Sonos

For other uses, see Sonos (disambiguation).

Sonos is an American consumer electronics company founded in 2002 by John MacFarlane, Craig Shelburne, Tom Cullen, and Trung Mai. The company makes a variety of wireless audio products.

History

Sonos was founded in June 2002.

As of December 2013, the company is estimated to have raised $118 million in venture funding, including a $25 million round in December 2013. Its investors include Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Redpoint Ventures and Elevation Partners.

In March 2016, the CEO said the company would focus more on streaming music services and voice control instead of playback of locally-stored music on wireless sound systems and would layoff some of its employees.

Products

The company offers a wide range of products, including the Sonos Wireless HiFi System creates a dedicated local Sonos network through wireless and/or Ethernet connections which allows for the streaming of digital audio to any Sonos device on the network.

Multiple Sonos devices in a single household can connect to each other on a proprietary peer-to-peer synchronous mesh network using AES encryption. This network, known as SonosNet, allows audio to be played simultaneously in separate zones. A single ZonePlayer or ZoneBridge must be wired to a network for access to LAN and Internet audio sources when using this feature, or when creating a 3.1/5.1 surround setup. SonosNet 2.0 integrates MIMO on 802.11n hardware, providing a more robust connection. Sonos does not implement wake-on-wireless technology, instead requiring that every Sonos player or bridge constantly maintains a wireless connection, even when in standby mode or connected by cable. Sonos devices do not have power buttons. The company claims that each speaker consumes between 4 and 8 Watts in idle or standby mode.

External links

• Official website

• Sonos will layoff employees as it adapts to changes in the music industry TechCrunch Retrieved 10 March 2016.