Along with Motorola, Connect Things and bar code giant Symbol Technologies, AirClic has raised half a billion dollars to form a company that will put scanning technology into wireless devices.

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These hardware upstarts include Airespace, Colubris Networks and Trapeze Networks, as well as Aruba Wireless Networks, which runs most of Dartmouth's campus, and Symbol Technologies, a publicly traded company known for its bar code scanners.

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Aston stayed invested in Symbol Technologies despite its bad management team, Zerhusen says, because of its niche bar code technology.

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