"is it possible to have their USB parts appear to the host as something other than a COM device?"

Craig,

As far as I've gathered, you can connect a serial EEPROM to their devices and program it with your own Vendor ID, etc. When you use the "direct" driver(s), the device will look like any ordinary USB device.

I don't know anything about the company as such, but I have been searching for info on USB the last couple of weeks and their name pops up an awful lot. And for a small company it is not so surprising that all relations go via one person (even if his name is Fred :o) ).

Regards,
Rob.