Kodak forms new wireless technology company

Eastman Kodak Company is taking its wireless patented technologies and forming a new company that transmits high-resolution video, photographs and data more efficiently.

Appairent Technologies will use patented technologies Kodak has been developing since the 1990s. The result is the development of products that Appairent will launch commercially to help Kodak commercialize its info-imaging group, which was developed to spur the convergence of images and information technology.

“Appairent will help our digital offerings and both our hardware and some of the services we’re trying to develop, work more efficiently,” a Kodak spokesman said.

Kodak and the Monroe Fund, a private venture capital fund managed by Trillium Group, are funding the new venture, called Appairent Technologies, for an undisclosed amount. The company will be based in High Tech Rochester’s Lennox Tech Enterprise Center in Rochester, N.Y.

Ted Wurzburg from Trillium Group will become Appairent’s new CEO. Robert Heile will become chief technology officer. Previously, Heile helped develop wireless personal area networks technology at Verizon, GTE and BBN Technologies. Jim Allen joins Appairent as its vice president of R&D. Previously, Allen worked in Kodak’s R&D department and its digital and applied imaging business.