Wireless biz aims to link road warriors to office
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`Page 1 of 2
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`Crain's Online: Technology Monday
`
`January 14, 2002
`
`Wireless biz aims to link
`road warriors to office
`
`Out-of-town access: Edward F.
`Bachner III's firm has developed a
`wallet-sized wireless computer that
`will enable workers to bring all of a
`company's data files on the road.
`Photo: John R. Boehm
`
`January 14, 2002
`By Sandra Jones
`
`
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`Previously in
`"Technology Monday"
`
`Have you ever wished you could carry your file
`cabinet around with you?
`
`Stock Quotes and Company
`Research
`
`That's a question a group of
`telecommunications engineers are posing as
`they throw their latest idea into the crowded
`wireless ring.
`
`West Chicago-based startup Rosetta-Wireless
`Corp. has invented a wallet-sized wireless
`computer that will enable workers to bring all of
`a company's computer files and latest e-mails
`with them on the road.
`
`The $300 device, called a "wireless intelligent
`personal server" (Wips), would talk to the
`corporate server all day long, keeping files up-
`to-date, revising schedules and downloading
`
`e-mails and
`attachments — all
`over existing cellular
`networks. At the
`same time, Wips
`would update,
`wirelessly, any
`laptop, personal digital assistant or other
`mobile device the worker is carrying.
`
`
`
`When workers get ready to begin their tasks,
`they have the latest information across all
`devices, just as they do at the office.
`
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`Editorial Index:
`01/14/2002
`ABC-Naco
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`Hospital
`Rosetta-Wireless
`Rush-Presbyterian-St.
`Luke's
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`
`
`"Our goal is to let people see the exact same
`files, whatever device they use, and to always
`have them be up-to-date," says Edward F.
`Bachner III, president and co-founder of
`Rosetta and a former Motorola Inc. engineer.
`
`Mr. Bachner predicts that the Wips device is
`going to be popular among a select group of
`mobile workers who need massive amounts of
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`http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?article_id=17615&bt=&a
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`1/14/02
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`Rosetta-2012
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`Wireless biz aims to link road warriors to office
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`data that either don't fit on a portable computer
`or must be updated constantly. Two examples:
`traveling sales people who share inventory
`data-bases and insurance industry workers who
`require hefty documents that differ by state.
`
`The technology may even prove useful to the
`military for everything from moving around
`supplies to intelligence-gathering, Mr. Bachner
`says. Rosetta is scheduled to demonstrate the
`product to the U.S. Department of Defense this
`week, and is in talks with carriers to start a
`pilot test in Chicago later this year.
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`Cellular operators may like the idea because
`the constant wireless transmissions mean more
`minutes, and, in turn, more revenue.
`
`But skeptics question whether consumers,
`already weighed down by their cell phones,
`personal digital assistants and laptops, will
`want to carry yet another mobile device.
`
`"It's unclear what the problems are that they're
`really solving," says Jane Zweig, CEO of
`Shosteck Group, a Wheaton, Md.-based
`telecom research group. "It may be another
`layer that encumbers rather than helps."
`
`Rosetta, which has not posted any revenues
`yet, has been self-funded so far. It also is
`getting marketing and product development
`support from the Technology, Research,
`Education and Commercialization Center — an
`organization formed through a joint grant from
`the Office of Naval Research and the University
`of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and located at
`the DuPage Airport Research Park in West
`Chicago. Battelle Memorial Institute, an Ohio-
`based tech research firm with operations at the
`DuPage park, is also lending a hand.
`
`Mr. Bachner acknowledges that potential
`customers have had many questions about
`security and are initially uncomfortable with the
`notion that all the company files could be left
`behind on a plane or in a coffee shop.
`
`Not to worry, says Mr. Bachner. The wireless
`server is merely a "mirror" of the corporate
`server. Users receive only those files and e-
`mails that they would be able to receive at the
`office. Data are protected as they travel over
`the airwaves.
`
`And, if for some reason the personal server
`gets left behind, the tech support office back
`home can erase the entire server with a remote
`command.
`
`Rosetta got its start in 2000 after Mr. Bachner
`and several colleagues spun it off from Double-
`Time Corp., an Elmhurst-based cell phone
`accessories maker, now called PowerClip Co.
`LLC, which Mr. Bachner co-founded in 1995.
`
`If all goes as planned, Rosetta will begin
`licensing its Wips product to carriers and
`network equipment makers by the end of this
`year. The company expects most of its revenue
`to come from royalties on airtime. Business
`plans call for Rosetta to become cash flow-
`positive by the fourth quarter of this year.
`
`©2002 by Crain Communications Inc.
`
`http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?article_id=17615&bt=&a
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`1/14/02
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