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Last year Network World designated more than 90 start-ups as worth watching. After a second look, we narrowed the list down to these companies – one Canadian and nine American - as newcomers offering offering agility, seamless integration and pervasive connectivity to enterprises.
Founded: January 2003
Headquarters: Toronto
What it offers: The Converged Services Node and other products that perform fixed mobile convergence (FMC). Comprising hardware and software, the company's systems offer a session brokering function that allows a call on a single device (such as a cell phone) to be handed off to Wi-Fi or vice versa. A call also can be transferred to a different device on a different network, for instance, linking traditional PBX calls to Wi-Fi handsets.
Why we like it: FMC allows companies to treat mobile phones like PBX extensions. NewStep gear expands connections to IP phones, softphones and other handheld devices, as well as traditional phones, without requiring a forklift of current hardware. Plus, NewStep says it supports Microsoft Live Communications Server, which means it doesn't simply route calls, but helps provide presence information for Microsoft Unified Communications shops. Since we first profiled the company in January, NewStep has been testing interoperability on a long list of technologies. These include tests of Code Division Multiple Access/Wi-Fi handsets with Kyocera Wireless, GSM/Wi-Fi handsets with Paragon Wireless, Linux handsets tests with E28, and dual- and multi-mode handsets with Hellosoft. It also has proved interoperability with IP PBXs from Asterisk, Avaya and Cisco.
How it got its start: Founders, who saw FMC technology as a "new step" for carrier voice services, spun the company out of Bell Canada to address the emerging market.
Management: The team includes CEO Neil Baimel, who is former CEO of Syndesis, maker of service-fulfillment software for service providers, and Lloyd Williams, vice president of engineering. Williams, formerly a researcher at Bell Canada, has authored more than 25 patents.
Funding: $27 million from Vengrowth Private Equity Partners, Newbury Ventures, BDC Venture Capital, B.E.S.T Fund and Bell Canada.
Who uses the product: Embarq, BT and Bell Canada, plus the company says enterprise customers in Europe are in various testing phases.
Interesting fact: NewStep has filed for more than 16 patents for its Converged Services Node software.
Founded: June 2004
Headquarters: Santa Clara
What it offers: The V-8000 Virtual I/O server, an appliance that converts individual storage and networking interfaces from commodity x86 Windows/Linux servers into a single pool, operating on a 10G fabric.
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