Xybernaut
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Company type | Technology |
|---|---|
| |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Headquarters | Chantilly, Virginia, U.S. |
| Website | http://xybernaut.com/ |
Xybernaut Corporation was a maker of wearable mobile computing hardware, software, and services. Its products included the Atigo tablet PC, Poma wearable computer, and the MA-V wearable computer.[1]
The company was headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia until 2006, when it moved to Chantilly, Virginia.
Although its first wearable computer, the Poma, created an initial stir when introduced in 2002, the slowness and disconcerting appearance of the product would land it on "worst tech fail" lists by the turn of the decade.[2] Although surviving a bankruptcy, by 2017 Xybernaut had collapsed under financial scandal and regulatory and criminal strictures.
The company was founded in 1990 as Computer Products & Services Incorporated (CPSI) by Edward G. Newman. In 1994, Newman's brother, Steven A. Newman, became the president of the company. The company had its Initial public offering in 1996 under the new name Xybernaut.[3]
It subsequently posted 33 consecutive quarterly losses, despite repeated promises by the Newmans that profitability was right around the corner.[4]
In mid-1998, former Virginia Governor George Allen joined the company's board of directors.[5] He remained on the board until December 2000, resigning after he was elected a U.S. Senator the month before. In 1998 and 1999, McGuire Woods LLP, the law firm that Allen was a partner of, billed $315,925 to Xybernaut for legal work. Allen remained on the Xybernaut board until December 2000. He was granted 110,000 options of company stock that, at their peak, were worth $1.5 million, but he never exercised those options, which expired 90 days after he left the board.[6]
In September 1999, the company's board dismissed its accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, which had issued a report with a "going concern" paragraph that questioned the company’s financial health.[7] This was just one of many signs that the Newman brothers discouraged transparency in company accounting practices.