General Magic Names Steve Markman CEO Executive
Transitions to Drive Company
Success in the Internet
SUNNYVALE, Calif., — General Magic, Inc. (Nasdaq: GMGC) today
announced executive transitions, including the appointment of Steve Markman
as president, chief executive officer and chairman of the Board of
Directors. The changes are a next step in General Magic’s growth, aimed
toward delivering new products for the Internet marketplace. Marc Porat
will step down as CEO and will assume a role of advisor to the company and
will continue as a Board member. Moving forward, the functions of
president, CEO and chairman will be combined into a single position, which
Markman will assume immediately. Robert Kelsch, president, has resigned.
Markman brings to General Magic a broad range of telecommunications,
networking and applications systems experience spanning 29 years, including
general management and engineering disciplines, from both small and large
companies. Most recently of Novell, Inc., he was executive vice president
and general manager of the Novell Products Group, including all product
lines. Markman has held executive management positions with Hewlett
Packard, Network Equipment Technologies, AT&T Bell Labs, and First Pacific
Networks.
“I concluded some time ago that General Magic needs a CEO with
different skills than mine,” said Marc Porat, founder and, as of today,
advisor to the company. “With the Board’s support, we recruited a
first-rate executive, Steve Markman, to the leadership spot. Our phase as
a visionary company now gives way to a competitive race in the Internet
space. Steve has a clear mandate to move Magic’s technologies into
lucrative markets in his field of experience. This transition is healthy,
appropriate and timely.”
“We also thank Bob Kelsch for his extraordinary contribution over the
past year,” Porat continued. “During that time, General Magic transitioned
its business and market strategy to the Internet, corporate intranets and
the World Wide Web.” Over the past four months, General Magic announced a
new business strategy and several new products to address the Internet.
The company transitioned the Magic Cap operating environment for mobile
communicators and the Telescript agent-based communications language
configured for large public networks to open Internet standards.
“During the past six years, under Marc Porat’s leadership, the company
launched a compelling vision, delivered enabling technology for the
electronic marketplace, and created a powerful alliance of partners such as
Sony, Motorola, Mitsubishi, NTT and Fujitsu,” said Roel Pieper, president
and chief executive of Tandem Computers and General Magic Board member.
“Bob Kelsch helped the company realign its strategy toward the fastest
growing segment in the computer industry, the Internet. Now, we have
consolidated the company leadership functions into a single position to
drive the company toward future success. We are very pleased that Steve
Markman, with his background and experience, has joined the company to
assume that role.”
Internet-Focused Products
Within the past year, General Magic has delivered on its promise to
move its products quickly into the Internet arena with the announcements of
the first graphical Web browser and multimedia e-mail client for handheld
communicators, called Presto!Links and Presto!Mail. The company also
delivered Tabriz AgentWare and Agent Tools, agent-based server software and
development tools.
General Magic worked to help customers transition from AT&T’s
proprietary PersonaLink network to open Internet service providers such as
Netcom and America Online, using the Presto!Links and Presto!Mail products.
The company’s stated plans with Magic Cap are to further encourage the
development of mobile Web browsing solutions by supporting third party
software developers to create applications for vertical markets such as
medical, financial services and mobile corporate professionals.
Tabriz enables web sites and corporate networks to host and deploy
agent-based applications. It is based on the Telescript programming
language, which has been in commercial deployment worldwide over the past
couple of years, in large public networks from AT&T and Fujitsu, and in
large-scale trials by NTT, and soon by France Telecom. The company’s
strategy with Tabriz is to encourage the development of agent-based
applications and services for the Web and corporate intranet environments.
Agent technology and companies which are delivering agent-based services
are among the innovators for the Internet and promise to revolutionize the
way information, services and products are delivered.
The company also delivered SoftModem, which is software that provides
the full suite of data and fax modem functions on general-purpose
microprocessors independent of operating system or processor. SoftModem
gives consumer electronics and computer manufacturers the ability to
dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of products compared to
existing hardware solutions.
The company also announced the appointment of David Duckworth to vice
president and general manager of General Magic’s Worldwide Field
Organization. Duckworth comes to General Magic with more than 17 years
experience in computer industry sales, marketing and channel development.
Most recently, he was with Object/FX Corporation in Minneapolis as vice
president of sales and marketing. He also has held sales and marketing
posts with Sybase, Hewlett Packard and IBM. At General Magic, Duckworth
will build a field and sales organization to expand the company’s presence
in new markets and to continue support of existing partners.
In accordance with U.S. securities law, General Magic notes that this
press release contains forward-looking statements. There are risks that may
cause actual results to vary materially. These risks include, but are not
limited to, reliance on key technical and management personnel, potential
schedule changes, competitive pressures and emerging Internet standards.
Additional risk factors are detailed in General Magic’s 1995 10-K and its
first quarter 1996 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
General Magic, Inc., was founded in 1990 and provides engaging, active
Internet software for business professionals, developers, device
manufacturers, service providers and enterprises. General Magic is
headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Columbia, South
Carolina, Paris and Tokyo. For more information on the company and its
products, visit General Magic’s Web site at http://www.genmagic.com/.
NOTE: Magic Cap and Telescript are registered trademarks of General
Magic, Inc. General Magic is a registered trademark of General Magic, Inc.
General Magic acknowledges the rights of the trademark owners for all
trademarks referred to herein.
SOURCE General Magic Inc.
-0- 09/19/96
/CONTACT: Marty Coleman, 408-774-4420, marty_coleman@genmagic.com, or
Susan Nicolls, 408-774-6901, or susann@genmagic.com, both of General Magic,
or http://www.genmagic.com/About/press.html/ (GMGC)