mathematics at UNC Chapel Hill. “We’ve been folded into the mother ship, and now we work just on new projects with Google.
“It’s very exciting for us,” he added. “We fly to California more than we used to, and we have more equipment than we used to. It’s very exciting working for Google because they are doing so many things.”
A spokesperson for Google confirmed to WRAL Local Tech Wire that the company had in fact acquired Skia but would disclose nothing else about the deal or what kind of software is being developed in Chapel Hill.
“We acquired Skia in 2005 and are thrilled to have them here,” said Barry Schnitt of Goggle’s public relations team.
However, a couple of interesting items may shed light on what the Chapel Hill team’s focus is.
One, Skia touted itself as a developer of 2D graphic software for mobile devices, set-top boxes and what it called “emerging products.” The language was contained on a Web site once operated by Skia.
“Skia’s first product, SGL, is a portable graphics engine capable of rendering state-of-the-art 2D graphics on low-end devices such as mobile phones, TVs, and handhelds,” the Web site said. “SGL is feature-set compatible with existing 2D standards, making it ideal to serve as a back-end for public formats such as SVG, PDF, and OpenVG. SGL is licensed as source or binary, and can be customized to match specific HW/framebuffer requirements. View the SGL Specification in HTML or PDF.”
The company then promised “download demo apps” for Windows, Macintosh, PocketPC, PalmOS, Symbian and Brew.
Also, a top Google technology executive, Craig Silverstein, recently stopped in Chapel Hill for a talk sponsored by the UNC Health Sciences Library.
His topic included discussion of mobile graphics for use on mobile devices.
A sign at the office also has touted Skia as “graphics software fanatics.”
According to Reed, Skia drew Google’s attention in part because of business trips to California, where Google is based.
“We did business in the valley,” he explained. “Everybody eventually gets to talk to everybody. Google sort of looks at everybody.”
Asked what it was like working for Google, Reed said cheerfully: “They seem to be happy with us.”Copyright 2012 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Google Comes Out of the Shadows in N.C.: Search Engine Giant Has Software Operation in Chapel Hill
Post a comment
Print this storyE-mail story
Share
Chapel Hill, N.C. —
True to its Greek word for “shadow” name, a Chapel Hill-based software firm once known as Skia has served as the shadowy launch pad for Google operations in North Carolina.Google’s presence has been kept well below the radar screen of most people, including the media. And the search engine giant seems determined to maintain that low profile even as efforts to lure the company to build a new $600 million Web server farm or some other kind of facility in the state were disclosed by the state Department of Commerce last week.
Google operates an office in the Franklin Centre in Chapel Hill with a five-person software operation. Mum is the word, however, when the question is asked about what the group is developing.
“We’re not able to say much,” said Michael Reed, who runs the operation. Asked what he and the other folks are doing, he said simply, “Just engineering.”
Reed launched a software firm called Skia, picking the Greek word for the title, in 2004. Google bought Skia in late 2005. Since the acquisition, Google has added one person to the staff.
“We were a small company. We did software development,” said Reed, who is no stranger to the area or North Carolina. He attended high school in Charlotte and earned a graduate degree in mathematics at UNC Chapel Hill. “We’ve been folded into the mother ship, and now we work just on new projects with Google.
“It’s very exciting for us,” he added. “We fly to California more than we used to, and we have more equipment than we used to. It’s very exciting working for Google because they are doing so many things.”
A spokesperson for Google confirmed to WRAL Local Tech Wire that the company had in fact acquired Skia but would disclose nothing else about the deal or what kind of software is being developed in Chapel Hill.
“We acquired Skia in 2005 and are thrilled to have them here,” said Barry Schnitt of Goggle’s public relations team.
However, a couple of interesting items may shed light on what the Chapel Hill team’s focus is.
One, Skia touted itself as a developer of 2D graphic software for mobile devices, set-top boxes and what it called “emerging products.” The language was contained on a Web site once operated by Skia.
“Skia’s first product, SGL, is a portable graphics engine capable of rendering state-of-the-art 2D graphics on low-end devices such as mobile phones, TVs, and handhelds,” the Web site said. “SGL is feature-set compatible with existing 2D standards, making it ideal to serve as a back-end for public formats such as SVG, PDF, and OpenVG. SGL is licensed as source or binary, and can be customized to match specific HW/framebuffer requirements. View the SGL Specification in HTML or PDF.”
The company then promised “download demo apps” for Windows, Macintosh, PocketPC, PalmOS, Symbian and Brew.
Also, a top Google technology executive, Craig Silverstein, recently stopped in Chapel Hill for a talk sponsored by the UNC Health Sciences Library.
His topic included discussion of mobile graphics for use on mobile devices.
A sign at the office also has touted Skia as “graphics software fanatics.”
According to Reed, Skia drew Google’s attention in part because of business trips to California, where Google is based.
“We did business in the valley,” he explained. “Everybody eventually gets to talk to everybody. Google sort of looks at everybody.”
Asked what it was like working for Google, Reed said cheerfully: “They seem to be happy with us.”Copyright 2012 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Please log in to add comment.
