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Mobile data company charts future By VINCENT DONATO
“We didn’t want to do it. If we failed, the company could have ended,” said Norwalk-based Linkspoint president Strite Potter of his company’s initial reaction to using its global positioning system (GPS) receivers and software at the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster site. “Ground Zero was the worst environment for GPS — an urban canyon. You can’t see most of the satellites and those that you can see are not at good angles for broadcasting signals,” Potter said. “And the signals could bounce off all of the steel debris.” And there was almost no time to develop and test the software that would be required to perform the very specific tasks the New York City Fire Department needed to accomplish in identifying and logging the human remains and other items collected at the site. Linkspoint did try and did succeed, and the effort had a particular emotional resonance for Potter, who once worked on the 84th floor of One World Trade Center. The Norwalk company’s GPS solution allowed WTC recovery workers to use a handheld device to quickly record identified remains or debris and instantly and accurately fix the location where it was found. “It was the defining moment” for the 22-employee, privately held startup company, Potter said. Impressive solution Customized solutions to complex problems are a big part — perhaps 70 percent — of Linkspoint’s business, but there is another side to Linkspoint as well, said Mike Forbes, Linkspoint’s vice president for marketing. StarCaddy, a hand-held gadget for golfers, can tell the golfers how far they are from the green or a sand trap, and can display a map of the topographical features ahead. üinkspoint launched StarCaddy in April and has so far sold about 1,200 units at $250 each, Forbes said, adding that another GPS manufacturer is in the process of licensing it. StarCaddy has drawn the attention of both the Wall Street Journal and Forbes FYI. “We have a three-pronged business,” said Potter, that consists of hardware, software and the ability to create unique solutions to location data problems. The hardware includes Global Point GPS, a GPS receiver that attaches to industrial-type personal digital assistants manufactured by Symbol and Intermec. “Our expertise is in designing solutions,” Potter said. What distinguishes Linkspoint from other mobile location data companies, he said, is that “we’re unique in knowing how to use location information all the way through the system.” For example, to cope with the West Nile virus, the New York City Department of Health needed to apply larvicide to each of the city’s 185,000 cache basins. The Linkspoint solution was “quite impressive,” said Dan Markowski, deputy director for the office of vector control. “It provided a most efficient means of cataloging what was inspected and treated on a daily basis, and therefore allowed the redirection of field crews as needed.” From that experience, Linkspoint developed a mosquito control route assignment and application verification product for sale to public-sector epidemiologists and their contractors, Forbes said. Positive cash flow in 2003 Linkspoint was incorporated in 1999 and achieved its first sale in 2001. Founded by Strite Potter and his brother, Scott, who is chief technology officer, and friend Michael Ippolitto, Linkspoint received its first venture capital investment before the dot-com debacle, Strite said. In three rounds of funding, Linkspoint received about $2.6 million in investment from angel investors, and a $500,000 low- interest loan from the Connecticut Development Authority, he said. Linkspoint owns a patent for software that automatically detects the protocol that a GPS receiver is using, making it easier to write applications for the receiver, Forbes said. Linkspoint also has map compression and power management patents pending. Revenues were about $150,000 in 2001, are expected to be about $1.5 million in 2002, and should grow to $6 million in 2003, Forbes said. That growth is expected to come in significant part from additional orders from existing customers, he said. Linkspoint has not yet achieved profitability, although it expects to have a positive cash flow in the first half of 2003, Forbes said. Family of inventors The challenge for a company in the GPS business is getting the right sales channels and partners in place, said Forrester research analyst Charles Golvin. Current Linkspoint plans are to expand sales and marketing staff. Forbes said they are looking to add about 15 sales, marketing and product support people in 2003. A “toolkit” for programmers developing GPS applications and the West Nile mosquito control solution are two of the products Forbes expects the sales and marketing staff to focus on next year. He expects to actively pursue sales with utility and telecommunication companies and municipalities. Linkspoint is also actively looking for additional investment, Potter said. The Potters are heir to a tradition of inventing. Great-grandfather Charles Strite is credited with developing the first pop-up toaster, a great-uncle invented the coin meter like those used in coin-operated laundries, and father John T. Potter was a pioneer in the business of using magnetic tape for data storage. Brothers Scott and Strite grew up in a house on Long Island with an electronics lab in the basement. Scott became an engineer, but Strite’s road to the GPS business was not as straightforward. An English literature major, Strite then studied biology and worked in marketing for Marsh & McLennan before the brothers and Ippolitto decided to go into business together.
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