Monday, November 17, 2008

Skyhook hooks up another deal with Qualcomm

By Efrain Viscarolasaga

On the heels of last month’s partnership deal with communications semiconductor maker Broadcom Corp., Boston-based Skyhook Wireless Inc., a maker of wi-fi positioning software, has signed a second licensing deal with Qualcomm Inc.

The agreement has Skyhook providing its positioning technology to Qualcomm for use in its gpsOne positioning platform, as well as a development partnership, which is expected to include the technology in future Qualcomm platforms.

According to Skyhook founder and CEO Ted Morgan, the deal, combined with last month’s Broadcom partnership, gives Skyhook broad access to handset manufacturers.

“Qualcomm was the big dog,” he said. “Now every handset manufacturer in the world is being pitched Skyhook through these two deals.”

While he wouldn’t discuss financial details, Morgan said the Qualcomm deal is particularly exciting because Skyhook’s technology is already being shipped on Qualcomm’s chips, though it is up to agreements with the end manufacturers that will determine whether or not the feature is turned on.

“There aren’t too many third-party technologies that actually ship on these chips,” he said.

Skyhook’s technology uses a constantly evolving database of wi-fi access points to determine the geographic position of users and businesses. In some applications, the technology acts as a primary or secondary platform to GPS, particularly in urban areas where satellite-based GPS can be unreliable.

While Morgan said the Qualcomm deal will probably be the last this year of the company’s distribution deals, additional application side partnerships are expected to come soon.

Skyhook is privately held and has raised $17 million in venture funding from a variety of investors, including RRE Ventures of New York, Bain Capital of Boston, Intel Capital of California and CommonAngels of Lexington.