The technology may be revolutionary, but the idea was simple and coming up with the name for his company was pretty much a no-brainer, too.

"It had to do with electricity and innovation," said inventor and company Chairman Deepak Divan. "I was shocked when I went on the Internet and found out the name Innovolt wasn't already taken."

Divan was talking after a news conference at Georgia Tech on Tuesday, where he and Innovolt Inc. President and CEO Suresh Sharma trumpeted their company as the biggest startup to emerge from the Georgia Tech Advance Technology Development incubator since Scientific Atlanta, which was launched by six Tech professors in 1951.

The Innovolt, three years in development, is revolutionary because it protects electrical equipment not just from lightning but from the routine power surges that flow through the nation's power grid and are "equally as damaging" as lightning, Sharma said.

Georgia Tech contributed about $100,000 in seed capital for the venture, Divan said.

Individual investors put in an additional $3 million or $4 million, he said.

Innovolt Inc. already is distributing the surge protector on its Web site, www.innovolt.com. The company has a distribution agreement with Better Office Systems and has begun negotiations with Best Buy and Wal-Mart, Divan said.

The Innovolt units are manufactured at a plant in Pune, India. But the company will have a growing presence in Georgia. Divan said for now the company will keep its offices in the Advanced Technology Development Center in Atlanta. It has 10 full-time local employees and 100 employees worldwide.

"Next year at this time we envision having 40 or 50 employees in Atlanta and 300 to 400 worldwide," he said.