Local tech
firm looking
for workersLandmark Networks Inc., which
has $3.2 million in funding,
builds wireless fidelity networks
A Honolulu-based startup wireless technology company plans to hire 40 to 50 workers locally this year for jobs including engineering and product development.
Landmark Networks Inc., which develops equipment to build wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, networks has new investors including Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. and venture capital firm Menlo Ventures of Menlo Park, Calif.
Landmark has raised $3.2 million in funding, and turned away more than $1.5 million in additional investment because it doesn't need the money right now, said Tareq Hoque, president and chief executive of Landmark. He noted that Landmark will seek more funding later.
Hoque, a former president of Adtech, was part of a core group that worked on Landmark's concept last year.
Wi-Fi technology can make a computer laptop or a personal digital assistant act like a cell phone, allowing a person to access the Internet while in a "hotspot," without any wires or cables. Landmark says its technology is cheaper, faster and easier than competing products, and would conceptually allow for a whole city to act as a hotspot.
Hoque declined to elaborate on how Landmark's technology will do this.
Landmark's customers are companies that install and run Wi-Fi networks around the world. Locally, it is in talks with ShakaNet Inc., an Oahu Internet provider that recently signed a five-year agreement to provide Wi-Fi access at Honolulu Airport.
Other members of Landmark's original group include Ike Nassi, former senior vice president of Apple; Keith Klemba, former chief technology advisor for Hewlett-Packard; Ellary Kim, former finance director at Adtech; and former Apple executive Barbara Cardillo.
Landmark now has about 14 employees. The company is looking to fill a range of jobs, primarily product development and engineering, but also sales, marketing, operations, administration and business development.
The firm recently ran advertisements seeking jobs, and received more than 200 resumes, Hoque said.
Landmark, at 928 Nuuanu Ave., is keeping its headquarters in Hawaii, but is talking about outsourcing its manufacturing to Asia, Hoque said.
Other investors in Landmark include Hoque; former Digital Island Chairman Ron Higgins; Larry Johnson, former head of Bank of Hawaii; HMS Ventures; and the state Hawaii Strategic Development Corp.
H. DuBose Montgomery, co-founder of Menlo Ventures, is joining the board of Landmark, which includes Hoque, Higgins, Dick Grey of HMS Ventures, and Nassi, who is chairman of Landmark.