UbiquiSys And Sony Announce Manufacturing Agreement For ZoneGate Residential 3G Access Point
Manufacture of the mass-market access points will be sited at the Sony UK Technology Centre based at Pencoed in South Wales, a 30,000m2 site dedicated to electronic equipment manufacturing, warehousing and distribution. The agreement includes the option to extend production to Sony manufacturing plants worldwide at a later date.
Femtocells are cellular access points for mobile operators looking to provide enhanced, in-building 2G or 3G mobile coverage within homes and small businesses. Made possible through recent advances in low-cost 2G/3G silicon, as well as advanced radio frequency planning techniques, femtocells are receiving strong interest from operators globally. However, the challenge facing vendors is to create a product at a mass market price point that facilitates cost-effective large scale deployments.
‘I'm delighted to announce this collaboration with one of the world's leading electronic equipment manufacturers,' said Chris Gilbert, CEO Ubiquisys. ‘While other companies have focused on the enterprise market, we specifically developed the ZoneGate product from the ground-up to target the residential market. Sony's peerless experience of leading edge volume production and the purchasing power of Sony Worldwide component sourcing will help us deliver a feature rich product at a mass market price.'
‘Sony's Pencoed Technology Centre will provide Ubiquisys with the complete range of volume production, global logistics and EMC testing facilities required for mass market manufacture,' said Derry Newman, Managing Director, Sony UK Ltd. ‘We have a strong track record working with innovative start ups and look forward to supporting Ubiquisys in bringing a high quality product to market.'
A new study from ABI Research forecasts that by 2011 there will be 102 million users of femtocell products on 32 million access points worldwide.
SOURCE: UbiquiSys Ltd.