Emerging Vendors 2014: Mobility Vendors
Vendors Making A Name In An Increasingly Mobile World
CRN's annual Emerging Vendors list looks at the tech startups making a splash in the channel and throughout the tech industry. Included on this year's list is a number of mobility vendors, providing everything from mobile hardware and devices to applications that run on smartphones and tablet computers to software that helps IT admin manage and secure those rapidly proliferating devices.
While unique offerings and reliable services put these vendors on the map, it's a commitment to the channel and understanding of the value of partnerships that put them on this list. Here we present the hottest startups in the mobility space on the Emerging Vendors list for 2014.
AetherPal
South Plainfield, N.J.
Top Executive: CEO Daniel Deeney
AetherPal develops its Smart Care secure remote diagnostics technology that mobile service providers and mobile device OEMs use to resolve service issues, augment device performance and improve productivity. The company raised $6 million in a Series A round of funding in November.
AnyPresence
Reston, Va.
Top Executive: Co-Founder and CEO Anirban Chakrabarti
AnyPresence markets a cloud-based application development platform the company said dramatically reduces the time and cost of mobile-enabling enterprise business processes, products and services. The goal is to provide the ability to assemble and deploy back-end servers, native iOS, native Android and HTML5 mobile applications without platform lock-in.
Apperian
Boston
Top Executive: CEO David Patrick
Apperian develops a cloud-based platform for distributing, managing and securing enterprise mobile applications. The company reported 150 percent growth in 2013 and recently announced that its platform had facilitated more than 1 million enterprise app downloads for its customers since 2009.
BigTinCan
Waltham, Mass.
Top Executive: CEO David Keane
BigTinCan's product, BigTinCan Hub, is a unified set of productivity tools that allows mobile device users to access corporate content no matter where it resides. For corporate IT, the technology provides control and governance over content usage and sharing.
Cloud4Wi
San Francisco
Top Executive: Co-Founder, President and CEO Andrea Calcagno
Cloud4Wi is a cloud-based platform that allows the creation of next-generation managed Wi-Fi services. With Cloud4Wi, managed service providers can quickly and easily expand their Wi-Fi portfolio. The company recently unveiled its Cloud4Wi Proximity application for delivering targeted marketing campaigns.
Core Mobile
Campbell, Calif.
Top Executive: Founder and CEO Chandra Tekwani
Core Mobile develops "Corey," a mobile app for iOS and Android devices that preps users for conference calls or meetings by pulling in relevant information about the person they're meeting with from social networking sites like LinkedIn. Versions include Corey for Business and Corey for Healthcare.
Crittercism
San Francisco
Top Executive: Co-founder and CEO Andrew Levy
Crittercism offers a mobile application performance management system that gives IT managers a realtime view of application diagnostics data and information about application crashes for software running on iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8 mobile devices, as well as HTML5 and hybrid mobile applications.
Cyanogen
San Francisco
Top Executive: Co-Founder and CEO Kirt McMaster
Cyanogen develops CyanogenMod, an open-source, customizable version of the Android operating system.
Divide
New York
Top Executive: CEO Andrew Toy
Divide creates mobile device management software that can securely separate the personal side of a user's smartphone or tablet from the professional side. Google acquired Divide in May, so keep an eye out for how Google makes use of the technology.
Flint Mobile
Redwood City, Calif.
Top Executive: Co-Founder and CEO Greg Goldfarb
Flint Mobile develops a mobile payment system that uses a smartphone's camera, rather than a detachable device, to scan credit and debit cards. The startup raised $2 million in venture capital in December.
HeyWire Business
Cambridge, Mass.
Top Executive: CEO Meredith Flynn-Ripley
HeyWire Business offers a cloud-based mobile messaging service that lets users text-enable their landlines, eliminating the need for people to give out a personal phone number to people who prefer to text. The company launched a formal partner program in December.
ItsOn
Redwood City, Calif.
Top Executive: Founder and CEO Greg Raleigh
ItsOn develops what the company calls "mobile smart services" that change how mobile services are delivered and consumed. Last month, Sprint announced that it would use the ItsOn Smart Services Platform to enhance its mobile network capabilities and deliver new data, text and voice services for Android devices.
Kwicr
Waltham, Mass.
Top Executive: CEO Subhash Roy
Previously known as Q Factor Communications, this company is in the process of developing what it calls "the world's first mobile delivery network" that speeds up the performance of mobile apps.
Localytics
Boston
Top Executive: CEO Raj Aggarwal
Localytics develops what it calls closed-loop application analytics and marketing technology. Businesses use Localytics software to gain data-driven insights into end-user interactions with their mobile and Web apps, and leverage that knowledge to create automated, personalized and behavioral-targeted actions to maximize revenue and drive customer loyalty.
Purple WiFi
Ashton U Lyne, U.K.
Top Executive: CEO Gavin Wheeldon
Purple WiFi develops cloud-based Wi-Fi hotspot software for guest access, such as municipalities and airports provide, that uses social media channels for authentication.
Roambi
Solana Beach, Calif.
Top Executive: CEO Santiago Becerra
Roambi (parent company name MeLLmo) develops mobile business applications that take complex files or data spreadsheets and organize them into clear charts and graphs for viewing on smartphones and tablets. In June, the company debuted Roambi Analytics for Android devices.
Saguna Networks
Yokneam, Israel
Top Executive: Founder and CEO Lior Fite
Saguna Networks develops technology for delivering high-quality, rich content over LTE mobile networks.