Xybernaut Puts Call Out To The Channel

After seven years of developing wearable-computing solutions for large companies, refining its platform and working with solution providers to develop niche applications, Xybernaut is ready to start building its channel and targeting wearable-computing apps at a broader corporate market.

"In almost every case, we prefer to go through the channel because it's easier and more profitable," said Ed Newman, CEO of Fairfax, Va.-based Xybernaut. "They know the clients."

So far, Xybernaut works with about 85 solution providers and is looking to double that number in the next year. The company recently launched a reseller advisory council and Team Xybernaut, a channel program that includes Web-based sales tools and co-marketing initiatives.

Newman, whose rapid-fire delivery is often sprinkled with military terms, is looking for VARs to help Xybernaut conquer the "second phase of the wearable-computer revolution." The first phase was developing a solid platform and building momentum and market buzz by introducing these solutions to companies such as Fed Ex Air Canada and Hilton Hotel, he said.

"The product is stable as hell; you can use it as ammunition," Newman said, referring to the Xybernaut platform, which includes Mobile Assistants (the small core units that get strapped to workers), flat panels and head-mounted displays, as well as a variety of applications.

The company needs solution providers to work as ground troops in the second phase of the revolution: driving wearable-computing solutions into smaller niche markets such as retail, transportation and manufacturing.

"We'll give the VARs world-class training . . . on both the technology and the human factors, such as change management and productivity measurement," Newman said. "We'll feed them leads and give them everything it takes to make a successful sale."

One developer, who requested anonymity, said he and other channel players have grown frustrated that it's taken Xybernaut this long to push solutions.

"They had customers with 200 boxes sitting on the shelf because they didn't have the solution to make it useful," the developer said. "Xybernaut would say, 'Just take the desktop and put it on the wearable.' But this market doesn't work that way. You need to build solutions."

But Xybernaut has since changed its tune, working hard to develop the applications that will make the total solution a success.

Other solution providers agree that Xybernaut is proving that it wants to work with the channel.

"They're willing to assist in all ways. They understand the value of working with a partner like us," said Jack Loane, director of marketing at Mobility Concepts, a mobile solution provider in Naperville, Ill. "They're very channel-focused, and they have one of the best programs out there."

Loane and other solution providers said Xybernaut's presence at Comdex, where the company occupied one of the biggest areas of the show floor and lent its executives and partners to dozens of keynotes and seminars, shows that the company is serious about marketing itself and its partners as the leaders of the wearable-computing revolution.

"They certainly have a presence. They're definitely waving the flag," said Christine Thero, director of marketing at Tangis, a Seattle-based developer of user interfaces for wearable platforms. "Comdex was great. In the past, [Xybernaut's approach was so competitive that they didn't want to promote the industry as a whole; it was just Xybernaut. But now, they're really promoting a solution sale."