When it comes to technology, it's time to rethink the standard jokes about old folks. You know, the ones where bumbling seniors mistake CD drives for toaster ovens and stuff like that.

Truth is, in the days ahead, the joke will be on any tech company that hasn't figured out how to connect with graying baby boomers, the holy grail of marketers.

By now, we've heard lots about the so-called "Silver Tsunami": the wave of baby boomers who will be moving from the work force into retirement at the rate of 10,000 per day for the next 19 years.

What we've heard less about are entrepreneurs such as Charlotte native Kevin Merrill, who is working overtime to develop products that will appeal to grandma and grandpa during their twilight years.

"This group will have the greatest influence of buying power in the history of the U.S.," says Merrill, the 49-year-old co-founder of invianet inc., a wireless Internet firm that caters to assisted living homes and vacation rental properties.

"Boomers are an independent, technologically savvy generation who don't want to burden their children."

Far more than previous generations, the oldest boomers today, those born between 1946 and 1954, not only know how to use a computer, but they depend on it for socializing on Facebook, paying their bills, or even streaming Netflix.

Over the past decade, according to Pew Research Center, the nonprofit think tank, computer use among Americans at age 65 or older has doubled. Internet use by the group has tripled.

The result is that today's seniors expect state-of-the art technology, even in their assisted living residences. "Fluffy pillows and clean towels (alone) just don't cut it anymore," Merrill says.

Frankly, though, the true upside for invianet consumers is simply this: The firm fully manages the wireless network for the entire property, which rids individual users of the headache of dealing one-on-one with such carriers as Time Warner Cable or AT&T.

(Avoiding those maddening exchanges alone could add a few years to somebody's life.)

"We're soup to nuts," says Merrill, a Myers Park High School graduate whose partners are based in Atlanta; Greenville, S.C.; and Charlotte. The firm sells a broad suite of services to property owners, from installation of a broadband connection, to technical support and management of all equipment.

Of course, tech startups come and go - and even the most innovative firms are having trouble surviving this economy. But Merrill says this company is getting ready to defy the odds.

Founded by four partners less than a year ago after more than two years of market research, invianet has since secured six contracts at homes for seniors in North Carolina, with dozens more in other states in the pipeline, Merrill says.

Contracts from property owners can range from $1,000 to $7,500 per month, he says.

While Merrill declines to disclose current revenues, he says he hopes to generate revenues in the $12 million range in the next three years. "Our biggest dilemma is trying to keep up and manage our growth," he says.

That kind of success would be nothing to joke about.