ip.access in Cambourne acquired by Texas-based Mavenir to expand its OpenRAN offering

Cambourne-based ip.access Ltd has been acquired by Mavenir to help it expand its Open Radio Access Network (OpenRAN) offering.

It will operate as a business unit within Mavenir’s Emerging Business group.

ip.access is a leading 2G, 36, 4G and 5G-ready small cell solutions provider. Small cells are low-powered cellular radio access nodes that play an important part in increasing mobile phone network capacity and resilience.

Its acquisition by US company Mavenir, based in Richardson, Texas, will extend its capabilities and reach in OpenRAN - the system that enables interoperability between different mobile network operators, promoting competition and aiding consumer choice.

Pardeep Kohli, president and CEO of Mavenir, said: “Operators are looking to transform their 2G/3G networks as they migrate to 4G and 5G,” We expect to provide a seamless, multi radio access technology single RAN offering for those operators that allows them to have the benefits of advanced radio solutions across all layers.”

Mavenir said the addition of ip.access would:

• Add 2G and 3G capabilities to its OpenRAN portfolio for communication service providers
• Provide a full suite of enterprise radio solutions for Mavenir’s private network offerings, including OnGo/CBRS certified solutions; and
• Help it service non-traditional networks, such as aviation, maritime, rural and remote networks, with market-leading software defined vRAN (virtual RAN) solutions.

Aniruddho Basu, SVP and GM emerging business at Mavenir, said: “ip.access brings a strong foothold in 2G, 3G and 4G as well as in the enterprise space that we believe augments Mavenir’s market leadership.

“Combining our assets enhances our end-to-end network proposition, provides a ‘multi-G’ single RAN evolution path for carriers, and creates a market leading proposition for the private networks enterprise market.”

Richard Staveley, ip.access CEO, added: “Many subscribers in many networks and geographies need GSM [Global System for Mobile Communications] and 3G service with LTE [Long Term Evolution] even as 5G is introduced. Mavenir’s OpenRAN and enterprise solutions combined with ip.access’ multi-radio access technologies positions the combined company perfectly for that future.”

Ip.access is expected to develop synergies with Mavenir’s OpenRAN, cloud core, edge and analytics suites, providing end-to-end network propositions.

The Cambourne Business Park company, founded in 2002, has more than 50 live networks deployed globally with communication service providers and hundreds of private networks for industry, critical infrastructures, data monetisation, security and surveillance.

Nick Johnson, founder and CTO of ip.access, added: “CBRS/OnGo in the US and shared spectrum initiatives in Europe are but a few of the potential opportunities.

“It’s not just consumer services anymore, but industrial private networks, professional closed group networks for financial, healthcare, leisure and hospitality, among many others.

“We look forward to applying our long experience in private networks to complement Mavenir’s existing portfolio in serving this hugely expanded customer base.”

Mavenir is the industry's only end-to-end, cloud-native network software and solutions/systems integration provider, focused on accelerating software network transformation for communications service providers.

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