Dilithium wins prestigious award

Thursday, December 3, 2009, 2:04 pm

By Loralee Stevens, Business Journal Staff Reporter

PETALUMA — Dilithium CEO Paul Zuber will be traveling to the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Switzerland in January to receive one of the world’s most prestigious technology rewards, it was announced today.

Dilithium, a global leader in mobile video infrastructure solutions, has won a Technology Pioneer award, one of only 25 companies worldwide to be so recognized.

“It’s a big deal for us. Unlike many awards granted to the technology sector, this one comes from an entirely neutral body,” said Mr. Zuber.

The World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers are chosen for leadership in developing and applying highly transformational and innovative technologies in the areas of energy, biotech, health and information that have the potential for long-term impact on business and society.

Past winners have included Google, PayPal, Red Hat and Sandisk.

The Dilithium solutions are bringing new forms of communication to First, Second and Third World people all over the globe. Its customers are mostly third generation mobile service providers, then broadband service providers and aggregators like Yahoo, said Mr. Zuber.

The company has about 100 deployments, from tech-savvy Japan, where teenagers customize a range of video cell phone applications, to the African bush, where villagers use the technology to let each other know where markets are taking place.

Dilithium, founded in 2001, has about 50 employees in its Petaluma headquarters, more in development sites in India. The company does not disclose revenues, but Mr. Zuber said Dilithium is very close to break-even.