Compact Software
technology company founded in 1973
Compact Software was the first commercially successful microwave computer-aided design (CAD) company. The company was founded in 1973 by Les Besser to commercialize his eponymous program COMPACT (Computerized Optimization of Microwave Passive and Active CircuiTs), released when he was at Farinon Electric Company.
History
Besser began working on simulators during his employment at HP (1966–1969), using the BASIC computer language and time-sharing computers. After leaving HP, he joined the newly formed microwave division of Fairchild Semiconductor, where he authored his first-generation program, SPEEDY, in 1970 to promote Fairchild's transistors. SPEEDY lacked the optimization feature, represented by the 'O' in the COMPACT acronym, but included a large s-parameter database with the all Fairchild's bipolar and GaAs microwave transistors. Fairchild customers had access to that database through SPEEDY. Besser later converted another program, originally written for his graduate thesis work, to run on a commercial time-share system and launched a part-time business, Compact Engineering (later renamed Compact Software). This second-generation program, COMPACT, included circuit optimization capability and noise analysis, a wide range of active and passive microwave components, and was offered through five different international time-sharing systems. It quickly became the industry standard, used heavily by companies developing products for defense industries. Some of the companies also purchased the program for in-house installation. In 1976 he left his engineering employment to dedicate all his energies to CAD. His father-in-law, a long-time employee of Standard Oil Co, was very concerned about Besser's new venture.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5155297. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1973, 1966, 1969 and 1970.
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This entry incorporates text from “Compact Software” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.