Corsair Communications Founded to Attack Cellular Fraud; New Company Will Target Cellular Cloning with PhonePrint Fraud Control Technology.SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 26, 1995--Corsair Communications Thursday announced its formation as a supplier of solutions to the cellular industry's growing problem with fraud. The company was founded through the December spinout spin·out n. An instance of spinning out: a motorist who was injured in a spinout. of TRW TRW The Real World (TV reality show) TRW The Right Way TRW Tactical Reconnaissance Wing TRW The Retriever Weekly (University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD) TRW Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc Wireless Communications wireless communications System using radio-frequency, infrared, microwave, or other types of electromagnetic or acoustic waves in place of wires, cables, or fibre optics to transmit signals or data. by a group of prominent venture capital firms Name Location Founding date Managing Partners/Directors Specialty Capital managed 5AM Ventures Menlo Park, CA; Waltham, MA 2002 John Diekman, PhD (managing partner), Scott Rocklage, PhD (managing partner), Andrew Schwab (managing partner) life sciences $200M [1] , led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sevin Rosen Funds Sevin Rosen Funds (SRF) is a venture capital firm that was established in 1981 by L.J. Sevin and Ben Rosen. SRF was involved in the financing of ArQule, CIENA, Citrix, Cypress Semiconductor, Electronic Arts, Lotus Development Corporation, Silicon Graphics, and Vitesse. . Mary Ann Byrnes has been named president of Corsair corsair: see Barbary States; piracy. Communications. Byrnes, who has been involved in the cellular industry since its formation in the mid-1980s, previously held several key positions at Cellular One in the Bay Area, including vice president of sales and marketing and vice president of operations. "We're determined to provide an effective solution to the cellular fraud problem, which is now costing cellular carriers in the U.S. more than $1 million a day," said Byrnes. "The cellular industry is in a critical growth phase right now, when carriers will be able to thrive only by cutting their costs and delivering flawless service to their subscribers. We want to help them do that. We have a good start with the very impressive base of signal analysis expertise we acquired from TRW. As our own company, we also have a charter to do whatever it takes to stop cellular fraud." Corsair will market the PhonePrint network access control system, which is based on radio frequency fingerprinting technology developed and refined by TRW for defense applications over the past 25 years. The PhonePrint system detects and blocks cellular telephone calls placed by criminals who have stolen telephone identification numbers and programmed them into counterfeit phones, or "clones." TRW retains a minority position in the new company. "This arrangement is a great opportunity for all parties to take this venture to the next step and put this technology to work solving a major problem for the cellular industry," said Robert J. Kohler, executive vice president and general manager of TRW's Avionics & Surveillance Group. "The new ownership also aligns this enterprise more closely to the wireless industry," said Kohler. Corsair is poised to deploy the PhonePrint system in the country's most heavily frauded markets. "We're building on TRW's foundation of extensive proof-of-concept testing and operational testing (testing) operational testing - A US DoD term for testing performed by the end-user on software in its normal operating environment. in two key markets," said Byrnes. PhonePrint has been tested in the Los Angeles market with AirTouch Communications and in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. with NYNEX NYNEX New York-New England & X for the Unknown (Telephone Company) NYNEX New York Network Exchange Mobile Communications and Cellular One. "For 1995, we're well positioned to put the finishing touches on the product and get it into the field in an operational capacity," said Byrnes. "Our company's sole mission for this year is to work closely with the cellular industry to control fraud. By doing that, we can help cellular carriers cut their costs and improve service to their customers at the same time." Corsair Communications is headquartered in Sunnyvale. The company develops and provides technology-intensive application solutions to the wireless telecommunications industry. CONTACT: Corsair Communications Bill Taliaferro, 408/752-2686 fax, 408/752-2803 TRW Bob Such, 619/592-3478 fax, 619/592-3794 |
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