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EQUITEK GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY FUND PORTFOLIO COMPANIES:
ALIEN TECHNOLOGY
CHORUM TECHNOLOGIES
DFT MICROSYSTEMS
ECLIPSE AVIATION
EMBEDDED PLANET
FLARION TECHNOLOGIES
FSONA COMMUNICATIONS
QUICKSILVER TECHNOLOGY
VIZTEC


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ALIEN
TECHNOLOGY
(www.alientechnology.com)
Morgan Hill, CA
Alien Technology’s
patented Fluidic Self-Assembly (FSA) process is an assembly and packaging
technique that is capable of handling proprietary semiconductor Nanoblocks—the
world’s smallest and cheapest microchips—enabling the high-volume production
of low-cost RFID tags as an electronic replacement for bar codes. Alien’s
ability to produce RFID tags at a sub-five cent price and in volumes
scalable into the hundreds of billions of units needed for retail industry
adoption serves as the catalyst for a revolutionary advance in logistics,
inventory control, retail checkout and security that is being embraced by
leading retailers and consumer goods manufacturers.
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CHORUM
TECHNOLOGIES
Richardson, TX
Chorum was founded in 1996 by
scientists expert in liquid crystal technology applied to optical networking
components and display modules. Selling its products to network equipment
systems vendors, Chorum is credited with essentially creating the market for
interleaver/slicer products used in multiplexing and demultiplexing optical
wavelengths, with leading customers from Nortel to Marconi to Lucent relying
exclusively on Chorum in certain areas. However, with deteriorating market
conditions, Chorum’s planned public stock offering was withdrawn in March
2001, and the company has reorganized and discontinued its optical
networking component business. Chorum retains its liquid crystal
display business,
Polytronix
(www.polytronix.com).
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DFT Microsystems
(www.dftmicrosystems.com)
Philadelphia, PA/Montreal, Canada
DFT MicroSystems has
developed a proprietary radio frequency and mixed-signal IC test platform
that enables high-speed signals to be measured accurately and quickly using
a low cost test fixture in the place of expensive legacy test equipment that
is increasingly facing fundamental physics constraints. The solution is
comprised of high-speed test circuits, software applications, custom signal
processors, and specialized printed circuit boards that were developed over
a ten-year period by DFT MicroSystems’ co-founder Gordon Roberts and his
research team at McGill University. McGill has licensed the basic circuit
patents to DFT MicroSystems and the company has filed several additional
patents on high-speed test circuits and its system architecture.
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ECLIPSE
AVIATION
(www.eclipseaviation.com)
Albuquerque, NM
Eclipse Aviation is applying
advanced design, manufacturing and technology innovations to dramatically
reduce the production time and cost
of an economical twin-engine jet airplane that is redefining the general
aviation industry.
The value proposition
of the Eclipse jet's
high-end features and performance
combined with extremely low operating costs has generated over
2,200 aircraft orders,
including about 500 individual orders and several fleet orders from planned
regional air-taxi services. The efficiency of the Eclipse aircraft will
allow these air-taxi services to offer business travelers on-demand,
point-to-point connections between the more than 10,000 general aviation
airports in the US, for a price competitive with full-fare coach on
commercial airlines.
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EMBEDDED
PLANET
(www.embeddedplanet.com)
Cleveland, OH
Embedded Planet
offers 32-bit embedded systems design services, hardware development kits,
production-ready Single Board Computers (SBCs), firmware, software, and
technical support for OEMs seeking faster time to market, lower development
costs and reduced project risk. Embedded Planet’s complete solutions,
technical expertise, proven designs and extensive partnerships with leading
Real-Time Operating Systems providers and hardware vendors, including
Motorola and IBM, make it a preferred outsourcing partner.
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Acquired By

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FLARION
TECHNOLOGIES
(www.flarion.com)
Bedminster, NJ
Flarion Technologies is a
Cisco-backed, Lucent spinout that has developed and commercialized a
wireless platform for mobile broadband access aimed at next-generation,
wide-area, cellular communications. Flarion’s Flash-OFDM technology
supports access speeds up to 3Mbps for data and voice communications using
packet-based, Internet Protocol networking. Nextel and SK Telecom are among
the multiple top-tier wireless service providers in the US, South Korea, and
Europe, with Flarion field trials, strategic investments or deployment
plans.
Flarion
Acquired by Qualcomm in $805m Transaction
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fSONA
COMMUNICATIONS
(www.fsona.com)
Vancouver, Canada
fSONA Communications produces free-space optical communication links
(transmitting laser beams through the air) that offer the lowest
price-per-bit last-mile access through fiber-like speeds without the expense
of laying fiber or licensing radio spectrum. fSONA designed its equipment
from the outset for carrier-class reliability, including redundant systems,
maximum ruggedness and all weather operation; and for manufacturability,
including low cost, high quality and scalable production. To that end,
fSONA has integrated a number of unique technologies including polished
aluminum receiver lenses (for enhanced ruggedness and cost savings), cast
aluminum casings (providing a maximum amount of protection from
environmental elements and enabling operation between -40C to +60C), and
eye-safe 1550 nm lasers (that are capable of 50x the power of competing 800
nm laser systems, improving performance in fog and increasing operating
range).
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QUICKSILVER
TECHNOLOGY
(www.qstech.com)
San Jose, CA
QuickSilver Technologies is a fabless semiconductor and IP licensing company
that has developed and is actively commercializing enabling platforms based
on its patented IC architecture technology called the Adaptive Computing
Machine (ACM). The architecture of the ACM is designed to allow
programmable software algorithms to be directly mapped into reconfigurable
hardware resources, resulting in a more efficient use of the hardware in
terms of cost, size, speed, and power consumption. ACM-based ICs are
targeted at applications that are very computationally intensive and based
on complex mathematical and logical algorithms. Such applications include 3G
baseband processors, image processors, network security processors, WLAN
baseband processors, satellite receivers, audio and video processors, and
other algorithmically intensive applications.
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VIZTEC
Viztec’s Plastic
Pixels technology enables thin, lightweight, virtually unbreakable,
flexible, plastic displays to be manufactured with standard liquid crystal
materials in conjunction with standard driver electronics ICs. Viztec’s
displays have optical, visual and performance characteristics superior to
competing plastic technologies and rivaling industry-standard glass
displays. And Plastic Pixels displays can be produced on an automated
roll-to-roll assembly process making the displays significantly cheaper to
manufacturer than glass-based displays. Viztec's technology and assets
have been acquired in a trade sale.
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