▁in ▁San ▁Francisco , ▁California , ▁that ▁develop s ▁a ▁free , ▁closed ▁source ▁mobile ▁application ▁called ▁Fire Ch at ▁that ▁enables ▁peer - to - pe er ▁mobile ▁Internet ▁connection ▁sharing ▁with ▁faster ▁and ▁more ▁efficient ▁data ▁transm issions ▁by ▁automatically ▁and ▁act ively ▁choosing ▁and ▁switching ▁to ▁the ▁best ▁available ▁network ▁without ▁requiring ▁users ▁to ▁manually ▁s ift ▁through ▁available ▁networks ▁to ▁find ▁the ▁best ▁one ▁available . ▁Open ▁Garden ▁supports ▁and ▁prom otes ▁open ▁wireless ▁networks ▁and ▁is ▁a ▁member ▁of ▁the ▁Open ▁W ire less ▁Co al ition , ▁which ▁was ▁founded ▁by ▁the ▁Electron ic ▁Front ier ▁Foundation . ▁ ▁History ▁▁ ▁Open ▁Garden , ▁Inc . ▁was ▁co - f ounded ▁in ▁ 2 0 1 1 ▁by ▁business man ▁Mich a ▁Ben ol iel , ▁Systems ▁architect ▁Taylor ▁O ng aro , ▁Internet ▁architect ▁Stanis lav ▁Sh al un ov ▁and ▁software ▁developer ▁Greg ▁Haz el ▁in ▁San ▁Francisco , ▁California ▁in ▁the ▁United ▁States . ▁The ▁company ' s ▁co - found ers ▁share ▁similar ▁background s ▁in ▁Internet ▁infrastr ucture ▁and ▁peer - to - pe er ▁technology . ▁In ▁the ▁period ▁between ▁ 2 0 0 4 ▁and ▁ 2 0 0 5 , ▁Ben ol iel ▁was ▁working ▁with ▁Sk ype , ▁as ▁well ▁as ▁negoti ating ▁the ▁de als ▁with ▁European ▁tele communic ation ▁companies ▁that ▁provided ▁the ▁fund ament als ▁for ▁Sk ype ▁In ▁and ▁Sk ype ▁Out . ▁O ng aro ▁spent ▁much ▁of ▁his ▁career ▁with ▁IBM '