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Wireless - Thursday, December 1, 2005

Particle Computer - Profile

Post from The a:c's Euro-correspondentValerie Thompson

Particle Computer = Dust Networks + a hearty SAP bear hug

HQ: Karlsruhe, Germany

Karlsruhe Is North of Berlin, South of Copenhagen, West of Warsaw

Founded: 2005

Management: David Garcés, CEO, an engineer with an MBA that was hired by SAP over a year ago to lead the spin-off effort. Before that he was a product manager at packaging equipment vendor, SIG Holding, and at Mobilcom, a German wireless telco. The other co-founders are the three key boffins who developed the technology, including Christian Decker for software engineering and Michael Beigl head of R&D.

Investors: The company is a spinoff from the research lab of software giant SAP and the University of Karlruhe in Germany. It raised seed capital of EUR 500K from a state backed fund, the High-Tech Gründerfonds in November.

Business Model: Particle can ship a complete sensor networking system in three different radio frequency ranges. Its system includes nodes (components integrating RF and sensors); protocols for peer to peer communications and data exchange; operating system; along with the required network management software to configure, update, and maintain the applications and the components. It claims its system has lower energy consumption than competitors, 300 to 700% lower. Target markets are: agriculture, security, medical, building applications, and asset monitoring.

Particle Computer's Smaller Node is About the Size of a German Mark

Competitors: Crossbow and Dust Networks.

Dirt: Particle Computer is a is a two month old startup with a set of products and a documented competitive edge, but it has yet to prove itself in the market. It has to convince the likes of chemical manufacturer BASF or Hoechst to roll out sensor networks in the factory to gain credibility. Ramping up to compete with US players will be a challenge, but having SAP in the wings will help. Milestones to watch for besides first customer wins will be OEM deals with the likes of Siemens, GE, or ABB, if the big names can be convinced that it is worth putting their marketing muscle behind it.