Starfish Software
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Starfish Software was an American software company founded in 1994 in Santa Cruz, California, by Philippe Kahn and Sonia Lee, best known for developing early device-synchronisation technologies, including the first over-the-air synchronisation system, TrueSync, before being acquired by Motorola in 1998 and later by Pumatech in 2003.
- 1998–2003: Subsidiary of Motorola
- 2003–2006: Subsidiary of Pumatech, Inc. (Intellisync)
- 2006–2008: Subsidiary of Nokia
| |
| Company type |
|
|---|---|
| Industry | Wireless software |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Headquarters | Santa Cruz, California, U.S. |
Key people |
|
| Products | TrueSync |
History
Starfish Software was founded in 1994[1] by Philippe Kahn and Sonia Lee, as a spin-off from the Simplify business unit from Borland and Kahn's severance from Borland. It was located in Santa Cruz, California.
Starfish developed intellectual property for device synchronization, especially for wireless devices. TrueSync was the first over-the-air synchronization system. Starfish was acquired by Motorola for $325 million in 1998.[2] The outspoken founding couple founded another company, LightSurf, in the same year, to develop mobile phone photograph technology.[3]
In 2000, the company helped start the SyncML Initiative to standardize synchronization communication protocols.[4] In March 2003, Starfish was acquired by Pumatech in San Jose, California,[5] which was headed by turn-around CEO Woodson Hobbs.[6] Pumatech later changed its name to Intellisync, and was acquired by Nokia in 2005.[7]
