In this interview, I had the opportunity to speak with Manlio Allegra, Co-Founder & CEO of Polaris Wireless, a startup company that provides a software-based location system for mobile phones.  Their technology is fundamentally different from GPS, which requires hardware, and doesn’t work well indoors or in dense urban areas where satellite line-of-sight is difficult to achieve.  The core of the Polaris system is its Wireless Location Signatures (WLS) technology, which is based on the fact that every location has a unique radio frequency (RF) signature, which can be determined by signals from surrounding cell phone towers.  Accuracies of 30-60 meters have been achieved by the Polaris system.

During our conversation, Manlio discusses the WLS technology, covering system calibration, RF signature processing, accuracy, and privacy concerns, as well as new positioning development projects in the works.  He also touches on some business aspects, sharing the challenges of competitors in this space, and highlighting applications that integrate well with the positioning data they provide (public safety / E911, consumer location-based services, etc).

Manlio provides a great comparison of WLS and GPS, and talks about the complementary aspects of the technologies, since WLS works best in dense urban areas, and GPS is strongest in rural regions; a hybrid solution would provide optimum utility to users.  He also mentions that for the millions on the network without GPS hardware, Polaris can provide an easily deployable locating solution where no other option exists.

During the second half of the interview, Manlio focuses on entrepreneurial advice, sharing his insights on network/carrier partnership negotiations, investor selection and communication, and the long runway required for companies in the mobile space.  As a business school graduate from Stanford, he provides step-by-step tips for one’s early career path, including work experience that is beneficial to have before diving into an entrepreneurial venture.

For a visual understanding of how WLS works, check out this cool demo!

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Many startup companies in the “garage operation” stage want to appear larger and more professional when interacting with customers by phone, but they do not have the money to invest in the hardware required for a conventional PBX phone system.  Other startups have distributed operations, with employees working on cell phones from home or on the road, and want to enable effective communication between employees and with customers.  RingCentral addresses these needs by providing a virtual PBX phone system, which includes multiple extensions, toll free numbers, automated greetings with menu trees, dial-by-name directories, and call and voicemail forwarding.  You can use their online interface to create “rules” that define call routing based upon time of day, number dialed, type of caller, or whether the call was answered.  Your greeting could say “Press 1 for technical support, press 2 for sales”, etc, but all options could forward to a single cell phone!

In this interview, Praful Shah gives a detailed overview of the RingCentral features and pricing, and provides some great examples of both large and small companies that have used their product. He also gives an overview of his own unique role in the company as VP of Strategy, and what responsibilities the position involves.

There have been some great reviews of the product, and it was even recommended in Timothy Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Workweek as a good solution for automating receptionist activities and professionally managing business calls while traveling and working remotely. This year RingCentral closed a second round of VC funding, so I’m sure we’ll hear plenty more about the company in the months to come! Check out a recent post on Expand2Web for a great overview on virtual phone systems and the benefits for small businesses.

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Funambol has developed open source mobile messaging software that provides any type of mobile phone with email, calendar, and contact management functionality, similar to the BlackBerry interface, but completely free. I had the opportunity to speak with Fabrizio Capobianco, CEO of Funambol and a native of Italy. He speaks about the tremendous demand for free email on mobile devices, the effectiveness of the company’s worldwide community of developers in building portability of the open source application across 1.5 billion phones, and his experience as a web entrepreneur in Italy in the early 90’s. He also includes a complete demo of the Funambol application on the RAZR and the iPhone, so you can get a firsthand glimpse of the software.

Also check out these other great posts on Funambol:
Mashable - Kristen Nicole shares the news of Funambol’s recent $12.5M round of funding - congrats Fabrizio!
TechCrunch - Erick Schonfeld discusses Funambol’s free mobile syncing software for the iPhone.

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