News

Kodak creates digital products company

February 21, 2002

MELVILLE, N.Y. - Saying it was time to fulfill the potential of its wireless technology in the commercial arena, Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE:EK) on Jan. 9 announced plans to create a spin-off company to develop and sell wireless products.

Appairent Technologies Inc. will develop wireless products for the transmission of video, photographs, and data, using technology developed by Kodak. The project is the extension of such programs as Kodak's digital photo kiosks. The 35,000-strong deployment is the largest in the kiosk sector.

Kodak and private venture capital group Monroe Fund are the initial investors in the group, though Kodak officials anticipate other investors coming aboard.

Ted Wurzburg, entrepreneur-in-residence at the Trillium Group, a venture capital group that manages the Monroe Fund, has been named Appairent's first chief executive officer. Former Verizon Communications Inc. executive Robert Heile has been named chief technology officer.

"Wireless communication is critical as imaging and information technologies converge," James Stoffel, Kodak senior vice president and chief technology officer, said in a news release. "The greatest value in this intellectual property and the technology it enables lies in making it broadly available."

The announcement comes one day after company president and chief operating officer Patricia Russo resigned to become chief executive officer of Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU) (See story: Kodak executive departs for Lucent). Russo had been expected to bring leadership to the company's digital imaging strategies.