Reno's Dockon shakes up sleepy world of antennas

For starters, Patrick Johnston needs to overcome potential customers' skepticism that his company's products are even technologically possible for use in wireless devices.

And then he needs to convince makers of antennas a business that hasn't seen much change for the better part of six decades that the business model of Reno-based Dockon Inc. makes sense for them even though it's dramatically different than their previous practices.

Johnston, the chief executive officer of Dockon, is beginning to gain ground on both fronts.

"Nobody believed it would work," he says, but engineers who have put Dockon's technology through the paces in wireless devices in the real world and through computer simulations have become believers.

Last week, Thinkify LLC of Morgan Hill, Calif., said it picked Dockon's antenna technology for use in a line of wireless RFID readers that will be used in applications such as medical and legal offices.

In mid-October Dockon announced a distribution deal with Embedded Works, a Santa Clara, Calif., company that will sell and integrate Dockon's CPL Compound Antennas technology.

More deals, Johnston, says are in the pipeline.

An industry analyst says Dockon is in the right space these days as the push toward a wireless world brings the spotlight on the once-backwater world of antenna development.

"Companies that are specializing in antenna technology are going to be very valuable," says Francis Sideco, principal analyst for wireless communications with iSuppi Corp. of El Segundo, Calif. "They are trying to solve problems that never needed to be dealt with in the past."

In recent days, Dockon was added to the "Silicon 60" list of emerging startups by EE Times, an electronics industry publication.

In technical terms, Dockon's technology is revolutionary because it uses the transverse electric and transverse magnetic modes of the antenna essentially combining a loop antenna with a dipole antenna.

In practical terms, the company's technology allows manufacturers to create dramatically smaller, more efficient and less expensive antennas for use in wireless devices.

The mathematical theory behind the company's technology has been kicking around academic circles for nearly 20 years. The technology never made it out of research labs, mostly because it proved fiendishly difficult to manufacture.

"This is a very difficult science to master," says Johnston.

Among the researchers intrigued by the possibilities was Dr. Forrest Brown, who retired in Carson City after a career with organizations including NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Brown focused hard on moving the theory into the real world and found European investors to back his work. The investors put $3 million into the company and recruited Johnston, a veteran of two dozen tech startups, to begin shaping a company around Brown's work.

Early on, Johnston made a couple of key decisions.

First, unlike other companies that supply antennas to makers of cell phones, RFID devices and other wireless applications, Dockon wouldn't do its own manufacturing.

Instead, it would license the technology to manufacturers, allowing Dockon to focus on what it knows best the development of cutting-edge antenna systems and the creation of software to allow quick design.

How quickly? Dockon's software now can produce antenna designs in a couple of hours sometimes even minutes that otherwise would take a team of highly paid specialists a couple of months.

And that's no small thing, Johnston says, as makers of wireless devices increasingly want custom-designed antennas that provide a competitive advantage with their customers.

Dockon also looks to catch the wave of outsourcing. As some makers of wireless devices close down their in-house antenna development operations, Johnston wants his company to fill the need.

The company's customers are scattered around the world, but Johnston isn't one of those tech executives who says his company could be based anywhere.

A key reason that the company is headquartered in Reno is the proximity of the University of Nevada, Reno, where Indira Chatterjee, associate dean of the Department of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering, keeps the school at the forefront of antenna-related research.

"Access to UNR is a wonderful thing," says Johnston. "It's a great symbiotic relationship."

The company and the university researchers help each other out with equipment and testing needs, and four of Dockon's seven employees are engineering graduates of UNR.

At the same time, the company's Reno location is only 45 minutes by air from San Jose Johnston's business interests also include air charter service Northern Nevada Aviation and the company's staff can stay in close contact with Silicon Valley wireless developers.

And Nevada's tax laws, Johnston says, favor companies that generate licensing revenues. Companies such as Microsoft Licensing LLP in Reno. And Dockon.

The company's lean operation it operates in modest office space in South Meadows means the company could begin generating profits pretty quickly.

"We are only three or four deals away from profitability," says Johnston, who adds the company plans continued investment in antenna technology rather than looking for an immediate payout to investors.