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Saturday 10 January 2009
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UK start-ups drive femtocell developments
Thursday 1 November 2007
It is always good to see a technology which has largely been rooted in the UK, moving from concept to production and even more gratifying when it is start-up firms which have made it happen.
Swindon-based Ubiquisys announced last week that its manufacturing line at the Sony UK Technology Centre, South Wales, for ZoneGate - its femtocell 3G access point - is now fully operational.
“We’re the first to move in femtocells from concept to proper factory mass production,” said Keith Day, v-p of marketing at Ubiquisys. “We look around us and see femtocells effectively as a concept, but we wanted to make sure everyone realises these things really are reaching the hardened consumer product stage and it’s not just proof-of-concept boxes hanging around out there.”
Day said production is currently in the thousands. “We have trials going on in eight mobile operators and are basically building to satisfy that demand and are at full stretch to do that.”
Day said the Sony Centre has provided the right environment for the move from concept to production. “It held benefits for us and proximity, which when you’re working on leading edge product it helps to be close, whatever options we might explore in the future,” said Day.
Start-ups, including ip.access and PicoChip, have been prominent in the femtocell market, although Day said the idea of bigger players entering the market is often suggested.
“The big distinction to be made is between the network infrastructure which is typically highly engineered and designed to be optimised and deployed by an engineer, and a plug-and-play consumer product. The dynamics are very different,” said Day.
Swindon-based Ubiquisys announced last week that its manufacturing line at the Sony UK Technology Centre, South Wales, for ZoneGate - its femtocell 3G access point - is now fully operational.
“We’re the first to move in femtocells from concept to proper factory mass production,” said Keith Day, v-p of marketing at Ubiquisys. “We look around us and see femtocells effectively as a concept, but we wanted to make sure everyone realises these things really are reaching the hardened consumer product stage and it’s not just proof-of-concept boxes hanging around out there.”
Day said production is currently in the thousands. “We have trials going on in eight mobile operators and are basically building to satisfy that demand and are at full stretch to do that.”
Day said the Sony Centre has provided the right environment for the move from concept to production. “It held benefits for us and proximity, which when you’re working on leading edge product it helps to be close, whatever options we might explore in the future,” said Day.
Start-ups, including ip.access and PicoChip, have been prominent in the femtocell market, although Day said the idea of bigger players entering the market is often suggested.
“The big distinction to be made is between the network infrastructure which is typically highly engineered and designed to be optimised and deployed by an engineer, and a plug-and-play consumer product. The dynamics are very different,” said Day.
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