Investment Themes

Communications
Wireless

• New approaches to reshape the wireless network architecture that result in lower cost roll-out and higher bandwidth services, such as femtocell technology or long-term evolution (LTE) systems
• Innovations and technologies that improve the backhaul network
• Applications and services that increase subscriber loyalty, such as location-based services, video, internet and mobile content
• Solutions that provide cost effective alternatives to wireline delivery approaches
• Products that reduce network deployment and maintenance costs
• Products and technologies that improve network utilization

Wireline

• Innovations to substantially improve the speed and bandwidth of the access layer of the network while reducing cost
• New approaches for improving performance for the metro and core layers of the network for cable, telecom and internet service providers
• Software and hardware components that enable television and other media content to be shared over the telecom network, including over-the-top services
• Other applications that can deliver new services to wireline customers

Enterprise Computing

• Very high speed network-based storage, including the transition to solid state
• New vertical software applications, especially those employing new delivery/distribution methods such as software as a service model
• Innovative new software applications that enhance the delivery of a company’s product, increase its revenues or drastically reduce its operating costs
• New solutions for virtualizing the execution environment and shifting the processing architecture within the datacenter to a higher utilization configuration
• Systems that enable cost effective consolidation of data center resources
• New tools for managing network and system resources
• Solutions for securing databases, networks and other critical data for enterprises

Media

• Novel approaches to content distribution over the internet or wireless networks
• Software platforms that enable the creation and management of professional broadcast quality content
• Hardware and devices for consuming content in the home and managing the ever-increasing repository of consumer content
• Aggregation and distribution of content in the wireless domain
• New mechanisms that aid in the transition from professional-only content creation models to community contribution/social media approaches
• New systems for generating revenue through advertising

Semiconductors and Subsystems

• Devices with high barriers to entry that enable significant step function increases in functionality or level of integration, such as:
  • System-on-a-chip devices for wireless networking
  • Indium and silicon integration of photonics
  • Software configurable digital radios
• Components that will enable the launch of new features or whole new products, such as:
  • Mobile handsets
  • Mobile computers
  • Digital entertainment consumer microelectronics
• Software configurable hardware devices, which enable the speed afforded by hardware combined with the configurability and field upgradeability of software

Our experience leads us to believe that there may be exciting investment opportunities adjacent to the themes outlined above.  We encourage you to contact the team member you believe most relevant if you have a business that you feel may fit with our interests.