What is Coactive's mission?

Coactive Networks connects networks to the real world, extending Internet access to all of the devices, appliances, and computers in our homes and businesses. Coactive's commercial and residential gateways connect common devices such as thermostats, meters, security systems, lighting fixtures, appliances, and home automation systems to the Internet along with PCs. Coactive's products enable the Internet to move beyond connecting computers, and enter our physical lives via a new class of telemetry e-services that are real, personal, and essential for consumers and businesses.

How does Coactive connect homes and businesses to the Internet?

Coactive accomplishes this connection via the e-service gateway, a new category of product which includes both commercial and residential gateways. Allied Business Intelligence defines the residential gateway as "an intelligent hardware device connecting home devices and appliances to the Internet." The commercial gateway accomplishes the same for the devices and control systems in a commercial building or industrial facility.

Tell me what the market is like for these gateways.

Coactive is positioned at the center of an emerging multi-billion dollar market driven by the synergies between home networking, broadband connections, and mobile Internet access. The Cahners In-Stat Group estimates that the market for residential gateways will grow to between $2.4 billion and $8.8 billion by 2005-6. Coactive is unique in this market in our focus and experience in telemetry, the connection to devices beyond PCs. Our mass-market strategy of selling low-cost targeted products enables residential and commercial e-services that go beyond PC Internet access, a highly competitive offering which is rapidly becoming a commodity. Coactive is the leader in Internet telemetry with a highly integrated third-generation gateway platform, and is the leader in bringing telemetry e-services to consumers via their local electric utility as well as via telecommunications companies.

What are "telemetry e-services"?

Coactive's gateways are unique in connecting to devices beyond PCs, enabling a new class of e-services we call "telemetry e-services". With a single affordable gateway delivering Internet access, multiple home networks, and local intelligence, you have continual access, not just to stock quotes and e-commerce transactions, but to things that are personally relevant -e-services that involve actual devices and appliances in your home or business. By connecting networks to the real world, Coactive brings the potential of the Internet to a new level as a resource for the individual.

Exactly what kinds of devices do Coactive's e-service gateways connect to?

Coactive's gateways connect the Internet to all of the devices our lives, including thermostats, meters, security systems, and lights in homes and commercial buildings. In homes, some of the other devices include appliances, home automation devices, VCRs, personal TVs, audio systems, medical devices, sprinklers, and cameras. In commercial and industrial buildings, Coactive connects to HVAC systems, access control systems, life safety systems, refrigerators, tank monitoring systems, energy management systems, and other industrial equipment.

What kinds of telemetry e-services can consumers get from the "residential gateway"?

Consumer services enabled by Coactive gateways include remote control, security, medical and home care services, remote appliance service and maintenance, safety alert services, and energy management services. You can check up on an elderly relative, see whether you left the lights on, remotely disarm the security system to let a visitor in, and receive instant alerts upon detection of intrusion, water leakage, or unusual temperatures.

What kinds of telemetry e-services can businesses get from the "commercial gateway"?

Businesses have many control systems which are critical to operations, such as security, energy management, and equipment monitoring systems. With a commercial gateway from these systems to the Internet, businesses can remotely access HVAC and other building automation systems, monitor energy usage, process security alarms, monitor fire and life-safety systems, check up on industrial equipment health and status, and satisfy regulatory requirements by automatically logging values such as refrigerator and chiller temperatures.

Give me a quick overview of Coactive's products.

Coactive products are intelligent, embedded networking devices designed from the ground up to be flexible, scalable, and cost-effective. Based on a third-generation platform, Coactive products lead the market, combining an open approach with the reliability of proven, field tested performance.

The Coactive Connector® product family is a series of highly integrated gateways which interconnect multiple networks, translate protocols, and provide local data logging, alarm generation, and programmability. The Coactive Connector acts as a thin server to provide access to control systems using open standards including HTTP, OPC, ODBC, Java, and ActiveX. The Coactive Router family of products enables commercial and industrial control systems to be seamlessly extended over a LAN, enterprise network, or the Internet.

How do Coactive products connect to devices and control systems?

The control systems that surround us in our homes and businesses, from climate control to security to energy management, have evolved to incorporate a control network, which enables high-level communications among control devices in the same way that data networks enable communications among computers. Coactive takes advantage of standards in the control networking world to gain access to a wide range of devices with only a small number of interfaces.

How do Coactive products connect to enterprise networks and the Internet?

Coactive products connect to Internet Protocol (IP) networks, the overwhelming standard in computer communications. IP data networks and the Internet are accessible over many physical media, including telephone lines, cable lines, Ethernet, and wireless connections.

What is the technology behind Coactive's products?

Coactive's IOConnect Architecture™ is a patent-pending embedded distributed object technology which provides the reliability, scalability, and manageability required for complex and mission-critical systems. By abstracting control information, providing a flexible environment for data translation and manipulation, and publishing a powerful distributed object interface, the IOConnect Architecture addresses the complex issues surrounding real-time device access while streamlining application development. In addition to this software framework, Coactive's highly integrated third-generation gateway platform provides unmatched features at a breakthrough price point.

Are Coactive's products "open"?

Yes. Coactive Networks is dedicated to the open standards model, and has spearheaded standardization efforts while delivering advanced products to the market. By impartially supporting all open standards, Coactive's gateways enable connectivity to the widest range of devices in the most flexible way. Committed to providing customers with solutions which leverage the latest developments in networking technology, Coactive continues to participate in a range of standards bodies including the Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi), the LonMark Association, and other organizations such as IEEE, EIA, and OMG. In LonMark, the standardization body for LonWorks control networking technology, Coactive founded and leads the LonTalk/IP Routing group.

How long has Coactive been in business?

Coactive was founded in 1992 as a custom engineering firm specializing in advanced control networking solutions. In 1997 the company anticipated the emergence of a significant market opportunity, bringing on Silicon Valley pioneer Gordon Campbell, founder of SEEQ, Chips and Technologies, 3Dfx Interactive, and Cobalt Networks, to help build the company. Two years later, Coactive Networks grew to over 50 employees working together towards a vision of the Internet as an integral part of daily life. A privately held company, Coactive is backed by venture financing from 3Com, Chase Capital Partners, Charter Venture Capital, Techfund Capital and other private investors. In January 2003, Coactive's products and technology was acquired by Broadband Energy Networks (www.broadbandenergynetworks.com).

Where is Coactive located?

Our corporate headquarters are located in Upper Darby, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia. We also have partners and distributors around the world.

Who are Coactive's investment and strategic partners?

Coactive Networks is a privately held company backed by venture financing; our partners include 3Com, Chase Capital Partners, Charter Venture Capital, Techfund Capital and other private investors. Coactive is also an Oracle Alliance Partner, helping to deliver complete solutions for utilities and telecommunications companies.

Tell me about your management team.

Coactive's management team includes proven business expertise in founding companies and bringing them to profitability in fast-growth markets, while Coactive's engineering team comprises a unique combination of talents with a core competence in low-cost embedded devices and a leadership position in control networking. This unusual mix of talent is complemented by a strong Technical Advisory Board, consisting of recognized industry leaders and senior executives who provide the Company with guidance and direction from related segments in technology and business.

What is Coactive's "Value Proposition"?

It's embodied in the IOConnect Architecture, our distributed object technology for providing scalable connectivity to control systems. Our Value Proposition is to provide reliable, low-cost, embedded connectivity to control systems over IP media.

What makes Coactive stand out from the competition?

We are the only company exclusively focused on connecting the Internet to control systems and we are the market leader in this space. Our hardware/software, user-level solutions are at home in both the controls and data networking worlds, and use open standards, scalability and manageability to provide a technology solution across industries and applications. Our IOConnect Architecture is a patent-pending technology that offers flexible connectivity at a scale simply not possible before. Our products provide a complete suite of connectivity solutions, ranging from a single building's environmental controls to residential telemetry systems spanning hundreds of thousands of homes.

Who uses your products?

Our customers include Fortune 500 companies, electric utilities, major telecommunications companies, control system vendors, and OEM partners across the country and around the world. Our target markets include utilities, telcos, cable operators, and building automation vendors.

Where can I buy Coactive's products?

Our products are available through our direct sales force, our System Provider Partners, and from distributors around the world. For details, see our Partners page.

How do I get a job at Coactive?

We're always looking for talented people to join the staff at Coactive. Check out the Jobs page on our web site.

How do I get on your mailing list?

Just jump to the Registration page on our web site and we'll sign you up.