Arthur Esch’s
chronological highlights include:
In the 1960s, Mr. Esch
graduated from Penn State with a degree in Finance; then graduated from the
Navy’s Supply Corps School in Athens, Georgia; and served his active duty time
on the Presidential Command Ship, the USS Northampton. Upon completion of his military service, Mr.
Esch joined Electronic Data Systems. He
was one of the early graduates of the Systems Engineering Program and built
some of the first analytical systems for Wall Street.
In the 1970s, Arthur pioneered the wholesale licensing of computer software. He participated in the design and creation of
the first real-time transaction processing platform running on mainframe IBM
computers. This revolutionary software
provided an easy path to delivering on-line applications. The software branded
as ‘TAPS’; allowed traditional programmers to transport their batch software
programs beyond time-sharing to real-time, transaction based systems operating
on the IBM telecommunications platforms IMS and CICS. Arthur then revolutionized the software
licensing business by marketing the TAPS platform to other software companies –
allowing them to integrate TAPS into their batch software products and deliver
their new software packages in real-time environments. Ultimately, nineteen of the twenty-five
largest software companies licensed that technology; and the TAPS software
became one of the most widely installed mainframe products in history.
In the 1980’s, Arthur was a co-founder of one of
the first information superhighways. Under
the brand name NABU, the network used Offset-QPSK to deliver a T1 digital
signal over satellite to cable television head-ends. The signal was then
inserted in the side-band of an unusable television channel and the digital network was
delivered to thousands of homes in the United States and Canada. In the home, the first broadband cable modem
connected to a personal computer that was the fore-runner of the MSX PC. Families received continuously updated news,
community information, educational materials, lifestyle programming, and games.
In the mid-1980s, Arthur partnered with British Telecom to build the
television industry’s first Digital Studio, for creating local news and
advertisements. A second invention used
an unattended personal computer, with a real-time operating system, to
automatically operate a television channel, displaying the output of the
Digital Studio.
A number of cable
Multiple System Operators partnered with Arthur Esch and Tom Wheeler to create
NuCable and NuStar. These organizations installed
more than 500 automated cable television stations. The industry ultimately focused on classified
advertising as the primary use of the technology; often partnering with local
newspapers and radio stations to sell the advertising.
Ultimately, this new ‘CACS” based industry
exceeded $1 Billion in revenue. These
cable systems were networked by NuCable to form regional classified advertising
networks, while NuStar delivered advertisements nation-wide over satellite
systems.
In the 1990s, Arthur created the concept; designed the architecture; and was
a partner in building the first digital television network, ‘NBC Desktop News’.
The joint venture delivered
professional, personalized business news directly to desktop PCs using
traditional telephone land lines. Each
subscriber specified a series of requirements and the network automatically assimilated
a customized news broadcast on the subscriber’s Personal Computer. That service was integrated into the Microsoft
joint venture -- MS/NBC.
In the new millennium, Arthur Esch launched two of the largest Internet based
multimedia magazines – eAristotle and Practical Ministry Innovations. Both
magazines reached over 100,000 Internet subscribers. After licensing those
magazines to Travelmole, Mr. Esch advises companies and organizations on their digital communications to targeted audiences.
Today, Arthur Esch works with Skip Lange at Florida Accelerator and Michael Corbit from Career Source: Palm Beach County, to assist small business owners accelerate growth and improve profits. For more in depth information, please go to www.FloridaAccelerator.com.
