Jan, 2002 : Kodak Forms New Wireless Technology Company

📅 January 10, 2002 - Eastman Kodak Company (kodak.com) will form a new companybased on patented wireless technologies from its research and developmentlabs, called Appairent Technologies Inc.

Appairent says it will use Kodak's intellectual property to enable currentand future wireless products to work more efficiently. Appairent willdevelop technology for the wireless transmission of high quality video,still images and data, supporting Kodak's goal of commercializing itstechnologies to expand the infoimaging category - a $225 billion industrycreated by the convergence of images and information technology.
Kodak and the Monroe Fund, a private venture capital fund managed by a unitof Rochester, N.Y.-based Trillium Group, are the initial investors inAppairent. The amount of the investment was undisclosed. Kodak also plans tocontribute a number of patents and patent applications. The spinout followsseveral years of technology incubation and seed funding by Kodak fordevelopment of the products Appairent will launch commercially.
"Wireless communication is critical as imaging and information technologiesconverge," said James Stoffel, senior vice president and CTO, Kodak. "Thegreatest value in this intellectual property and the technology it enableslies in making it broadly available. We look forward to using Appairent'swireless communication technology in our own products and to seeing muchbroader applications and infrastructure."
Appairent's management team includes executives from Kodak, from TrilliumVenture Development, the commercial development arm of Trillium Group, andfrom other industry companies. Ted Wurzburg, entrepreneur-in-residence atTrillium Group, joins Appairent as CEO, with extensive leadership experienceat start-up and established companies including VoiceWeb, Nortel Networksand Wang Laboratories.
As Appairent's CTO, Robert Heile contributes to the development of wirelesspersonal area networks technology at Verizon, GTE and BBN Technologies. JimAllen, Appairent's vice president, research & development, also providesknowledge of wireless technologies and standards from his tenure at Kodak'sResearch & Development Department and the company's Digital and AppliedImaging business.
Appairent is housed in High Tech Rochester's Lennox Tech Enterprise Center,a regional incubator facility in Rochester, N.Y. At the Lennox Center, thecompany will be co-located with other high technology startups in anenvironment designed to foster entrepreneurial growth.