Company name: Wireless Grids Corp.
Founded: 2004
Location: Syracuse, N.Y.
What does the company offer? Innovaticus, in beta test with students at Syracuse University: software that lets wireless (and wired) devices negotiate automatically with each other to share any kind of digital content. The core software is about ad hoc, distributed resource coordination over a mix of networks.What that means is Innovaticus users create and manage their personal network of devices, and designate files of all types (and soon "things" in their network like screens, disk drives, speakers, keyboards, printers and digicams) for access and use from anywhere by other Innovaticus users. It's all done through a set of simple icons and menus.
Why is it worth watching? Think of it as a structure for mobile spontaneity: your personal or business devices become part of an interoperable grid that amplifies what you can do, but letting you do it with and through the resources others make available.
How did the company get its start? The intellectual property grew out of National Science Foundation grant to Lee McKnight, an associate prof at Syracuse's School of Information Study, for research on "Virtual Markets in Wireless Communication and Computational Grids." The company was formed to obtain exclusive license to the IP, and then commercialize it.
How did the company get its name? Though the software can work over wired as well as wireless networks, McKnight wanted to emphasize that Innovaticus was agnostic with regard to the underlying radio-frequency network layer. And he wanted to turn the meaning of "grids" inside out: focusing on end devices, and making the grid highly personal.
CEO and background: Lee McKnight, also chairman and founder. He was a co-founder of the Internet Governance Project and co-director of the Wireless Grids Lab, both at University of Syracuse. He's president of Marengo Research LLC, a consulting and investment management firm. He is co-author or co-editor of four MIT Press books, and of more than 50 peer-reviewed academic publications.
Funding: $4 million from various government and industry backers, as well as from McKnight and other individuals through a convertible debt offering.
Who's using the product? Currently in beta test at Syracuse University, with support from Nokia; additional testing with Clear Channel, and a host of new university locations beginning in the fall, and with companies or government agencies overseas.