Avaak showed off its Vue line of wireless webcam products at the DEMO 2009 conference.
The San Diego company has an interesting solution that could set it apart from other remote security camera products. That’s because it uses a low-power video mesh newtork. Each camera you add can connect to the network as long as it [...]
The San Diego company has an interesting solution that could set it apart from other remote security camera products. That’s because it uses a low-power video mesh newtork. Each camera you add can connect to the network as long as it is within a 300-feet range of the wireless antenna, or gateway, which connects to a computer network. As many as 50 webcams can be added to a network, and as many as three cameras can be daisy-chained together to extend the range of the network to as far as 900 feet from the gateway.
The cameras have small batteries that can last as long as a year. They’re compact and be placed just about anywhere by attaching them to a magnet, which in turn is attached to a peel-and-stick mount that you can place on any wall. Gioia Messinger, founder and chief executive, says that the webcams can transmit at about eight frames to ten frames a second with a VGA screen resolution.
Messinger founded the company in 2004 and used money from the Office of Naval Research and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to get the mesh networking technology off the ground. Avaak is developing products for that market, but it is also now targeting the consumer market.
Avaak is taking orders for its $299 Vue product now and it will ship in the summer. It includes a gateway, two cameras and their mounts. It includes a year of free service; after a year, you pay $19.95 a year. The user can check out what’s showing on the cameras via the web. From a VueZone online account, the user can share the video streams live with other friends, so that grandparents can watch a tot’s birthday party from afar via a web browser. You can also upload videos to YouTube or Flickr.
The company has 30 employees and has raised $7 million from Trinity Ventures and InterWest Partners. It recently won a $3 million contract from the Office of Naval Research.
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