From The Show Floor - 20 Years Later, Maker Of Maya Takes On New Alias, Drops |Wavefront

by , 12:00 PM EDT, July 17th, 2003

Alias|Wavefront is dead, long live Alias! Thus rings the cry from the maker of Mac 3D software Maya. The company is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and in honor of that birthday the company has changed its name. Henceforth, the company will simply be known as Alias. To go with the new name, the company has also launched a new logo.

The company's main URL is also now simply alias.com, though it could take the rest of the day for that change to propagate through the majority of DNS servers. From Alias:

Alias|Wavefront, a Silicon Graphics, Inc. company, announced that today marks the start of its 20th anniversary celebrations and the launch of a corporate identity change from Alias|Wavefront to Alias. The name Alias signifies the rich heritage of the company and provides a simple yet powerful name that is well known throughout the 3D industry and beyond. The 20th year of the company has been an outstanding one to date and began with an Oscar® statuette for the development of Alias|Wavefront™ Maya® software.

In the Beginning
Alias Research was founded in 1983, in Toronto, Canada, with Wavefront Technologies launching one year later in Santa Barbara, California. Both companies experienced strong growth and developed products such as Composer, Kinemation™, Dynamation™, Alias® and PowerAnimator™ through the late eighties and into the nineties. In the mid-90’s, the two companies were acquired and merged under Silicon Graphics as Alias|Wavefront. The goal of the merged company was to develop leading-edge software for producing the most realistic digital visual experience possible and it has achieved just that. With two product lines, it is a leader in its class. StudioTools™ and Maya software are the result of two companies bringing together their brightest minds and product development powerhouses.

New ‘Alias’ for Alias|Wavefront
The decision to evolve the name comes at a time when the company is pushing forward to launch new products and provide even greater value to the Alias customer base. "Alias will bring new products and services to market more rapidly over the next five years than ever before in our 20-year history. At the same time we are committed to continuing with our historical industry leading investment in both Maya and StudioTools," Walker continued. "Our new name allows us to focus on building a single brand for new products going forward and frees up resources to invest in the products themselves."

Along with the new name, comes a new logo and branding for the company. To read more about the launch of Alias and the story of the new logo, please visit www.alias.com.

Defining Moments
The past 20 years are filled with exciting moments in computer graphics history and Alias software has played a role in some of the most defining moments:

• Alias software was used to bring vision to life in such cutting edge films as The Abyss, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park and to recent Oscar award-winning films Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Matrix, Shrek and For the Birds
• In games, early favorites such as Donkey Kong Country, Star Control® II and Quake® took full advantage of Alias technology and most recently, six out of 10 top-selling 2002 holiday games were made with Maya software, including Madden Football 2003, SOCOM™: US Navy Seals.
• Every major automotive manufacturer uses Alias software, from Audi® with its new Audi TT; to Renault with its Megane II, and our longest standing customer, General Motors
• In product design, Alias customers are creating award-winning designs and world-recognized brands including Apple® computers, Nike® sports gear, Trek® racing bicycles, Herman Miller® furniture, John Deere® tractors, the Segway® human transporter and even Olympic torches.

Driving the Evolution of 3D Graphics Forward – The Alias Visualization Studio™
Alias will continue to fulfill its vision of the past 20 years - to develop leading-edge software and services to enable its customers to create, visualize and communicate the world's most compelling digital visual experiences. As part of delivering on that vision, Alias will launch the Alias Visualization Studio, a new state-of-the-art customer briefing facility equipped with best of breed technology from Alias and its partners. The Alias Visualization Studio will provide a space to share ideas and facilitate collaboration with customers and partners to define the future of digital visualization for film and video, games, automotive and industrial design and to help bring new value to markets where the potential of digital visualization is emerging. The Alias Visualization Studio will officially launch in Fall 2003 at the company's headquarters in Toronto.

With the most innovative and advanced customers in the world developing products in design and entertainment markets that touch every aspect of people's lives; from the cars we drive, to the films we watch, the interactive games we play and the running shoes we wear – Alias will continue to play a starring role.

You can find more information on Alias at the company's new site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

We were among those who enjoyed the Alias|Wavefront name, but apparently there were those who didn't. While some fans of the show Alias may be less than happy that Alias (the company) owns the Alias domain name, we think the new name and URL will likely make things simpler for users of the company's products. In the meanwhile, it's very cool to see any company, especially a software company making cool products, celebrate 20 years of doing business. Accordingly, we wish Alias another 20 years of success, especially in the Mac market.

Alias