Tech startup of the month.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: High Tech Coloradobiz

INITIAL LIGHTBULB: A spinoff from Interlink Group, an Englewood-based tech services firm, Countermind came about as a result of Interlink's flagship product, a mobile computing platform it originally developed for Sun Microsystems. Deployed in 2001 and now in use by about 2,000 Sun field technicians, the platform eliminated the paperwork that previously accompanied house calls to a sick Sun server. Instead, field techs outfitted with wireless handheld devices conveyed relevant information wirelessly to the home office.

Countermind Director of Technology Randy Starr said Interlink spun Countermind off after "lots of pestering" by Starr (who managed Interlink's mobile division and oversaw the Sun project) and other Interlink staffers. Since its Incorporation as a separate entity early this year, the company handed wireless veteran Tom Smith the reins as president and launched a number of mobile software products targeting companies with field workers suffering an electronic disconnect with the home office.

IN A NUTSHELL: Countermind positions itself in the mobile enterprise space, streamlining business-critical processes via wireless applications. IT departments "have been very effective getting stuff out to people sitting at their desks," said Smith. "They haven't been as effective getting information out to field-based workers." Doing so represents a "huge opportunity for ROI," he added. "People in the field, that's the trigger for revenue stream, and (Countermind's products) accelerate the revenue stream."

Countermind's products--a server, smart client, and application assembler--make up its Mobile Intelligence Platform and allow users to replace paperwork with wirelessly transmitted data. The server delivers applications to the smart clients, which reside on the field workers' PDAs, and the assembler allows non-techies to tailor mobile applications to specific job roles and business processes.

"Our product family is the direct result of production deployments, and we learned a lot of lessons along the way," said Starr. He touted the platform's scalability (to thousands of users)...