Khyber to have Booth at Consumer Electronics Show
FAIRLAWN, OH , December 28, 2000 โ While being showcased at Khyber’s booth during the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the Pocket Partner will be featured on TechTV. Jim Lauderbeck, co-host of the popular show Fresh Gear, will be demonstrating and showing-off the Pocket Partner live at 4:00pm – 5:00pm PST (7:00pm – 8:00pm EST) on Fresh Gear’s live coverage of CES. Don’t forget to set your calendars and tune-in with us at CES.
PocketPartner Roll-Out Featured in Akron Beacon Journal
KHYBER TECHNOLOGIES’ POCKET PARTNER WILL LINK RETAIL CLERKS TO WEB
Wednesday, July 19,2000
Page: BUSINESS – D1
By Dave Scott, Beacon Journal business writer
Khyber Technologies Corp., a tiny company in Fairlawn, is about to launch its first major product line.
The first 1,500 Pocket Partners, a hand-held device designed to link retail clerks to the Web, will be produced next month. With a price of more than $1,000 each, the Pocket Partners could generate more than $1.5 million in revenue.
Raj Kumar, president and chief executive of Khyber, declined to say who would buy the devices except to say it would be a major Ohio company that provides mobile computing for industries. The two major players in that field are Telxon Corp., a former Fairlawn company now based in Cincinnati, and Symbol Industries of Holtsville, N.Y. “A company selling computer products will be the first retailer to use the product,” he said.
The Pocket Partners will be equipped with a bar code scanner, a magnetic strip reader, a telephone, a Web browser and a place to store dates, addresses and other personal data.
Kumar said the goal is to free store clerks from their desks and cash registers and make them more efficient. For example, the clerk would be able to scan a product’s label while meeting a customer in the aisle. Then they could link to complete product information from the Internet or an in-store network.
The information would be displayed on the Pocket Partner’s monochrome (black-and- white) screen. A color version is in the works, Kumar said.
The magnetic strip reader on the Pocket Partner would allow the clerk to sell the item using the customer’s credit card right there in the aisle or even make a running total of products as they move through the store.
If that clerk gets a phone call, it can be answered with the Pocket Partner, avoiding a trip back to the store office.
“The store associates won’t be tied to a desk anymore,” said Kumar.
Kumar said the Pocket Partners would cost “$1,000 plus” and be built by MCMS Inc. of Durham, N.C.
Cisco Systems confirmed that the Pocket Partners will use its Cisco Aironet radios. Aironet was a Telxon subsidiary before it was spun off last year. Cisco purchased Aironet earlier this year.
Kumar envisions a day when consumers will carry Pocket Partners with them as they shop, allowing them to scan product tags for prices and information and even charge them to their credit cards as they load up their shopping cart.
When Kumar announced the Pocket Partner in December, he said his target customers were the 90 million users of cellular telephones and 4 million people who own “personal digital assistants” like the Palm Pilots or Handspring Visors.
But for now, Kumar said the devices will be sold to the retail industry.
“It’s such a huge market,” he said. “That’s the good news. And because it is such a huge market, it just takes time,” he said.
Kumar formerly worked in product development for Telxon and found it easier to pursue industrial uses for the Pocket Partner.
“Right now we just focus on the wirelesswide area networks,” he said. “…this is our gateway to consumer applications….We will be getting to the consumers. We will be able to take it to the homes.”
Ex Telxon Chief joins Khyber’s board as the startup begins vertical marketing of its product.
FAIRLAWN, OH , February 8, 2000 โ Khyber Technologies Corporation, a privately held developer of handheld computers, announced its new Board of Directors. Messrs. Michael Gallucci of Akron and Raymond D. Meyo of Fairlawn will be joining Khyber’s CEO Raj Kumar, who founded the company in 1990. The Meyo family and the Gallucci family have both made previous investments in Khyber.
As the Chief Executive Officer of Telxon from 1985 through 1992, and the Chief Operating Officer prior to that, Mr. Meyo led Telxon through its rapid growth and an IPO in 1983 (Nasdaq: TLXN). During the eleven years under Meyo’s tenure as the CEO and the COO, Telxon realized compounded annual growth of 23% for revenue and 26% for income. “I am delighted to be on Khyber’s board and look forward to helping the company take the product to the market”, said Meyo. “In the barcode field, Khyber has targeted end-user companies with large installed base of traditional data-entry products. Khyber’s Internet-based technology is an ideal upgrade for them”.
Mr. Gallucci has been in the hotel management and development business for over 20 years. He is a law graduate of Cleveland Marshall College of Law. He said, “Khyber has a great opportunity in the market with its new technology. In the near future we expect Khyber to become a leading provider of finished products as well as intellectual property related to portable Internet appliances”.
“With production planned for this summer, the timing couldn’t be better for acquiring access to such seasoned and well-connected business professionals”, said Raj Kumar. “Ray is highly regarded in the industry and brings with him an intimate knowledge of the barcode field where we have just begun to market our key product. Mike has already been advising us on various matters of finance and developments. We will continue to benefit from his guidance”.
Khyber recently announced a revolutionary new product, a pocket PC that doubles as an engine to a notebook computer. The company is direct-marketing the product, called the PocketPartner, in vertical barcode applications. Khyber has just begun seeking first round of financing. It is also seeking alliances and strategic investments from makers of wireless phones, PDAs, and laptop computers, from providers of Internet-based services, and from wireless carriers, to manufacture and/or market the product to their subscribers and general consumers.
Khyber Technologies Introduces a Revolutionary Product
“A smart phone doubles as an engine to a notebook computer.”
FAIRLAWN, OH , January 6, 2000 โ Khyber Technologies Corporation, a privately held developer of handheld computers, introduced a product today that is said to employ a revolutionary design, making it potentially the most economical and versatile digital appliance in the market when it begins shipment later this year. Khyber is demonstrating a prototype of the product this week in its booth at the 2000 International CES in Las Vegas.
Khyber’s new product, the PocketPartner, consists of a smart phone and a companion notebook monitor. The smart phone unit is powered by a 130MHz Intel processor and Microsoft WindowsCE operating system. It also contains a 3″display with pen input and accepts standard compact-flash modules of various sizes. The companion notebook monitor provides a 7.8″ color display, an 80% reduced-size laptop-style keyboard and a telephone line interface that works with a modem contained within the smart phone unit.
The company is seeking alliances with makers of wireless phones, PDAs, and laptop computers to manufacture and market the product tailored to their markets. Khyber intends to direct-market customized products into vertical applications of barcode scanning by establishing alliances with wireless carriers and providers of services and applications based on the Internet.
“This product reflects our intimate understanding of not only the mobile work-force but also the technologies for creating perfect tools for them”, said Raj Kumar, Khyber’s CEO. “The PocketPartner unit will give the user more bang for the buck. To our licensees, the product design serves as a complete platform upon which to build their new product-line, based on their technology and tailored to their market needs”.
Khyber was founded in 1990 by Raj Kumar who previously led Telxon Corporation’s R&D during its rapid growth and an IPO in the 1980’s (Nasdaq: TLXN). At Telxon, he developed several leading products and brought in wireless technology, which was later spun-off in another IPO (Nasdaq: AIRO). In the last 7 years, Khyber has designed and built over a dozen products for customers worldwide and has developed a sizable portfolio of patents, specializing in portable digital appliances with new form-and-functions. Khyber has recently filed a suit alleging that various pocket-sized electronic organizers infringe a 1997 patent held by the company.