Conference heron::euro_swas_ai

284.0. "Image/Voice/Human Interface PCU" by ULYSSE::ROACH (TANSTAAFL !) Fri Feb 22 1991 16:03

Subject: PRODUCT CREATION UNIT - BILL HEFFNER                                   2





To focus on an important new direction in computer technology, 
Digital is forming a new Product Creation Unit (PCU) -- 
Image/Voice/Human Interface -- under the leadership of Bill 
Heffner, Vice President.

"Originally computers could only recognize characters," explains 
Bill.  "In the 1980's the added capability to recognize graphics 
led to rapid growth of a variety of important applications, such 
as CAD/CAM and desktop publishing.  Now the industry is on the 
threshold of another major advance -- the ability to process 
whole images and to use voice for both input and output.  We have 
formed a new Product Creation Unit (PCU) to focus our efforts to 
develop the enabling technologies and also a wide range of 
applications based on them."

Bill, who reports to Jack Smith, Senior Vice President of 
Operations, will be the focal point for all corporate activities 
involving image, voice, and other human interfaces.  To begin 
with, the new group will include the Image Systems Group (IBU) plus 
the Voice portion of the EIS Integration Business Unit.  I would like 
to thank Steve Davis for leading the progress that the Image Systems 
business made during the past year.

Bill and his immediate staff will be located at Digital's Burlington, 
MA.  The development activities will stay in Merrimack, NH.

Bill joined Digital in 1975 as Group Software Engineering 
Manager and served as the head of the 32-bit software development 
effort, which has given the company its base software leadership in 
VMS, DECnet and many other software products.  He was named Vice 
President in 1985.