Motorola Ventures, Motorola's strategic venture capital arm, made an investment in Zephyr Technology Corporation, a global leader in Remote Physiological Monitoring industry.

Zephyr's physiological and biomechanical monitoring is based on the company's Smart Fabric technology, which combines fabric-based sensors with algorithms and electronics. The technology is used in various areas which include sports, defense, first responder and healthcare.

Its BioHarness (TM) system monitors heat state, dehydration or injury by measuring activities such as the heart rate, breathing rate, skin temperature, posture and activity. Using the voice radio the BioHarness through monitoring software gives real-time alerts and post-event analysis.

Real-time monitoring of human health conditions is important for teams working in the challenging environments and can save lives in strenuous situations where every second matters.

Reese Schroeder, managing director, Motorola Ventures said, "The ability to track a team's health status real-time in hazardous situations has the potential to not only improve response times and increase safety but also save lives."

Zephyr CEO Brian Russell said, "This is an exciting period of growth for Zephyr. We're transitioning from selling systems to researchers and professional sports teams to delivering systems to first responders where real-time physiological status monitoring has a very vital impact influencing both command decisions and remote triage."