ip.access Limited is a

multinational corporation A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

that designs, manufactures, and markets

small cell Small cells are low-powered cellular radio access nodes that operate in licensed and unlicensed spectrum that have a range of 10 meters to a few kilometers. In other words, they are base stations with low power consumption and cheap cost that ...

s (

picocell A picocell is a small cellular base station typically covering a small area, such as in-building (offices, shopping malls, train stations, stock exchanges, etc.), or more recently in-aircraft. In cellular networks, picocells are typically used to e ...

and

femtocell In telecommunications, a femtocell is a small, low-power cellular base station, typically designed for use in a home or small business. A broader term which is more widespread in the industry is ''small cell'', with ''femtocell'' as a subset. It c ...

) technologies and infrastructure equipment for

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such as ...

GPRS General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data standard on the 2G and 3G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communications (GSM). GPRS was established by European Telecommunications Standards Insti ...

EDGE Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

, 3G, 4G and 5G. The company was acquired by

Mavenir HRMavenir Systems, Inc. dba Mavenir is an American telecommunications software company, created in 2017 as a result of a three-way merger of existing companies and technologies, that develops and supplies cloud-native software to the communicati ...

, the cloud-native software supplier to the communication service provider in September 2020. ip.access has headquarters in

Cambourne Cambourne is a new settlement and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, in the district of South Cambridgeshire. It lies on the A428 road between Cambridge, 9 miles (14 km) to the east, and St Neots and Bedford to the west. It compris ...

, England, the company also maintains offices in

Gurgaon Gurgaon (pronunciation: �ʊɽɡãːw, officially named Gurugram (pronunciation: �ʊɾʊɡɾaːm, is a city located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest of the nationa ...

and

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

, India. ip.access combines IP and

cellular Cellular may refer to: *Cellular automaton, a model in discrete mathematics * Cell biology, the evaluation of cells work and more * ''Cellular'' (film), a 2004 movie *Cellular frequencies, assigned to networks operating in cellular RF bands *Cell ...

technologies together to provide 2G, 3G and LTE coverage and for mobile networks. Using

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

backhaul, its products provide coverage to commercial passenger aircraft, ships,Mobiles Connect Across the Waves
''BBC News'', February 2, 2009. and users in remote rural areas. The firm is a member of 3GPP, CBRS Alliance,

European Telecommunications Standards Institute The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is an independent, not-for-profit, standardization organization in the field of Information and communications technology, information and communications. ETSI supports the developmen ...

(ETSI), Having previously been an individual member of the

Telecom Infra Project The Telecom Infra Project (TIP) was formed in 2016 as an engineering-focused, collaborative methodology for building and deploying global telecom network infrastructure, with the goal of enabling global access for all. TIP is jointly steered by it ...

, following its acquisition, ip.access continues to be involved through Mavenir's membership.

History

ip.access was founded in December 1999 as a wholly owned

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of TTP Group PLC aimed at developing technologies that would allow multiple radio access technologies to communicate over the Internet. To accommodate its growing staff, in 2006 ip.access relocated to new offices in Cambourne Business Park, Cambridge, where it remains. In October 2000, TTP Group spun off its communications division (TTP Communications, or TTPCom) in an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

, and ip.access joined the spin-off as a wholly owned subsidiary of the TTPCom group. In March 2006, the company secured an £8.5 million round of funding from

Intel Capital Intel Capital is a division of Intel Corporation, set up to manage corporate venture capital, global investment, mergers and acquisitions. Intel Capital makes equity investments in a range of technology startups and companies offering hardware, so ...

, Scottish Equity Partners, and

Rothschild & Cie Banque Rothschild & Co is a multinational investment bank and financial services company, and the flagship of the Rothschild banking group controlled by the French and British branches of the Rothschild family. The banking business of the firm covers th ...

. As part of its June 2006 acquisition of TTP Communications,

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...

also gained a stake in ip.access. In 2007, after signing an OEM agreement with ip.access,

ADC ADC may refer to: Science and medicine * ADC (gene), a human gene * AIDS dementia complex, neurological disorder associated with HIV and AIDS * Allyl diglycol carbonate or CR-39, a polymer * Antibody-drug conjugate, a type of anticancer treatm ...

(now part of

Tyco Electronics TE Connectivity is an American Swiss-domiciled technology company that designs and manufactures connectors and sensors for several industries, such as automotive, industrial equipment, data communication systems, aerospace, defense, medical, o ...

) made a minority interest investment in the company. Followed by, both

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

Systems and

Qualcomm Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, 4 ...

making strategic financial investments in the company in 2008. In July 2007, the firm became a founding member of the Femto Forum, renamed Small Cell Forum in February 2012,. ip.access was named in

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

Fast

Tech Track 100 The Sunday Times Tech Track 100 is an annual league table published in association with The Sunday Times newspaper in the UK. It ranks Britain’s 100 private technology (TMT) companies with the fastest-growing sales over their last three years. ...

in both 20072007 Tech Track 100 League Table - UK
, The Sunday Times Fast Tech Track 100. Retrieved June 8, 2011. and 2008.2008 Tech Track 100 League Table - UK
, The Sunday Times Fast Tech Track 100. Retrieved June 8, 2011. The company was also cited as the number one picocell vendor by global market intelligence company, ABI Research in 2008. In 2009, ip.access was named in the

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

Technology Fast 500

EMEA EMEA is a shorthand designation meaning Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The acronym is used by institutions and governments, as well as in marketing and business when referring to this region: it is a shorthand way of referencing the two ...

.2009 Winners
, Deloitte. Retrieved June 8, 2011. In April 2009, the company announced its Oyster 3G product would support femtocell standards published by 3GPP and the

Broadband Forum The Broadband Forum is a non-profit industry consortium dedicated to developing broadband network specifications. Members include telecommunications networking and service provider companies, broadband device and equipment vendors, consultants and ...

.Bhushan, Amarendra
ip.access Demonstrates Progress on Femtocell Standards
, ''CEOWorld Magazine'', April 07, 2009. In March 2010, the company took part in the first

Plugfest A plugtest or plugfest is an event based on a certain technical standard where the designers of electronic equipment or software test the interoperability of their products or designs with those of other manufacturers. It could be literally plugging ...

, organized by ETSI as part of its Plugtests program, held to demonstrate the effectiveness of the 3GPP femtocell standards in supporting interoperability between femtocell access points and network equipment from different vendors. In June 2011, the market research and analysis firm Infonetics named ip.access along with its partner Cisco Systems, as the leading supplier of 3G femtocells. In August 2011, ip.access announced it had made more than 500,000 installations of its 3G technologies. In February 2013, ip.access announced it had become the first 3G small cell provider to ship one million residential units. In the same month, ip.access and completed successful interoperability testing of 3G small cells over IP Satellite. In February 2014, ip.access launched a new range of small cells called presenceCell, which unlike traditional small cells, do not rely on providing indoor coverage and capacity to deliver a return on investment. Rather, the ultra-compact base stations are designed to capture anonymous user location and phone identity information from smartphones, which can be analysed and packaged as a service for a variety of businesses. Private equity fund Zouk Capital invested in ip.access in July 2015 alongside Amadeus Capital Partners. In August 2015, ip.access was named as a partner in the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

-funded €8 million

Horizon 2020 The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europea ...

Project SESAME. Led by Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE) the project's remit was to develop virtualised cloud-enabled, multi-operator, 5G radio access infrastructure and services. In February, 2016. ip.access launched its Viper platform to provide end-to-end connectivity and management for small cells. nanoVirt, a virtualised small cell gateway which integrates 2G, 3G and 4G small cell management and access control functions and can run on a carrier-grade Virtual Machine (VM) environment or hosted in a third-party data centre was announced in May 2016. Ip.access has deployed more than 2 million small cells globally which are used by mobile operators to densify their networks to improve network coverage and/or capacity. Small cells are also the foundation for private network use cases based on spectrum sharing such as CBRS in the United States.

AeroMobile AeroMobile Communications Limited is a registered mobile network operator for the aviation industry and is based in the UK. It provides technology and services that allow the safe use of passengers' own mobile phones while inflight. A subsidiary o ...

and

SITAONAIR SITAONAIR is a company that enables airline passengers to use their smart devices including mobile phones and laptops for calls, text messaging, emails and Internet browsing. The company is a fully owned subsidiary of SITA (company), SITA, origi ...

use ip.access small cells combined with satellite backhaul to provide cellular coverage on commercial and private aircraft. The company also supplies maritime solutions on freight vessels and cruise liners working with partners such as Pentonet, SpeedCast and Telecom26. Ip.access has also provided small cells connected over satellite as rapid deployment disaster response systems. Ip.access small cell solution have also been deployed in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to provide connectivity to rural and remote communities and reduce the digital divide.

Acquisition by Mavenir

On September 27, 2020 ip.access was acquired by Mavenir, the supplier of cloud-native network software to communication service providers. The acquisition allowed the integration of ip.access’ 2G and 3G technologies into Mavenir's existing 4G and 5G OpenRAN portfolio broadband suite and also extend its reach into the enterprise market for private wireless networks based on 3GPP technologies such as 4G/LTE and 5G. The sale of ip.access Ltd to Mavenir was led by the ip.access management team; Richard Staveley (CEO), Nick Johnson (CTO & Founder), Neil Winrow (COO) and Laura Lawrence (CFO). The two companies had worked together to deliver Vodafone UK's first Open RAN site at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells in August 2020. In November 2020, Mavenir announced the establishment of an OpenRAN Centre of Innovation to be centred at the ip.access headquarters in Cambridge, UK.

Products

The telecommunications firms

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

Saabedra, Humberto
AT&T to Deploy Femtocell Technology from UK Firm ip.access
''Phone News'', May 1, 2008. uses Oyster 3G as the core femtocell technology for its 3G MicroCell product.

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develo ...

,Donegan, Michelle
Cisco, ip.access Prep Femto Combo
''Light Reading Mobile'', May 13, 2008. has jointly developed a femtocell solution with ip.access in compliance with the Broadband Forum's

TR-069 Technical Report 069 (TR-069) is a technical specification of the Broadband Forum that defines an application layer protocol for remote management and provisioning of customer-premises equipment (CPE) connected to an Internet Protocol (IP) network. ...

technical specification.

nanoGSM

In 2002, ip.access introduced the world's first IP basestation controller for indoor GSM networks. nanoGSM uses 2G picocells that leverage the standard GSM air interface, full IP-based

BSC A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

, and an OMC-R management system that delivers voice, messaging and data to both 2G and 3G handsets at an indoor range of up to 200m.

nano3G

nano3G is an end-to-end

system with access points for Enterprise, E-class 8, E16 and E24and Small Medium Business, S-class 8 access controller and element management system, providing carrier-class coverage to commercial and consumer users.

Oyster 3G Technology

Launched at the 2007

3GSM World Congress MWC Barcelona (formerly but still commonly referred to as Mobile World Congress) is an annual trade fair, trade show organised by GSMA, dedicated primarily to the Mobile telephony, mobile communications industry. The event is held in Barcelon ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain, the Oyster 3G is ip.access' core 3G femtocell technology used by

system integrator A systems integrator (or system integrator) is a person or company that specializes in bringing together component subsystems into a whole and ensuring that those subsystems function together, a practice known as system integration. They also sol ...

s and

OEM An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

customers to integrate

WCDMA The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...

femtocells into home gateways, set-top boxes, and other devices. ip.access' Oyster 3G is the core technology of AT&T's 3G MicroCell

nanoLTE

nanoLTE -40, E-60, E-100is an Enterprise grade platform that brings LTE capacity both in-doors and in public spaces, while also offering the option of providing extra 3G infill and Circuit Switch Fall Back (CSFB) capacity.

presenceCell

Launched in 2014, the presenceCell is a new range of small cell, designed to capture precise user location data via their smart phone, which can be analysed and packaged as a service for a variety of businesses. In addition to the presenceCell, ip.access also provides the back-end processing and management system that delivers the Presence data anonymously and securely to vertical application providers. The company's Network Orchestration System serves as the infrastructure management solution and also supports the GSMA's OneAPI standard, which allows third parties to provide value-added services through web friendly message interfaces. The presenceCell was commercially deployed by Vodafone Turkey in 2015. In January 2017, ip.access entered into a strategic partnership with wireless network analytics company Inovva to enhance the Presence offering.

Viper

Viper is a virtualised, in-premises enterprise 3G/4G radio access network platform launched in February 2016 that can be deployed by mobile operators or enterprises to offer indoor coverage through a “small cells as a service” (ScaaS) business model. In May 2017, ip.access announced the updating of the Viper2020 Cloud Managed Small Cell platform to support 5G, first responders and neutral host networks with Presence.

SoHo Access Point

The S-60, announced in February 2016, is ip.access’ first freestanding low-cost 4G/LTE access point designed for small offices and retailers.

4G Access Control Gateway

Also launched in February 2016, the 4G Access Control Gateway provides mobile operators with a single interface between their existing core network and LTE small cells.

nanoVirt Small Cell Gateway

nanoVirt, launched in May 2016, is a software solution that integrates 2G, 3G and 4G small cell management and access control functions as virtualized components that can be deployed by mobile operators and neutral hosts on their preferred Virtual Machine server hardware or third-party data centre.

E62 multi-RAT platform

Announced in February 2019, the E62 is a multi-Radio Access Technology 3G/4G platform that is software-upgradable to 5G.

nanoCBRS

nanoCBRS is an OnGo certified solution for the deployment of private LTE networks in the 3.5 GHz band. Launched in October 2019, the solution incorporates Citizens Band Radio Devices, a suite of architectures – nanoViNE - to support use cases and nanoCBRSLab, a mobile network lab solution for testing.

Customers and Partners

Among ip.access' major customers are

Batelco BTC is the primary telecommunications provider for the Bahamas, headquartered in Nassau, New Providence. It is partly government owned and offers telephone, internet and wireless services. BTC is an initialism for the Bahamas Telecommunications ...

Bharti Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as (d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Currently, ...

, Blue Ocean Wireless,

Bouygues Telecom Bouygues Telecom () is a French mobile phone, Internet service provider and IPTV company, part of the Bouygues group. It is the third oldest mobile network operator in France, after Orange and SFR, and before Free Mobile. Its headquarters, desig ...

, Caribsat,

Digicel Digicel is a Jamaican and Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment provider operating in 33 markets worldwide. Digicel has operated in several countries, including Guyana, Fiji, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Suriname, and Ja ...

Globe A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe ...

Jersey Telecom JT Group Limited (doing business as JT) is the parent company of several subsidiaries including Jersey Telecom Limited and Wave Telecom Limited. Jersey Telecom is the former monopoly operator in the Bailiwick of Jersey. JT provides telecommunicat ...

Monaco Telecom,

O2 (UK) O₂ UK (legally incorporated as Telefonica UK Limited, stylized as O₂) is a British telecommunications services provider, headquartered in Slough, England. It operates under the O2 brand. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...

SFR SFR (; ''Société française du radiotéléphone'', ) is a French telecommunications company. As of December 2015, it had 21.9 million customers in Metropolitan France for mobile services, and provided 6.35 million households with high-spee ...

,ip.access, SFR Business Team and SPIE Collaborate to Bring Picocells to French Market
''TMCNet.com'', February 3, 2009. SPIE SA,

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic (T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland (T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobile ...

Tele2 Tele2 AB is a Swedish telecommunications operator headquartered in the Kista Science City, Stockholm, Sweden. It is a major telephone operator in Sweden, Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Tele2 also has a 25% share in T-Mobile Netherland ...

Telefónica O2 Czech Republic O2 Czech Republic (operating under the O2 brand) is a major integrated operator in the Czech Republic. It is now operating more than six million lines, both fixed and mobile, making it one of the Czech Republic’s leading providers of fully co ...

Telenet Telenet was an American commercial packet-switched network which went into service in 1975. It was the first FCC-licensed public data network in the United States. Various commercial and government interests paid monthly fees for dedicated lines ...

, Telia Sonera,

Vivacom Vivacom ( bg, Виваком) is the largest telecommunications company in Bulgaria and a former state-owned incumbent operator. The company is headquartered in the capital city Sofia and employs around 5,900 people, owning a mature distribution ne ...

and

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

. The company's technology partners include

, Africa Mobile Networks, Altobridge, Blue Ocean Wireless, Cisco Systems, Druid Software, Intel, Pentonet, Private Mobile Networks,

, Quortus,Harris, Jan
3G Femtocell Developer Kit Available From ip.access
''TechWatch'', February 05, 2010. Setcom, and TriaGnoSys.

Awards

Corporate, product, and personnel awards won by ip.access include the following:

2007

* Light Reading Leading Lights Awards - Best New Product (Private Company) * Global Mobile Awards - Best Radio Access Product or Service * The Sunday Times Fast Tech Track 100 * World Communications Award - Best Technology Foresight

2008

* The Sunday Times Fast Tech Track 100

2009

* Deloitte Fast 500 EMEA * Femto Forum Awards - Femtocell or Femtocell Network Element Design and Technology Innovation * Femto Forum Awards - Femtocell Service (Commercial, Prototype, or Demo) * Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards - Maritime Voice Services

2010

* GTB Power100 * World Vendor Awards - Best Specialist Vendor

2011

* Femto Forum Awards - Femtocell Network Element Design and Technology Innovation

2012

* World Vendor Awards - Small Cell Award * Small Cell Forum Industry Awards - Judges Choice Award

2013

* Small Cell Forum Industry Awards - Social Vision, promoting Small Cells for Social / Economical / Environmental development

2014

* Small Cell Forum Industry Awards - Social Impact, promoting small cells for social/economic/environmental development.

2015

* Small Cell Forum Industry Awards - Social Impact, small cells create advanced LTE testbeds for aspiring engineers worldwide.

2016

* Small Cell Forum Industry Awards – Judges Choice for the Viper platform

2017

* Small Cell Forum Industry Awards – Outstanding Innovation in Small Cell Business Case

2018

* Security Essen 2018 – Special Award in the Security Innovation Awards 2018 for Presence

2019

* Small Cell Forum Industry Awards – Excellence in the delivery of Software and Services (4) – Management, automation and orchestration for Private LTE

References

External links

Official Company Website

Business Weekly ip.access Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ip.Access Companies based in Cambridge Mobile telecommunications