Add some money, which Xerox is short of these days, and some computer marketing vision, which Xerox has always been short of, and maybe the mystical wizards' cave at PARC can spin out some products and profitable companies.
"There's tremendous untapped potential there, given its legendary status and reputation and all the prior breakthrough technologies," says Jeffrey Tung, managing partner with Timberline, who was formerly vice president and partner at defunct Xerox Technology Ventures. "Granted, it was more prolific in the 1970s and 1980s than the 1990s, but nevertheless, the research and researchers are still top-notch."
Mr. Tung contends that PARC has dozens of ideas ready for commercialization right off the bat. His firm is most interested in PARC's work in the document recognition and user interface space, which would be complementary to Timberline's portfolio.
