Ideal Power Inc (IPWR)

[tykundegex]

I've been thinking a lot about this company and its technology lately. A breakthrough is considered as more than the evolution or improvement on a technology, but a new paradigm applied to the system altogether. In the case of Ideal Power's PPSA, that it is software-based is the breakthrough - a new paradigm for power conversion altogether.

For me, this is truly a game-changing technology, and as such a hugely exciting investment opportunity. But that doesn't mean success is guaranteed -- things can still go wrong: there may be safety issues, software bugs, reliability or security issues related to the software, or other long-term operational characteristics that we don't yet know about. Or the company may simply fail to attract the interest of the power conversion market for some reason, though this is the least plausible potential cause of failure as there are just too many advantages (namely lower weight, higher efficiency, and lower cost).

Another risk (the more likely, IMO) is that with the increased focus on this sector (all tech related to small and mid-scale distributed power generation and storage), another leapfrog technology comes along and trumps it.

Is anyone of this board (there aren't many of you!) aware of anything on the horizon that could render IPWR's products obsolete? Even some far-fetched yet-to-be-proven technologies? I'd be interested in hearing about them.

I read this the other day: http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/04/15/breaking-news-over-unity-reactionless-generator-invented-in-india/

.. which in part sparked my interest in leapfrog technologies that could hurt IPWR's prospects. But this particular example sounds like another PMM (perpetual motion machine) and reminds me a little of the Steorn story.