Infra-Com reluctantly volunteers the following information: the media danced around the company’s booth at the Demo99 exhibition last month. Going from the lightweight to the heavies, there was ZDNN, PC Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and even CNN. Believe it or not, even after such exposure, the Tel Aviv company insists on keeping an exceedingly low profile.
The hullabaloo was about a product that replaces the telephone wire, enabling the television to connect up to the computer, thereby creating an Internet television. It solves the problem of users forced so far to run a telephone line right through the lounge, at best, and from the lounge right through the house to the study, at worst, in order to connect the two appliances.
The sensation of the exhibition stemmed from "the tiny size of the infra-red end unit, and its even tinier price," says acting manager Oren Schneider.
The low cost of the product will enable it to be integrated into consumer products, the real target market of the company that has registered a substantial number of patents for numerous applications of the technology. According to Schneider, the product meets the requirements of several giant manufacturers, and stringent international standards.
Infra-Com was set up at the end of 1997 by "a group of private investors and infra-red development experts". That is the extent of the information regarding the founders’ identity. Heading the company’s development team is Tamir Sha’anan, who served as projects manager at Scitex for ten years. The company has no general manager, and is currently interviewing American candidates for the position.
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Business Card
Name: Infra-Com
Founded: Early 1998
Product: Infra-red based replacement for telephone wire
Employees: 8
Market: Consumer products
Customers: None
Competition: IBM
Ownership: Undisclosed
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Published by Israel's Business Arena March 3, 1999