Airvana, ip.access and Ubiquisys to Align Femtocel

[neondrum 0]

Chelmsford, MA, Cambridge, UK and Swindon, UK – June 23, 2009 – Airvana, Inc. (NASDAQ: AIRV), ip.access, and Ubiquisys today announced that the three companies have pledged to support the Services Special Interest Group (SIG) recently formed by the Femto Forum by working together towards a common service framework and application program interfaces (APIs). The Services SIG’s mission is to develop a framework to simplify the development and deployment of femtocell applications, which includes efforts to establish a set of standard APIs. As widely recognised supporters of a femtozone applications development environment based on open standards, Airvana, ip.access and Ubiquisys have already begun working together to advance the goals of the Services SIG.

 

Femtocells sit at the intersection of multiple networks including mobile, Internet, home and office - all of which are fundamental to people’s lives. The intelligence within the femtocell, for example presence and digital content visibility, can be used by application logic residing in any of these networks. The SIG’s work will help the industry establish a framework that encompasses all of these options and establish a common approach.

 

Several unique attributes of femtocell technology make the devices highly suited for supporting an interesting array of applications. First, they change the economics of mobile data by providing massive bandwidth indoors to mobile devices at very low cost. Second, femtocells make sophisticated presence-based applications simple for not only users of cutting edge smart phones but also everyday legacy feature phones. And finally they make it easy for people to share their digital content across various previously isolated networks.

 

"Femtocells open the door for exciting applications that can deliver a new, and highly valuable dimension to how customers use their mobile devices," said Simon Saunders, the Femto Forum’s Chair. "To see femtocell vendors come together in this way is a powerful validation of the potential femtozone services have to change the way both mobile operators and their subscribers view mobile devices."

 

An open development environment based on freely accessible, standard APIs is critical to drive developer interest and create greater opportunities for the widespread adoption of femtozone applications. Airvana, ip.access, and Ubiquisys are dedicated to ensuring that application developers have access to this type of open framework and invite developers and other industry vendors to support this effort.

 

"Femtozone applications greatly expand the value femtocells can deliver to both mobile operators and their subscribers beyond the already recognised improvements in indoor voice coverage and packet data user experience," explained Dr. Vedat Eyuboglu, CTO of Airvana. "Femtozone applications allow the femtocell to become the center of the connected digital home by bridging consumers’ mobile and home environments. This is why we are joining forces with ip.access and Ubiquisys in the advancement of femtozone applications through our involvement in the Femto Forum’s Services SIG."

 

"We believe collaboration on femto services is the right approach," said Dr. Nick Johnson, CTO of ip.access. "The power of the femtocell as a platform for new services can only be fully realised if femtocell vendors cooperate to create an open, standards based development environment. The Femto Forum provides an ideal place for us to work alongside other vendors who share the same commitment."

 

"Femtocells are intelligent devices that blur traditional boundaries between internet, mobile and devices on the home and office LAN," said Will Franks, Founder and CTO of Ubiquisys. "As a result, femtocell intelligence can be harnessed by applications running almost anywhere. That’s why we support the work of the Femto Forum to establish a common approach to femtocell APIs, which will make it easier for developers to femto-enable their apps."

 

-ENDS-

 

About Airvana

Airvana helps operators transform the mobile experience for users worldwide. The company’s high-performance technology and products, from comprehensive UMTS and CDMA 3G femtocell solutions based on the HubBub™ femtocell, to core mobile network infrastructure, enable operators to deliver compelling and consistent broadband services to mobile subscribers, wherever they are. Airvana partners with leading network infrastructure and device vendors including Alcatel-Lucent, Hitachi, Motorola, Nokia Siemens Networks, Pirelli Broadband Systems, Qualcomm, Tatara and Thomson. Airvana’s products are deployed in 70 commercial networks on six continents. The company is headquartered in Chelmsford, Mass., USA, with offices worldwide. For more information, please visit www.airvana.com.

 

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. ip.access is the company behind the multi-award winning Oyster 3G™ femtocell. The Oyster 3G increases cell capacity and coverage, drives down costs and dramatically improves the 3G user experience at home. The ip.access nanoGSM® is the world’s most deployed picocell solution. It provides GSM, GPRS and EDGE coverage and capacity for offices, shops and (using satellite backhaul) passenger aircraft, ships and remote rural areas. With deployments in more than 40 live networks around the world and growing, ip.access is the partner of choice for operators competing in the new converged marketplace. ip.access counts Scottish Equity Partners, Rothschild Gestion, Intel Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners, ADC, Cisco, Qualcomm and Motorola Ventures among its shareholders.

 

About Ubiquisys

Ubiquisys is the spe[censored]t femtocell company recognised by the World Economic Forum as a 2009 Technology Pioneer. Its ZoneGate femtocells are manufactured with Sony and are available as standalone units or as part of residential gateway devices such as Netgear's DVG834GH and SerComm's FC210U. In 2007 Ubiquisys created the Femto Forum to promote standards and partnerships in this fast-emerging industry. ABI Research named Ubiquisys as the world's leading femtocell vendor in their 2008 and 2009 Femtocell Vendor Matrix. In September 2008 the company announced that Softbank would be the world's first operator to offer 3G femtocell services using the ZoneGate. Ubiquisys is funded by Accel Partners, Advent Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, Google and T-Mobile Venture Fund. For more information, visit www.ubiquisys.com.

 

Airvana Safe Harbor Statement

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Airvana, including without limitation, expectations related to its development of femtocell alliances, its shipments during future periods, its invoiced amounts, Billings and revenue for future periods, its relationship with Nortel, its ability to collect receivables and invoiced amounts from Nortel and the Nortel bankruptcy filing constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements typically contain the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," “continue” and similar expressions. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including without limitation Nortel’s ability to reorganise successfully, Airvana’s ability to secure court approval for payment of its receivables from Nortel, Airvana’s ability to maintain its relationship with Nortel, the timing and rate of femtocell market acceptance and growth, operator femtocell deployment plans, the highly competitive and rapidly evolving market in which Airvana competes, Airvana’s limited operating history, the fluctuation of its past operating results and its reliance on sales through Nortel for a significant portion of its revenues and product and service Billings and other factors discussed in Airvana’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent Airvana’s views as of the date of this press release. Airvana anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause its views to change. While Airvana may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Airvana’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

 

Press contact:

Airvana PR Contacts

Rob Morton

Davies Murphy Group

rmorton[at]daviesmurphy[dot]com

+1-781-418-2460

 

ip.access PR Contacts

Paul Nolan / Dave McCann

CCgroup

T: +44 118 920 7650

E : ipaccess[at]the-cc-group[dot]com

 

Ubiquisys PR Contacts

Ed Howson

Temono PR

ed.howson[at]temono[dot]com

+44 (0)7740173051

 

Distributed on behalf of ip.access by NeonDrum (http://www.neondrum.com)

Nicky Davis

Tel: +44 7747 017654

nicky[at]neondrum[dot]com