Cambridge, 30 March 2010 – ip.access, the leading developer of femtocell and picocell solutions, today welcomed the success of the world’s first femtocell plugfest organised by the Femto Forum in cooperation with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.

The company confirmed that it fully and successfully participated in the plugfest, and is committed to the development and commercial deployment of 3GPP’s Iuh standard which lies at the heart of future femtocell interoperability.

“This plugfest was about more than simply validating the Iuh standard on a one-to-one basis,” said ip.access CTO Nick Johnson. “It was a learning experience for all the participants and has helped add clarity to the path towards full plug’n’play interoperability.”

“The industry still has a long way to go,” he added, “but a number of important technical milestones were achieved at the plugfest, and we have made significant progress.”

As well as testing interoperability at the plugfest, ip.access is also leading the effort to create formal Iuh test specifications within the Network Vendors Interoperability Testing (NVIOT) Forum. “NVIOT is where the leading 3GPP-based wireless equipment suppliers collaborate on standards-based interoperability,” explained Johnson. “The specifications we are developing there will support formal interoperability testing of future commercial Iuh compliant products.”

- ends -

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.
ABI Research ranks ip.access as the world’s number 1 picocell vendor; its nanoGSM® and nano3G™ picocell solutions provide 2G and 3G coverage and capacity for offices, shops and (using satellite backhaul) passenger aircraft, ships and remote rural areas. nanoGSM is the world’s most deployed picocell, with live installations in more than 50 networks around the world and growing.
ip.access is also the company behind the multi-award winning Oyster 3G™ femtocell technology, which dramatically improves the user experience for 3G services at home.

ip.access counts Scottish Equity Partners, Rothschild Gestion, Intel Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners, ADC, Cisco, Qualcomm and Motorola Ventures among its shareholders.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Europe: Kevin Taylor
Robertson Taylor PR
T: +447 850 858 291
E: kevin.taylor[at]robertsontaylorpr[dot]com

US: Vivian Kelly
Interprose
T: +1 (703) 860 0577
E: viviankelly[at]interprosepr[dot]com

Distributed on behalf of ip.access by NeonDrum (http://www.neondrum.com)
Nicky Denovan
Tel: +44 7747 017654
nicky[at]neondrum[dot]com