Former SCE boss Ken Kutaragi.

NOV. 11, 2009 • Former SCE boss Ken Kutaragi has started a new firm, Cyber AI Entertainment Inc., according to The Nikkei business daily. Cyber AI is capitalized at ¥20 million ($222,000), with Kutaragi owning 90% of the new firm, and serving as president. Former Sony engineer Takashi Usuki, holds the other 10% stake and is a board member. Cyber AI will focus on research and development relating to information processing and cutting-edge networking with an eye on an advanced cloud computing platform for entertainment.

Impact: Kutaragi staked his reputation on designing the PlayStation 3 as a high-end entertainment integrator. In the years since his departure from Sony, cloud computing has become all the rage. Designing a high-end online server/delivery architecture with ambitions far beyond what we have seen proposed by OnLive and Zeebo fits perfectly with what we have seen before from Kutaragi. Pulling such a technological feat off would go far in redeeming his reputation.