anyone know anything about this company?
Motorola Funds Xanboo, Sees Home-Based Network Boom
Thu Feb 21, 9:45 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Mobile phone maker and communications systems developer Motorola Inc. on Thursday joined a $20 million funding round for Xanboo Inc., a privately held company selling technology that allows homeowners to remotely monitor homes over the Internet.
Motorola Ventures, the No. 2 cell-phone maker's venture capital unit, would not disclose how much it invested in the funding round, but said the technology will figure prominently in plans to develop the "networked home" market.
"It gives grandma the opportunity to plug in and see the nursery even if she is 700 miles away," said Matthew Growney, Motorola Venture's managing director for eastern U.S. region operations.
Xanboo's technology platform -- currently selling to consumers for between $49 and $129 -- includes software, video cameras, wireless sensors and a control device that plugs into a PC to send images of homes and allow online management from other PCs of devices such as thermostats and garage doors.
The system also is developing into a low-cost security measure that Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola believes will sell to small businesses, according to Growney.
The system is being rolled out at franchises of Subway Restaurants, and four other food and coffee franchises should begin deploying it within the next 30 to 60 days, according to Bill Diamond, Xanboo's president.
Xanboo's technology currently is designed to be used over PCs, but it will soon find its way onto set-top boxes and then onto handheld devices, reasons for Motorola's investment and its taking a seat on the New York-based company's board of directors, Growney said.
Motorola expects telecom carriers and broadband providers will see remotely-managed home- and small-business networks as valuable subscription services, Growney added.
"It will allow us to sell more value downstream to companies such as AT&T and Comcast , and to companies like Nextel , which is looking into developing applications for subscribers that increase minute-usage, and one of those is home security," Growney said.
Earlier this week Motorola Ventures, which made roughly $50 million in investments last year, said it took an undisclosed stake in a company whose technology also aims to boost the time consumers spend on cell phones.
The venture unit on Tuesday said it had invested in Finnish mobile entertainment company Codeonline Oy to promote wireless games, including versions of the popular trivia boardgame "Trivial Pursuit" and the once red-hot television game show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" |
