Innovation Appear Networks

When Context Matters: 

When Context Matters

Speaker - Intro : 

Speaker - Intro Role & Responsibilities Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, Appear Networks Designed Business Plan Executed on Sales, Marketing and Business Development Strategy in EMEA Raised 10M Euros of Series A + B Financing after Sept 11, 2001 Drove Partnerships with Capgemini and Cisco Key Learning Points Early stage venture-capital is hard to find in Sweden Startup teams are generally unprepared and not enough business-driven Government support is very limited until you have reached profitability EU IST projects are an excellent source of alternative financing for early stage Background Xavier Aubry, 33, French MBA, Harvard 10 yrs + experience in startups in IT & biotech

Company - At a Glance: 

Company - At a Glance Customers Travel & Transport Public Sector: Government, Education, Healthcare Retail Hospitality & Leisure Telcos & Service Providers Partners Cisco Technology Developer Partner Global partnership with Capgemini, Cisco and Intel: @Anyplace Access Strong ties to EU Research (EUREKA, IST programs) Company Software provider with offices in Stockholm, Paris, Rome and Tampa Enabling high ROI enterprise mobility applications (workspots) Enabling innovative public value-added services (hotspots)

RATP – Communicating Buses: 

RATP – Communicating Buses Issue The Parisian buses must run multiple applications (security, maintenance, customer information) that require a wireless connection with a central infrastructure Each bus application had its own communication module which led to poor performance and high costs This deployment corresponds to the RATP vision to deliver a transport solution which addresses the needs of employees and commuters: with more mobile services inside the bus, the RATP employee can deliver more detailed information to travelers“ Project Manager, Travel Information Dept, RATP The RATP (Paris) bus system operates 4000 buses on 317 lines throughout Paris Solution The Cisco Mobile Access Router provides a shared infrastructure for real-time seamless connectivity via the best available radio connection (Wi-Fi, GPRS, etc.) in order to support security, maintenance, and customer information applications The Appear Context Engine enables employees and public users to access applications and services specifically relevant to their context: profile, GPS location of the bus, time of day, etc. The Appear Proxy is embedded into the Cisco MAR in order to trigger actions (information push, synchronization) on mobile devices and on-board screens, depending on the context Benefits Each bus is now able to connect with multiple applications (for ex. route planning, timetables, real time traffic updates and disruption information) depending on the context information RATP is reducing the cost of ownership of the mobile solution by sharing connectivity infrastructure (hardware + middleware)

Dutch Rail – NS Desktop: 

Dutch Rail – NS Desktop Issue NS had deployed mobile devices in order to allow frontline staff to easily access travel information, reporting tools, and other business critical applications NS needed to overhaul the mobile solution in order to support the next generation of networks (Wi-Fi) and applications (context-aware services) "Our visions is to bring all services to all employees no matter where they are. The NS desktop allows these services to be extremely simple to use and have the same look & feel everywhere" Trendwatcher, NS Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) has 25,000 employees and operates 1 million passenger journeys a day through 385 stations Solution A Cisco end-to-end WLAN infrastructure provides high speed connectivity inside 50 train stations to a fleet of 8500 WLAN-enabled devices (Pocket PCs) The NS Desktop, based on the Appear Context Engine, enables frontliners to automatically receive context-specific information when entering a Wi-Fi enabled station The Appear Synchronization Module automates the complex synchronization processes, supporting file upload/download, version control, release management, Benefits The NS Desktop, powered by the Appear Context Engine, is saving time and money for NS while ensuring that employee satisfaction and effeciency increases The NS Desktop generated a ROI of less than 4 months with an effeciency improvement of 20 minutes per day per employee corresponding to 220 FTE/year

Technology Adoption : 

Technology Adoption Laggards Chasm Mainstream Early Adopters Early Majority Tornado Rev < 500k € Mostly pilots 500k € < Rev < 5M € First phased roll-outs Rev > 5M Euros Infrastructure deployments

Venture-Capital Availability : 

Venture-Capital Availability VC Chasm Third Round Early Stage First Round Tornado Second Round

Room for Improvements – Lessons Learned : 

Room for Improvements – Lessons Learned Government Business plan contests should reward substantially the best and the brightest UK model: business angels can deduct their losses from their taxable income Irish model: creating a competitive innovation cluster in software Govt loan organizations should take more risks EU IST funds are excellent sources of alternative financing Startups Startups come unprepared to the fund raising process Startups are not enough business-driven and too engineering driven People are the most important assets, not business plans or business ideas Venture-Capital Valuation in Sweden vs Europe vs USA: lower multiples Venture-capital "oligopoly": playing the "waiting-game" Lack of real entrepreneurs in the Swedish VC teams - lack of people skills - lack of real EU-wide portfolio of industry connections

One last reflectionIn the country with the highest level of social protection, why are the best and the brightest working for large stable companies and not startups?: 

One last reflection In the country with the highest level of social protection, why are the best and the brightest working for large stable companies and not startups? info@appearnetworks.com +46 8 545 91 370 www.appearnetworks.com

When Context Matters: 

When Context Matters partners@appearnetworks.com +46 8 545 91 370 www.appearnetworks.com