Gaston Bastiaens
Encyclopedia
Gaston Bastiaens is a Belgian engineer
and businessman. As a vice president of Philips Electronics, he was responsible for the Compact Disc
as well as for CD-i
, CD-ROM, Philips' contributions to the MPEG standard and the foundations for the DVD.
After graduating with distinction from the Catholic University Leuven (Belgium) in Electrical and Nuclear Engineering, Bastiaens served in the military from 1971 to 1972. In 1972 he joined the Hi-Fi division of Philips Electronics in Leuven, where he served in various management capacities until 1982. During his earlier years there he created a number of new production methods, including for the assembly of loudspeaker systems, manufacturing of tuners and component insertion in printed circuit boards. By introducing new strategies including CAD/CAM, he was later able to reduce the development time of Hi-Fi components from 18 months to nine.
In 1983 Bastiaens was promoted to the Philips headquarters in Eindhoven where he became a general manager and director with worldwide responsibility for the Compact Disc project. Between 1983 and 1986 he oversaw a multi-divisional engineering effort the bring the cost of a compact disc player from 1150 Dutch guilders down to 220. The project was internally called "25–250": By reducing the cost of key components such as the laser module, the drive unit, the decoding circuit, etc. to 25 guilders each, the target was to enable Philips to build the product for 250 guilders. Bastiaens then concentrated on selling OEM licenses for the CD technology as well as maintaining a global market share of 20 percent in Compact Disc mechanisms for Philips. He was also responsible of diversification efforts such as CD-ROM and CD-ROM XA.
From 1988–92 Bastiaens was general manager and director of the Multimedia Division of Philips Consumer Electronics. Jan Timmer, then Philips' head of Consumer Electronics, gave him four months to make or break the Compact Disc Interactive (CD-I) project, a joint effort between Sony and Philips to enhance the CD standard with multi-media technology. This so called "Green Book" standard had been in development since 1985 but was still in the concept phase when Bastiaens took charge. He started out by changing the project to "full motion video", which would enable a CD-I disc to hold a full-length feature movie but was rather ambitious at the time, as the compression and decoding hard- and software had yet to be developed. The success of the project also hinged on the creation of software and tools to create the content which would be essential in driving the market. Bastiaens moved the project into the MPEG standard, getting Philips more actively involved in that technology. By the time the first CD-I products where launched in 1992, using the MPEG-1 standard for video, development of MPEG-2 technology was well under way for the upcoming DVD technology, which used a red laser for encoding more than eleven times as much information on a disk of the same size as a CD, which used a yellow laser.
In 1992 Bastiaens was approached by Apple CEO John Sculley to move to Apple Computer
as a Vice President, and the first General Manager
of Apple's newly formed Personal Interactive Electronics (PIE) division in the early 1990s. In this role, he oversaw the launch of the Apple Newton
PDA
.
He was president of Quarterdeck
.
In 1996, he became president, and CEO of Lernout & Hauspie
. In August 2000, he disputed a Wall Street Journal article about Korean sales.
In 2001, he was accused of fraud, and extradited to Belgium.
On 21 May 2007, he went to trial in Ghent, Belgium.
In 2008, he demanded a full acquittal.
On 20 September 2010 Gaston Bastiaens was sentenced to three years in prison and two years of probabation In December 2010, he appealed the sentence.
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and businessman. As a vice president of Philips Electronics, he was responsible for the Compact Disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
as well as for CD-i
CD-i
CD-i, or Compact Disc Interactive, is the name of an interactive multimedia CD player developed and marketed by Royal Philips Electronics N.V. CD-i also refers to the multimedia Compact Disc standard used by the CD-i console, also known as Green Book, which was developed by Philips and Sony...
, CD-ROM, Philips' contributions to the MPEG standard and the foundations for the DVD.
After graduating with distinction from the Catholic University Leuven (Belgium) in Electrical and Nuclear Engineering, Bastiaens served in the military from 1971 to 1972. In 1972 he joined the Hi-Fi division of Philips Electronics in Leuven, where he served in various management capacities until 1982. During his earlier years there he created a number of new production methods, including for the assembly of loudspeaker systems, manufacturing of tuners and component insertion in printed circuit boards. By introducing new strategies including CAD/CAM, he was later able to reduce the development time of Hi-Fi components from 18 months to nine.
In 1983 Bastiaens was promoted to the Philips headquarters in Eindhoven where he became a general manager and director with worldwide responsibility for the Compact Disc project. Between 1983 and 1986 he oversaw a multi-divisional engineering effort the bring the cost of a compact disc player from 1150 Dutch guilders down to 220. The project was internally called "25–250": By reducing the cost of key components such as the laser module, the drive unit, the decoding circuit, etc. to 25 guilders each, the target was to enable Philips to build the product for 250 guilders. Bastiaens then concentrated on selling OEM licenses for the CD technology as well as maintaining a global market share of 20 percent in Compact Disc mechanisms for Philips. He was also responsible of diversification efforts such as CD-ROM and CD-ROM XA.
From 1988–92 Bastiaens was general manager and director of the Multimedia Division of Philips Consumer Electronics. Jan Timmer, then Philips' head of Consumer Electronics, gave him four months to make or break the Compact Disc Interactive (CD-I) project, a joint effort between Sony and Philips to enhance the CD standard with multi-media technology. This so called "Green Book" standard had been in development since 1985 but was still in the concept phase when Bastiaens took charge. He started out by changing the project to "full motion video", which would enable a CD-I disc to hold a full-length feature movie but was rather ambitious at the time, as the compression and decoding hard- and software had yet to be developed. The success of the project also hinged on the creation of software and tools to create the content which would be essential in driving the market. Bastiaens moved the project into the MPEG standard, getting Philips more actively involved in that technology. By the time the first CD-I products where launched in 1992, using the MPEG-1 standard for video, development of MPEG-2 technology was well under way for the upcoming DVD technology, which used a red laser for encoding more than eleven times as much information on a disk of the same size as a CD, which used a yellow laser.
In 1992 Bastiaens was approached by Apple CEO John Sculley to move to Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
as a Vice President, and the first General Manager
General manager
General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...
of Apple's newly formed Personal Interactive Electronics (PIE) division in the early 1990s. In this role, he oversaw the launch of the Apple Newton
Apple Newton
The MessagePad was the first series of personal digital assistant devices developed by Apple for the Newton platform in 1993. Some electronic engineering and the manufacture of Apple's MessagePad devices was done in Japan by the Sharp Corporation...
PDA
Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
.
He was president of Quarterdeck
Quarterdeck Office Systems
Quarterdeck Office Systems, later Quarterdeck Corporation , was an American computer software company. It was founded by Therese Myers and Gary Pope in 1981and incorporated in 1982...
.
In 1996, he became president, and CEO of Lernout & Hauspie
Lernout & Hauspie
Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, or L&H, was a leading Belgium-based speech recognition technology company, founded by Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie, that went bankrupt in 2001...
. In August 2000, he disputed a Wall Street Journal article about Korean sales.
In 2001, he was accused of fraud, and extradited to Belgium.
On 21 May 2007, he went to trial in Ghent, Belgium.
In 2008, he demanded a full acquittal.
On 20 September 2010 Gaston Bastiaens was sentenced to three years in prison and two years of probabation In December 2010, he appealed the sentence.