QUALCOMM PRESS RELEASE:Thursday May 4, 7:09 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SkyDesk Receives $20 Million Investment
Investment Marks Commitment to Development of Services for Wireless Market
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 4, 2000--SkyDesk (formally @Backup), a provider of Internet storage solutions, today announced it has received $20 million in new funding from wireless industry leaders QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq:QCOM - news) and Hikari Tsushin, with each investing $10 million.
The proceeds from the investment are expected to support the development of wireless products and services that will expand the management of electronic information using Internet-based technology.
``As wireless devices become more pervasive and demand for wireless Internet access increases, SkyDesk offers a conduit for storage and transferring information among devices,'' said Jeff Jacobs, senior vice president of Business Development, QUALCOMM.
``Our last round of investment came from storage companies EMC and ADIC. Additionally, the investment by these two wireless leaders supports our plans to support mobile devices,'' said Gary Sutton, SkyDesk CEO. ``We are committed to serving emerging markets and to applying our core competencies to new applications, including the wireless market.''
In addition to EMC, ADIC and Enterprise Partners, SkyDesk has received funding from Merrill Lynch, Cendant Corporation, Alta Partners, American Express and Crest Communications.
About SkyDesk
SkyDesk is an application service provider focused on delivering reliable, secure, easy-to-use and cost-effective data storage and document management solutions to small and medium-sized businesses and individual computer users. SkyDesk's services, which include @Backup, SkyFiler and SmartClone, enable users to protect, store, access and share their data. @Backup is an online data protection and storage service available on an annual subscription basis. SkyDesk offers the @Backup service directly through its Web site and indirectly through its marketing relationships with companies such as Dell, EarthLink, Excite@Home, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard and Intuit. SkyFiler is an Internet-based service that enables workgroups to securely share and collaborate on documents at any time and from any location. SmartClone is a service that allows users to move their computer configuration settings and preferences from one computer to another. For more information about SkyDesk, please visit www.skydesk.com.
About Hikari Tsushin
Hikari Tsushin, Inc. is a leading marketer, reseller and distributor of telecommunications services in Japan. Founded in 1988, Hikari works with long-distance carriers, cellular operators and Internet service providers to promote competition and consumer choice in the Japanese market. The company serves more than two million cellular subscribers through wholesale channels and 1,200 retail outlets. Hikari's Internet business is the fastest-growing Virtual ISP in Japan.
About QUALCOMM
QUALCOMM Incorporated (www.qualcomm.com) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on the company's CDMA digital technology. The company's business areas include integrated CDMA chipsets and system software; technology licensing; Eudora email software for Windows and Macintosh computing platforms; satellite-based systems including portions of the Globalstar(TM) system and wireless fleet management systems, OmniTRACS© and OmniExpress(TM). QUALCOMM owns patents that are essential to all of the CDMA wireless telecommunications standards that have been adopted or proposed for adoption by standards-setting bodies worldwide. QUALCOMM has licensed its essential CDMA patent portfolio to more than 75 telecommunications equipment manufacturers worldwide. Headquartered in San Diego, QUALCOMM is included in the S&P 500 Index and is a 1999 FORTUNE 500© company traded on The Nasdaq Stock |
