Tech startup of the month.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: High Tech - Antelope Technologies Corp.

ANTELOPE TECHNOLOGIES CORP., HIGHLANDS RANCH www.antelopetech.com

FOUNDED: MAY 2002

INITIAL LIGHTBULB: Antelope Technologies' story began at IBM's Watson Research Labs in New York. After a team of Watson engineers spent last year developing a pocket-sized modular PC, management didn't see enough initial volume to justify making the units internally, so it started looking for an outside licensee to manufacture the product. In January 2002, IBM pitched the concept to micro-display provider/R&D firm Liteye Systems, a Colorado company with whom Big Blue had previously partnered on several projects.

"They liked our group and thought we could move rapidly to take advantage of the market," said Kenneth Geyer, Liteye founder and Antelope president. "We took a good look at it, and about five minutes into the presentation, we said, 'You can stop ... let's build this thing.'" Four months later, the parties put the finishing touches on a 10-year licensing deal.

Geyer and other Liteye staffers then incorporated Antelope, establishing the framework for a manufacturing operation in Highlands Ranch. By mid-October, the first Antelope Mobile Computer Cores (or MCCs) were rolling off of the production line.

IN A NUTSHELL: Roughly the size of a checkbook, Antelope's MCC is a fully functional PC featuring a 10-gigabyte hard drive, a Transmeta processor and 256 megabytes of RAM. The key to the product is the flexibility that it affords the user, said Geyer, as it can replace the PDA, the laptop and the desktop as the guts of a one-size-fits-all modular system. A $2,600 MCC, in conjunction with a $1,500 handheld shell and a $500 deskbound docking station (both of which Antelope also manufactures), represents a considerable amount of savings over outfitting an employee with several different machines. "This is something that is making my life simple," said Antelope VP Anna Cole. She said it saves her a lot of time synching up her laptop to her desktop. Now a dozen employees strong, Antelope is in the process of interviewing and...