Interlink to Work With Seattle Design Group

Interlink Electronics, a Camarillo maker of computer pointing devices, has joined a Seattle design group in an effort to develop a new generation of the input devices.

E. Michael Thoben III, Interlink’s chairman and chief executive, says new computer input devices are needed because the traditional desktop mouse “is inherently unsuitable for use in new settings such as field computing, manufacturing process control or even ‘couch-based’ home computing.”

The new devices would combine Interlink’s pointing technology with designs developed by its partner in the project, the Stratos Product Development Group.

Stratos worked with Apple Computer to develop Apple’s Powerbook Trackpad input device. The group also worked with Microsoft Corp. to design the Ballpoint “trackball” for portable computers.

“The combination of our design capabilities with Interlink Electronics’ pointing technology will produce a new standard for input devices in both traditional and nontraditional computing environments,” said Allan H. Stephan, Stratos’ chief executive.

Stratos is a member of the Virtual Worlds Consortium, which is associated with the Human Interface Technology Laboratory at the University of Washington.