TMCnet Feature

GainSpan’s technology is being used in everything from connected barbeques, to smart slippers and microscopes, says Bernard Aboussouan (News - Alert), vice president of marketing at the San Jose, Calif.-based provider of Wi-Fi semiconductors and modules.

While many of its closest competitors are focused on providing components for laptops, the five-year-old Intel (News - Alert) spinoff instead enables connectivity for sensor applications and deeply embedded solutions, Aboussouan adds. For example, the slipper application mentioned above leverages four sensors placed throughout the sole of each slipper to detect instability in the slipper wearer, he explains. That way, a remote health care professional, family member or friend can see if the slipper wearer might need to be checked in on.

The microscope application, meanwhile, is being used in schools as well as in the cosmetics industry. It can allow the user to better evaluate the effect of cosmetics on the skin. While at a TMCnet event today in San Jose, Aboussouan demonstrated how the microscope could capture an image of the skin that could then be sent to an Apple (News - Alert) device. (See photo.)

Other uses for GainSpan technology include washing machines and dryers, the trucking industry (where it can be leveraged to check tire pressure, for example), smart energy (it’s working on the smart energy profile), and various health care applications. Aboussouan says many of these applications can be rather low volume – like in the 50,000 to 100,000 unit range, but some of the health care applications could reach millions of units.

In any case, Aboussouan says, it all adds up for GainSpan, which has seen significant growth this year after last year introducing new modules to help its various customers shorten their development cycles. Also contributing to its success is the fact that GainSpan’s solutions are much lower power than those of the competition, Aboussouan says. In standby mode, the GainSpan products are at less than 5 microamps, he says, adding that one of its competitors is a thousand times more. And GainSpan solutions can go from standby to awake mode in just a few milliseconds, he adds.

GainSpan is a private company supported by venture capital organizations Intel, Opus Capital, New Venture Partners (News - Alert) and, Sigma Partners.