Centrafuse
Information Technology & Services - Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Centrafuse Employees
Centrafuse Details
Centrafuse began as a hobby in San Diego in 2004, obtained its initial angel round, and moved to Atlanta, GA in 2007.Initially launched to enthusiasts online, the company quickly shifted into building an integration framework for OEM's and Tier 1 suppliers. It developed a toolkit that allowed device manufacturers to design and develop touch-friendly, voice-enabled, remote-controlled applications for in-vehicle infotainment systems.Centrafuse partnered with Visteon, Intel, and Microsoft and worked on multiple projects, with many ideas later being realized in Ford Sync. It had some early success at multiple SEMA and CES shows, and won a CNET "Best of CES" Award in 2008.A few other note worthy items included its work with Samsung on its UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) devices. Centrafuse designed a touch-friendly interface on a handheld device, which eventually failed, but later gave way to what became the tablet.Centrafuse also designed and developed a first of its kind online vehicle application marketplace. Downloading and updating of applications occurred directly from the vehicle. It also had a first of its kind cloud based vehicle management system, which included vehicle tracking, trip planning, and music management remotely from web and mobile in 2008, years ahead of the industry.It obtained two additional rounds of funding from 2007 to 2008, but the automotive industry crisis of 2008–2010 had major impacts on the business. The company shifted to a consulting business to weather the storm. After the crisis ended in 2010, the platform was outdated, most device manufacturers had switched to Linux or Android based systems, and additional funding to re-platform could not be obtained. All full time employees left the company in 2011, but it was still sold online to enthusiasts until all the assets were sold off and the company was dissolved in 2013.
