In-Q-Tel Announces Strategic Investments in Wireless Sensor Networking

21 October 2005

In-Q-Tel, a private, independent venture group established by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), today announced additional investments in the wireless sensor networking market Tendril Networks, the leader in software applications for seamlessly combining wireless sensor and control networks; and Ember, a leading ZigBee(TM) wireless semiconductor systems company.
In 2003, In-Q-Tel invested in Dust Networks, a pioneer in wireless mesh networking. Over the last two years, Dust Networks has developed and released its SmartMesh(R) platform for reliable, low-power wireless monitoring and control. Dust Networks' products are now used in industrial monitoring and building automation in addition to defense and intelligence applications. "The next generation of computing will seamlessly network the billions of embedded devices," said In-Q-Tel CEO, Gilman Louie. "As an investor, we want to participate in all segments of what we expect will be a fast growing market."

About In-Q-Tel
In-Q-Tel is a private, independent, not-for-profit venture group funded by interested Intelligence Community partners to include CIA, DIA, FBI, NGA, and NSA. Launched in 1999 by the CIA, In-Q-Tel's mission is to identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge information technologies that serve United States national security interests. Working from an evolving strategic blueprint that defines the Intelligence Community's critical technology problem areas, In-Q-Tel engages with entrepreneurs, established companies, researchers and venture capitalists to deliver technologies that pay out in superior intelligence capabilities. Learn more at http://www.in-q-tel.org.

About Dust Networks
Dust Networks(TM) provides low-power wireless mesh networking systems to solution providers, integrators and OEMs for enterprise-class monitoring and control applications. Dust Networks' SmartMesh(TM) combines sophisticated mesh networking software and low-power wireless nodes to provide unmatched reliability, manageability and ease of implementation. SmartMesh enables unprecedented access to information about the physical world, allowing companies to monitor and control processes and systems for increased efficiency and enhanced profitability. For more information, please visit http://www.dustnetworks.com.

About Ember
Ember Corporation develops ZigBee-compliant wireless semiconductor solutions that help automate homes, make buildings consume less energy, enable manufacturing plants to run with fewer breakdowns, and keep the country's borders and infrastructure safe and secure. With more than 120 customers, Ember's vision is to help create an "Internet of things" by enabling the eight billion microcontrollers built into products each year to support low-cost, low-power networking applications in any industry. Headquartered in Boston with offices and distributors worldwide, the company is a lead promoter of the ZigBee Alliance and its platform is the National Technical Systems' (NTS) "Golden Suite" for 802.15.4/ZigBee interoperability testing. For more information, please visit http://www.ember.com.

About Tendril
Tendril, Inc. is at the forefront of the "Internet of Things" the next big stage of computing which allows organizations to interact with the physical world in areas where computing has previously been cost-prohibitive. To achieve its vision, Tendril is leading the expansion of the Wireless Sensor and Control Networks category by developing the Tendril Service Broker. This groundbreaking technology includes the first software product of its kind to sit on top of a variety of wireless sensor networks and offer a distributed programming interface to instantiate, manipulate and orchestrate previously non-computerized activities related to buildings, factories, cities, crops, homes and other objects in the physical world. For more information about Tendril visit http://www.tendrilinc.com.

Source: PR Newswire