By Allan Maurer
VIERA, FL—Squeezing multiple antennas in ever smaller smartphones, laptops and other handheld devices doing multiple functions poses a problem that has helped SkyCross, which makes all-in-one and other advanced antennas, grow by 50 percent every year of the last four.
Founded in 2000, SkyCross has raised a total of $58 million in venture backing from investors including TL Ventures, SK Telecom, BancBoston Capital, BAE Systems, Milcom Technologies, Investment Partners of Orlando, Intel Capital, and most recently, Investor Growth Capital, which led its $23 million round earlier this month (Feb. 2009).
The company has nearly 200 employees and is hiring additional sales and marketing and a few finance people and a fairly large number of engineers and support people on the heels of its latest financing.
The company plans to open offices in Japan and Taiwan later this year.
SkyCross is one of 40 presenting companies at TechJournal South’s third annual Southeast Venture Conference March 11-12th at the Intercontinental Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia (see: www.seventure.org for more information).
SkyCross Vice President of Business Development and Marketing Joseph Gifford tells TechJournal South the company’s original technology came from BAE systems. “They allowed us to take some of their proprietary military antenna technology and modify it for commercial use. Since then, we have augmented our portfolio eight or ten times over and continue to enhance our intellectual property base.”
Gifford describes SkyCross as “A global designer and maker of one-stop antenna solutions for a variety of devices, mobile phones, handsets, data cards, USB dongles, laptops and routers. We try to empower designers to create winning consumer electronic products for any network at any price point.”
The company’s secret sauce, is that the company designs its antennas based on the function and specific device requirements. “We take a radio frequency systems approach in the way we design our solutions,” he says. “We look not only at how the antenna is situated, but at the performance of other components surrounding the antenna.”
By simplifying and eliminating adjacent components, SkyCross solves complex RF processing issues that affect performance. Its approach, says Gifford, “Reduces time to market, lowers the cost, and avoids problems late in the development cycle. By taking a systems approach, we get better performance and efficiency right off the bat.”
In early 2008, SkyCross released its iMAT technology, a disruptive innovation that consolidates the performance benefits of multiple antennas into a single low-cost antenna.
At CES earlier this month, Samsung introduced its Haptic and Omnia touch screen smartphone models; each contains multiple SkyCross antennas for voice, Internet, mobile video, and more. Last year, the first USB device certified by the WiMAX Forum was powered by an iMAT antenna to support global WiMAX frequencies and WiFi. SkyCross also provided antennas for the only ExpressCard offered by Sprint XOHM for its first WiMAX launch in the United States.
The Samsung Blackjack II, which Consumer Reports recently named as the best smartphone of 2008, and the Samsung Juke topped sales rankings; SkyCross antennas enable wireless connectivity for both devices.
Gifford says that thus far, the company has not seen any indication that the down economy is affecting its business, even though cell phone makers have slashed their 2009 forecasts and reported poor earnings and shipments for 2008. Nevertheless, says Gifford, “We continue to get repeat business from these customers. They like our solutions. It allows them to push out more products.”
He says SkyCross remains cautiously optimistic that it can increase business by another 50 percent in 2009. “While the overall wireless device pie may be reduced,” he says, “We’re well positioned to obtain an even larger share of that reduced pie via the superior technology we offer.”
Online: www.skycross.com
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