Middleton

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Jon Middleton

Co-Chief Executive

Eight Cylinder Studios

Santa Monica

Jon Middleton has seen the future of broadband, and started a company that’s creating the technology to make it happen.

His Eight Cylinder Studios is one of the few firms in the nation offering software to entertainment firms, ad agencies and Internet service providers that helps create and deliver content via broadband.

The studio is the maker of the 8CS Engine, which artists can use to produce the kind of 3-D interactive content that broadband can carry through increased data streams.

Eight Cylinder also developed a player for Web browsers allowing them to toggle between traditional narrowband content and richer broadband material.

“We looked at where the industry was going and what the end user needs and wants,” Middleton said. “We saw a niche for a broadband business that would enable entertainment companies to deliver content more effectively.”

Launch Media, providers of music-related content on the Internet, has contracted with Eight Cylinder to develop an interactive 3D site. On the technology side, Intel and Cisco Systems have signed on as development partners for future products.

Middleton wouldn’t disclose revenues. This year, Eight Cylinder is seeking its first round of venture funding.

The 27-year-old Middleton graduated from Boston College with bachelor’s degrees in English and communications. He started in film production, but quickly switched to video games and other interactive media first with Pulse Entertainment, a start-up game publisher, where he handled worldwide marketing.

In 1995, Middleton parlayed that experience into a consulting career in San Francisco, advising game makers on marketing and business development. Pulse eventually lured him back to launch a new division, Umbrella Software, which entered the digital pet market with a virtual aquarium known as Aquazone.

Middleton left Umbrella in 1997 to form Eight Cylinder Studios with co-founders Chad Nelson and Jonathan Fishman.

The company signed a development deal with Microsoft and created a game called “Flux.” Using the proceeds from that deal, the trio shifted to broadband.

Margot Carmichael Lester

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