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Growing from MSU research, Camgian developing energy-efficient technology |
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Sunday, 15 March 2009 |
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By PAUL SIMS
Starkville Daily News
A Mississippi native with a “significant love” for his home state is heading up a Starkville-based company helping such systems as unmanned aerial vehicles become smaller and lighter and use less energy.
Dr. Gary Butler is the president of Camgian Microsystems, headquartered in the former local operations of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. in the Multi-Tenant Building in the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park.
The two-year old company is a spin-out from Mississippi State University as an advanced research and development firm focused in the area of microelectronics.
Camgian is a MURA — or Mississippi University Research Act — company, Butler said. The act helps commercialize intellectual property created at MSU.
One of the things company officials focused on initially was to conduct applied research development through sponsorship of several government organizations and those with the firm have been successful in growing the company’s research and development work for the government, Butler said.
The microelectronic technologies under development at Camgian “aim to improve the performance of critical military electronic systems,” Butler said. He cited such examples as UAVs, thermal cameras, ground sensors and micro-satellites.
Camgian’s technology is embedded in these larger systems to help drive down their size, weight and power consumption.
“That’s very critical because you can put systems in the field which are smaller, lighter and lower-powered,” he said. The company’s semiconductor technologies support high levels of integration at the chip scale, Butler said, enabling a new generation of low-power systems on a chip.
On the government side, the company works with organizations such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, the Department of Homeland Security and other defense-related agencies. On the commercial side, the current group’s semiconductor work has supported commercial products for companies such as Motorola, Nokia and Hewlett Packard.
The engineering staff of the current Starkville operation have more than 100 issued patents in integrated circuit design.
John Stockton, a venture partner at Mayfield, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm, is one member of the company’s board of directors.
Some of the company’s commercial partners include BAE Systems and New Jersey-based DRS Technologies. Camgian is a protege company to DRS.
The company’s name “is a take” on the latin term for one of Butler’s alma maters, Cambridge University in Cambridge, England, he said. The term is “Cantabrigian.”
Butler obtained his bachelor’s degree at Tulane University in New Orleans, La. and his master’s degree at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. His doctoral degree is from Cambridge University.
He remains in his role as the assistant vice president for research and technology development at MSU.
Camgian has two divisions – an advanced microelectronics division led by Danny Merchant in Starkville and an advanced systems division in Maitland, Fla., an Orlando, Fla. suburb. It also has a small presence in Huntsville, Ala.
In February, officials announced Camgian’s acquisition of Cypress’s Starkville design center. The move retained 15 high-wage jobs in the community and placed Camgian’s headquarters in the Multi-Tenant Building space. Camgian continues to perform integrated circuit design and development for the San Jose, Calif.-based Cypress.
Camgian – which began in January 2007 – employs 25 people.
When asked about the decision to house the headquarters in Starkville, Butler – a Pearl native – said: “I’m a native Mississippian. I have a significant love for this state and want to see us be successful in technology and economic development. ... We as a team ... want to grow our technology base in Starkville.”
“That’s why we want our headquarters here to be a significant technology presence at both the state and national level,” Butler said.
Regarding future plans, Butler said: “We would like to grow our presence in Starkville significantly to include our facilities and engineering work.”
For information on Camgian Microsystems, visit http://www.camgian.com/.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 16 March 2009 )
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