Company Profile

Hypercube, Inc. is a scientific software company, incorporated in 1985, specializing in molecular modeling software. We believe ourselves to be the world leader in making serious molecular modeling accessible to chemists everywhere -- researchers and students alike.

Our principal product is HyperChem, noted for its ease of use, extensive functionality, and modest price. Our most important platform is Microsoft Windows; HyperChem, on a PC under Windows, has the largest number of installations of any full-featured molecular modeling program.

Hypercube, Inc. produces two versions of the core HyperChem product: HyperChem Standard and HyperChem Release 7. HyperChem Release 7 includes the Chemist's Developer Kit, an advanced customization tool; HyperNMR, for a priori simulation of NMR spectra; and HyperChem Data, a chemical database program with over 10,000 molecules included. Also available is HyperChem Lite, a very affordable program tailored for students, which is compatible with Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98 and ME.

Hypercube, Inc. has set new standards for ease of use and molecular modeling power on PC-based systems. Our goal is to bring molecular modeling to all chemists and chemistry students.

History of Hypercube, Inc.

Hypercube, Inc. was incorporated in February of 1985 in Waterloo, Ontario. The company has origins associated with the University of Waterloo.

Its founder and current President and CEO is Neil S. Ostlund. Dr. Ostlund has held tenured academic faculty positions in the disciplines of chemistry and computer science at various universities. Most recently he was a faculty member and the director of the computer architecture lab in the computer science department of the University of Waterloo. In 1987, Dr. Ostlund left the University of Waterloo to work full-time for Hypercube, hiring its first full-time employees.

The first phase of Hypercube, Inc.'s existence involved contracting for Intel in association with Intel's development of the first commercial highly-parallel computer, the Intel iPSC hypercube computer. This is the origin of the company's name. Subsequent to this, Intel and Hypercube cooperated in the development and marketing of molecular modeling software for the commercial Intel iPSC.

The second phase of Hypercube, Inc's history involved the internal development of a turn-key molecular modeling "instrument" called a Chemputer consisting of a PC integrated with a parallel processing sub-system of Transputers running HyperChem, Release 1. A small number of these machines were built and sold to institutions such as NIH, University of California, and University of North Carolina.

The third phase of Hypercube, Inc.'s history involved a joint venture with Autodesk, Inc., initiated in 1990. Autodesk acquired an exclusive license to manufacture, market, and sell HyperChem with Hypercube doing all development and technical support for the products. The first Autodesk product, HyperChem Release 2, was shipped in March of 1992. Release 3 was shipped in April of 1993.

In January of 1994, Hypercube recovered its license from Autodesk and brought all control for HyperChem and related products in-house. Hypercube, Inc. has since shipped Releases 4, 4.5, 5 and 6 of HyperChem, is currently shipping a new Release 7 of HyperChem, and has delivered other new products such as ChemPlus, HyperNMR, HyperChem Lite and Pocket HyperChem. The company is developing a range of new molecular modeling products for a range of platforms, although its dominant product remains HyperChem for Windows.

In the spring of 1997, Hypercube, Inc., made a major move into the US by opening a new office in Gainesville, Florida. The company purchased a 2.5-acre, 12,000 square foot site in downtown Gainesville as the location of its new office. The Gainesville office has become the principal business location for the company. Sales, marketing, and product support were all transferred to the US office.

Gainesville, Florida is home to the 40,000+ students of the University of Florida as well as the Quantum Theory Project (QTP), the largest group of quantum chemists in the world. In 1996, Money Magazine rated Gainesville as the "Most Livable City in the USA". The new site for Hypercube, Inc. allows the company to interact with QTP faculty, hire their students, and expand its scientific base. The company expects to have close interactions with many members of the University of Florida community.

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