Case Studies - RedSkyMobile

"bitHeads’ experience building products, their deep wireless technology expertise and their team-based methodology was a powerful combination."

– Ron Dicke,
Founder and CEO, RedSky Mobile

The Client

RedSky Mobile was the first company to develop sophisticated mapping products that could be deployed on mobile devices with limited processing, memory and power resources. RedSky’s original product was a Game Boy® cartridge that contained a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and mapping software.

RedSky’s patent-pending core technology enabled vector-based mapping that consumed a fraction of the resources of the traditional bitmap-based mapping solutions.

RedSky founder and CEO Ron Dicke recognized that the core
IP they had developed to deal with the constraints of the GameBoy platform was well-suited for mapping applications for mobile communications devices such as the popular Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry®. The BlackBerry and many of the new cell phones coming to market had colored displays and location-based services but did not currently offer efficient software with a small-footprint to deliver sophisticated mapping services.

Architecture and framework creation

Project Description:

By late 2004, the demand for mobile mapping applications was growing rapidly as next generation cell phones and other mobile devices were emerging that could support those applications. Major manufacturers of mobile devices and mobile phone manufacturers were expressing interest in RedSky’s core technology but they needed to see a product efficiently running on their devices over a wireless client-server network.

Competition from mapping technology providers was also heating up. RedSky needed additional capital to remove growth constraints and maintain its lead. Dicke and his
team had to move quickly to take advantage of the wireless device opportunity and win a position in this potentially lucrative market.

“Just before Christmas, the situation intensified when an opportunity to partner with a major mobile device manufacturer emerged,” explains Dicke. “Having dominated the business market, they were on an aggressive timeline to introduce their next generation multi-media device that would expand their market to include individual consumers. Live mapping features that could push local content efficiently to users was a key part of that initiative. They wanted to move forward with our technology but needed to see a working solution on their platform – and they wanted to see that before the end of January. The holidays were just starting and we had less than 4 weeks to deliver.”

To deliver a product, RedSky had to architect a new solution framework for the wireless client-server environment and re-engineer their vector-based mapping technology onto that new platform. They were world-leaders in vector-based mapping but had never deployed the technology across a wireless client-server communications network and needed to support both application and database servers. With only 4 weeks to go and the clock ticking, they had no time to recruit and hire new people, nor did they want to make an investment in permanent staff outside of their core focus of vector-based mapping.

The bitHeads Solution:

A member of RedSky’s advisory board had previous experience with a company with wireless technology expertise and a track record of rapidly delivering software products. With that referral in hand, Dicke turned to bitHeads and their ProductStreamTM product-building partnership approach to get the job done.

With no time to spare, bitHeads immediately deployed an experienced team. They worked with RedSky to define the core requirements necessary for the deliverable then designed the product architecture and developed and tested the product.

Results:

“bitHeads pulled it off,” states Dicke. “They worked with us around the clock and over the Christmas holidays with as much passion and intensity as we had. Incredibly, they
delivered a real product, not just some throw-away code, in only 4 weeks. They built a robust, well-documented wireless communications framework that worked efficiently and that we could build upon afterwards. bitHeads’ experience building products, their deep wireless technology expertise and their team-based methodology was a powerful combination.”

Following the successful demonstration, RedSky’s technology was selected and has become the foundation for a mapping application that is used by millions of mobile device users to receive driving directions and find businesses, restaurants, concert venues, parks and more by entering addresses and viewing their locations on maps, quickly and conveniently from wherever they are.

“I had always assumed that it would be prohibitively expensive for a start-up to engage outside expertise of the caliber of bitHeads,” continues Dicke. “However, as soon as I met them I gained the confidence that bitHeads could architect and develop a solution within our time and budget constraints – and they delivered. As a partner to start-ups under severe time to market pressure, bitHeads delivers an enormous return on investment.”