Dashlight first came to life in January 2003 as Dashlight Systems, LLC. The founding objective of the company was to create wireless sensor devices using Bluetooth in ways not previously contemplated. Tom Nault formed the company to become both an intellectual property holding and technology commercialization company, with no plans to ever become a patent troll.

Bluetooth was still in its infancy, and the name was hardly a household word yet. Most of its uses thus far were limited to desktop peripherals such as keyboards, mice, printers, and some mono headsets. Even though the Bluetooth SIG ratified the standard in 1998, the technology was having difficulty gaining mainstream traction as originally contemplated. There was wide speculation that UWB, ZigBee, and various other fledgling technologies would surpass Bluetooth in popularity.

Dashlight’s core idea was to marry Bluetooth with low-power sensors to give otherwise mute machine conditions a voice for the first time. We pondered devices such as wireless leak detectors, emergency shut-off valves, and the remote broadcast of various household conditions, such as an overheating electrical panel. The term “Dashlight” was chosen because of the similarities to fault conditions in an automobile.

As the company began to file patents and search for product development partners, it started working closely with Open Interface North America, Inc. (OINA). At the time, OINA was a struggling Bluetooth protocol stack software company, and the U.S. division of Open Interface, Japan (OIJP). Tom Nault thought very highly of the management and engineers of OINA, and despite national press claiming that Bluetooth would soon be a dead technology, OINA and Dashlight held very different beliefs.

In May of 2004, Dashlight Systems, LLC acquired controlling interest in OINA from OIJP. Dashlight folded its intellectual property into OINA and became simply the parent company to what was then the operating company, OINA.

OINA’s outstanding engineering team, led by Greg Burns, created many firsts using Bluetooth, including:

  • The demonstration of Bluetooth and UWB combined functionality

  • HDTV streaming using Bluetooth and UWB

  • Bluetooth-based combination of Wi-Fi and UWB

  • Bluetooth 2.0+EDR qualification of the upper protocol stack by an independent company

  • Bluetooth 2.0+EDR stereo headphones

  • Bluetooth on a 3G phone

  • Bluetooth ported to embedded Linux

  • Bluetooth on a notebook computer as a standard feature

  • A commercially available Bluetooth watch

  • A Bluetooth 2.0+EDR multicast headphone solution

OINA licensed its software to companies such as Qualcomm, Motorola, Bose, Sennheiser, B&O, Sony, STMicroelectronics, and many others, including Apple.

In December 2007, Dashlight sold OINA to Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, Inc. Dashlight dropped “Systems” from its name after it transitioned into an asset-holding company with small investments in various technology start-ups.

Dashlight provided the funding to start and manage Exotics at Redmond Town Center (E@RTC) for the local community. While Dashlight controls the majority of E@RTC, it regards itself as the steward of the event and still manages it to this day. Beginning in February 2009, E@RTC, as an all-volunteer organization, has grown to become the largest and oldest continuous weekly gathering of exotic cars on the West Coast, drawing some of the most valuable and unique cars in the world. The weekly event attracts hundreds of cars and tens of thousands of spectators who come together to share their common love of exotic, old, and unique cars.