NETGEAR® and Ubiquisys Team to Develop Femtocell Home Gateway
Strategic move aimed at leveraging booming market as femtocell users expected to reach 152 million by 2012
August 12, 2007
NETGEAR®, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTGR), a worldwide provider of technologically advanced, branded networking products, and Ubiquisys Ltd., a developer of intelligent 3G femtocell access points for the residential market, have announced their collaboration to deliver a comprehensive residential gateway that integrates DSL modem, Wi-Fi, VoIP and 3G femtocell technology. By offering mobile operators a single-box, converged solution, both companies aim to leverage a booming market for femtocell products, which New York-based ABI Research forecasts to reach 152 million users worldwide by 2012.
The Ubiquisys ZoneGate femtocell is a plug-and-play 3G access point that uses a mobile subscriber's DSL connection to transport voice and data calls to the core network using a range of standards-based interfaces. NETGEAR and Ubiquisys are working to build this functionality into NETGEAR's wireless gateways in order to provide mobile operators with the means to interact with home networks via 3G broadband networks. The cutting-edge device will be available for operator testing by the last quarter of 2007 and for commercial release in early 2008.
"Consumer demand is rising for high-quality, seamless and easy-to-use solutions that enable new applications such as fixed mobile convergence. Our partnership with Ubiquisys enables us to integrate their femtocell technology into our products and bring the next generation of home networking to the Middle East," said Ahmad Zeidan, Channel Sales Manager, NETGEAR Middle East. "This revolutionary solution will enable mobile operators to provide enhanced cellular coverage in the home, and it will also make it possible for consumers to access and control a range of home networking services via standard 3G phone handsets."
"Home networking is becoming increasingly prevalent with a range of devices from gaming consoles to video recorders being built with the ability to communicate with both the local area network and the wider Internet. By working with NETGEAR, we are able to provide the link, which connects these devices to each other and to the wider world whilst keeping the mobile phone center stage in accessing services," said Will Franks, co-founder and CTO, Ubiquisys.
The recent study from research firm ABI Research attributes the growth of 152 million femtocell users on 36 million access points to the efficiency and convenience that the technology offers. Femtocell enables home and business users to deploy small access points that enhance in-building coverage and make it convenient for them to continue or initiate calls even when they are inside their home or office. NETGEAR and Ubiquisys are poised to leverage this expected high demand from operators for Quad and Triple play services.
"Given the mobile nature of home and business users and their need to keep in touch through cellular devices, this technology provides a tremendous boost for mobile phone users. The cellular community in the rest of the world has begun adopting femtocell technology, and in line with our commitment to the regional market, we are bringing this revolutionary technology to UAE through our partnership with Ubiquisys," added Zeidan.
NETGEAR recently acquired Infrant Technologies, Inc, a US-based manufacturer of enterprise-level storage products, for USD 60 million. The purchase enables NETGEAR to offer a complete line-up of feature-rich, scalable and cost-effective storage solutions with network attached storage (NAS) devices from Infrant Technologies in addition to its previous SC101 Storage Central range. NETGEAR is poised to leverage the award-winning ReadyNASTM range from Infrant Technologies in addition to various products in the pipeline, proprietary technologies and pending patents in line with the company's long-term corporate goals.
About NETGEAR:
NETGEAR® (NASDAQ: NTGR) designs technologically advanced, branded networking products that address the specific needs of small and medium business and home users. The Company's product offerings enable users to share Internet access, peripherals, files, digital multimedia content and applications among multiple personal computers and other Internet-enabled devices. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.netgear.com.
About Ubiquisys Ltd.:
Ubiquisys is a privately owned communications company formed in 2004 to bring the ground breaking ZoneGate femtocell technology to market. The ZoneGate 3G access point is a small plug-and-play device that simply and seamlessly connects to a user's broadband gateway or becomes an integrated module as part of a comprehensive residential gateway device. The system is network connectivity agnostic, supporting multiple interfaces to the operator's core network. The ZoneGate access point is remotely managed and updated using standard TR-069 management systems. ZoneGate enables mobile operators to extend 3G coverage in an extremely targeted way, reduce deployment costs, generate new revenue streams and speed up fixed-mobile substitution. Ubiquisys was recently named a Red Herring Europe 100 Winner. For more information, visit www.ubiquisys.com.
