Keyssa Reinvents the Connector with Kiss Connectivity

CAMPBELL, Calif., Nov. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Keyssa today introduced "Kiss Connectivity," a new way to transmit huge amounts of data and video rapidly between devices in close proximity, with virtually no battery drain.  Keyssa's coffee bean-sized connector combines breakthroughs in mechanical design, electromagnetics, materials science, and semiconductor technologies.  Because this tiny system uses extremely high frequency (EHF) signals to transmit information securely using standard protocols, it avoids the manufacturing and consumer challenges of today's other wired or wireless-network options for connecting devices.  When built into tablets, laptops, smartphones or docks, it saves space and frees product designers – who are currently constrained by today's large, delicate, mechanical connectors – to create sleeker and more rugged devices.  It also offers consumers a new way to share, sync, and store their content – simply and securely – without wireless networks that can be hacked. 

"Connectors are a $50-plus billion industry that – unlike almost every other aspect of mobile and computer hardware design – has remained undisrupted for decades," said Eric Almgren, Keyssa's CEO.  "We reinvented the connector and designed a new category of contactless connectivity that's elegant, power-efficient, and can meet the exponentially-growing demands of consumers for creating and consuming rich media. You can kiss old connectors goodbye – and say hello to a better way to move rich media across any device:  instantly, securely and simply."

"For my last 25 years, I've had to struggle with delicate metal connectors that put unsightly holes in otherwise beautiful products," said Tony Fadell, Keyssa's Chairman of the Board. "Also the EMI, RFI, and ESD design issues with them have only gotten worse as communications speeds have increased over time to allow for large-file/fast-data transfer of 4K video. Wireless communications eliminated many of those connector design issues but added new ones like cost, antenna design complexity, major power consumption and customer frustration with pairing and charging issues. 

Over the last three years, we designed Kiss Connectivity to eliminate both the wired and wireless communications constraints, and put it into a tiny flexible form that mobile devices demand, which is fast enough to support all modern wired protocols like USB 3.0, DisplayPort, SATA, PCIe, while remaining cost effective, ultra low power and fast to implement."

"With Keyssa's Kiss Connectivity, a designer is now freed from the design frustrations of wired connectors and customer frustrations from wireless communications. I expect Kiss Connectivity to spark an immediate wave of industrial design innovation that was previously blocked by today's connectors."

Changing the design of devices
For industrial designers, Keyssa's technology offers a new level of sophistication in connector engineering. The typical mechanical connector needed to move data from one device to another takes up significant space inside form factors.  It also needs to be placed near the edge of any device, in order to create a port or contact surface.

Keyssa's connector, in contrast, is the size of a coffee bean and can transfer data from any surface on a device since it's mechanically integrated into the device.  Keyssa's connector is solid state, preventing RFI/EMI signal interference and eliminating metal contacts, which are prone to wear-and-tear from repeatedly connecting cables or pins.

These characteristics help consumer electronics manufacturers disruptively design and differentiate their products.  Moreover, Kiss Connectivity is easy for manufacturers to design-in with their current product lines, because it supports standard protocols, and requires no programming overhead or software drivers. It also co-exists with all wireless power standards and will have configurations that integrate wired power.

Creating new consumer experiences for data transfer
For consumers, Keyssa creates a new connectivity experience that dispenses with awkward data-transfer cables and dependence on wireless networks to share, sync, and show huge files, like 4K, or Ultra HD, videos. Two Kiss Connectivity devices simply "kiss" when they are positioned close together and can exchange data in a few seconds. For example, Keyssa's connector can operate at transfer rates of up to 6Gbits per second, meaning that when supporting protocols like USB 3.0, DisplayPort, SATA and PCIe, Kiss Connectivity can download a 1GB movie in as little as two seconds.

In addition, Keyssa's connector has a power consumption that is orders of magnitude lower than wireless solutions, so it preserves battery life. It also gives people a much more secure data-transfer environment because Kiss Connectivity is a point-to-point connection, unlike network-based solutions like WiFi or WiGig.

Unleashing a new era of connectivity
Keyssa is on a mission to replace today's current connectors and will enable these types of new devices and experiences with Kiss Connectivity:

• Mobile device to mobile device to share content in seconds
• Mobile device to mobile device dock to seamlessly add keyboard, monitors and storage
• Mobile device to dock to quickly and easily sync data, songs and movies
• Mobile device to kiosk to download movies in seconds
• Mobile device to display to stream 4K video

Creating Kiss Connectivity momentum
For the past year, Keyssa has been working with key customers in the mobile and computing industry and in the past few months several of these partners have been building prototypes with early samples of Kiss Connectivity connectors. Keyssa fully expects to launch Kiss Connectivity products in the first half of 2015.

To date, Keyssa has raised $47 million from strategic investors including Intel Capital, Nantworks, Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center, and Alsop Louie Partners. With this funding and a world-class team, Keyssa is poised to scale their business to support the mobile market.

Keyssa invites all device manufacturers and content distribution companies to learn more about Kiss Connectivity at www.keyssa.com.  To stay up to date with the latest Kiss Connectivity news, follow Keyssa on Twitter at @KeyssaTech.

About Keyssa
Founded in 2009, Keyssa, Inc. developed its breakthrough Kiss Connectivity solution, based on a proprietary solid state connector that uses Extremely High Frequency (EHF) to provide low-power, high-speed data transfer – securely and simply.  With over 100 patent filings, Keyssa reinvented the connector. Managed by an experienced team of multidisciplinary technologists and standards experts with significant operating experience, Keyssa is backed by investors including Alsop Louie, Dolby Family Ventures, Intel Capital, Nantworks, and Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center.

Copyright © 2014 Keyssa, Inc.  All rights reserved.  Keyssa and the Keyssa logo are trademarks of Keyssa in the United States and other countries.  Other terms and names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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SOURCE Keyssa, Inc.

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