6th July 2007
ip.access joins board of the femto forum - a new body to promote femtocell standardisation and deployment
6 July 2007 – ip.access, a leading developer of femtocells and picocells, is one of the initial board members of the Femto Forum, which will support and promote femtocell deployment worldwide. The Forum brings together the foremost femtocell equipment vendors with the major global mobile operators assessing the technology.
The Forum will promote the uptake of femtocell technologies through open standards, market education and ecosystem development. The initial focus will be on pre-competitive standards-focused issues including radio planning & control, device provisioning & management and device to network standardisation. In addition, a marketing task force will promote the benefits of femtocell technology for both operators and subscribers.
“The cost-effective provision of ubiquitous mobile broadband services as well as managing the threat posed by non-traditional telecoms operators represent two of the greatest challenges facing mobile operators today,” said Simon Saunders, Chair of the Femto Forum. “The Femto Forum will illuminate precisely how femtocells meet these challenges as well as marshalling the respective equipment vendors and operators into creating the best possible solutions for the market.”
“We’re proud to be one of the founding members of the Femto Forum. Its inception is a clear reflection of the level of excitement about femtocells in the mobile industry,” said Andy Tiller, VP Marketing, ip.access. “Femtocells are set to become a key weapon in the armouries of mobile operators and it is essential that the technology providers join forces to promote standardisation and industry best practice.”
At the Forum’s first Plenary, which was held before the Femtocell and Home Access Point Conference in London 3-5 July 2007, ip.access took a leading role in some of the working groups which will advance the agenda of the Forum.
About the Femto Forum
Femtocells are cellular access points that connect to a mobile operator’s network using residential DSL or cable broadband connections. The Femto Forum (http://www.femtoforum.org/) has been set up to promote the wide-scale adoption of femtocells. The Forum will support and drive the adoption of industry wide standards and common architectures to enable the widespread adoption & deployment of femtocells by operators around the world. It will direct and implement a multi-faceted marketing campaign to raise the profile, drive technology development & deployment and to promote the potential of femto solutions among industry stakeholders, journalists, analysts, regulators, special interest groups, standards bodies and consumers. The Forum is an independent, not-for-profit membership organisation with founding members including Airvana, ip.access, Kineto Wireless, NETGEAR, Picochip, RadioFrame, Tatara and Ubiquisys
About ip.access
Based in Cambridge, UK, ip.access ltd (www.ipaccess.com) is a leading manufacturer of cost-effective picocell and femtocell infrastructure solutions for GSM, GPRS, EDGE and 3G. These solutions bring IP and cellular technologies together to drive down costs and increase coverage and capacity of mobile networks.
ABI Research ranks ip.access as the world’s number 1 picocell vendor; its nanoGSM® and nano3G™ picocell solutions provide 2G and 3G coverage and capacity for offices, shops and (using satellite backhaul) passenger aircraft, ships and remote rural areas. nanoGSM is the world’s most deployed picocell, with live installations in more than 50 networks around the world and growing.
ip.access is also the company behind the multi-award winning Oyster 3G™ femtocell technology, which dramatically improves the user experience for 3G services at home. Oyster 3G is the core femtocell technology in AT&T’s 3G MicroCell.
ip.access counts Scottish Equity Partners, Rothschild Gestion, Intel Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners, ADC, Cisco, Qualcomm and Motorola Ventures among its shareholders.
Distributed on behalf of ip.access by NeonDrum
Nicky Davis
Tel: +44 7747017654
nicky@neondrum.com
http://www.neondrum.com