PC subscription service provider Everdream Corp. last week announced it has received two patents on technology it created to facilitate its services.
In addition, the Fremont, Calif., service provider has 10 patents pending and is working to add to that list, according to company officials.
“In the early pilot days [of the service], we found that to provide complete support on a 24-by-7 basis, there were technical elements missing. In mid-1999, we started to focus on intellectual property and developing technologies that would change the way business is done,” said Everdream CEO Gary Griffiths.
To bolster its remote desktop support service business, Everdream developed technologies in computer architecture, service infrastructure and technologies that support the way the service business is handled.
Everdreams patents were awarded on its computer architecture innovations. The first focuses on the way a hard disk is configured to prevent unwanted changes that could cause conflicts.
“We know what these systems will be used for, so we can customize [the hard disk] to run whats necessary,” said Russ Rive, chief technology officer and company founder. The patent also covers the way Everdream configures a hard disk for providing remote support.
“Its set up to allow remote support technicians to come in and access tools weve hidden from the user to run tests and scripts, or to restore applications to a working state,” Rive said.
The second patent protects the way Everdream remotely enables preinstalled but previously disabled applications. Should a customer decide to use such an application, Everdream can transmit an encrypted key to enable the software. Everdream can then bill the customer for its use.
Other patents are pending for the method Everdream uses to protect execution environments within a system to avoid system file corruption; an intelligent patch checker; its client-side setup wizard technology; and its help button technology, which allows end users to connect to Everdreams back-end support system and transmit diagnostic data to it as well as other areas.
Everdreams patent efforts should help set the company apart as an innovative remote desktop services outsourcer, said Peter Giglio, a vice president at investment banking company Gerard Klauer Mattison LLC, in New York.
“It could help distinguish them from other competitors in showing their products and service have unique qualities distinct from what others have to offer—and that its of a high-value nature. Also, down the road, they could see certain royalty streams if others want to use certain components of their technology,” Mattison said.
The patented technologies should give Everdream a “leg up” on the competition, said Charles Trafton, an analyst at Adams, Harkness & Hill Inc., an investment banking company in Boston.
“Those are all very important features. Those are some of the higher-end technical features and the very reasons people will want to outsource their PC support—to do … higher-end maintenance,” Trafton said.