Sub10 Systems targets rapid growth after successful technology trials
A Newton Abbot company has pioneered new telecoms technology that has positioned it to tap into a global market worth £1 billion.
Sub10 Systems is ready to roll out a new way of conveying masses of information via the mobile phone network after successfully trialling its system in partnership with Virgin Media Business.
The month long ‘backhaul small cell’ trials were the culmination of around two years work between the two businesses, using Sub10’s technology to provide a stable platform for mobile networks in densely populated areas.
With smart phone users requiring increasing amounts of bandwidth as they surf the net and access data-rich downloads, big rooftop phone masts are no longer up to the job.
A new generation of mobile base stations are smaller and rule out the need for unsightly masts.
They are deployed at street level on things like lamp posts and bus stops, relaying information wirelessly to discreet rooftop base stations linked to the internet by the fibre optic network. It’s Sub10’s technology that helps make that connection.
The aim of its data transfer trials with Virgin was to test its millimetre wave technology which is capable of conveying masses of information in busy, built up and noisy environments, that might otherwise distort signals. Sub10 uses unlicensed radio frequencies, which have less traffic and more bandwidth capacity.
Sub10’s technology, the Liberator–V320, provides consumers in built-up and densely populated areas with a faster and more reliable internet connection, compared with traditional networks.
Sub10 Systems chief executive Stuart Broome said: “The results of this trial have established millimetre wave technology as a dependable and efficient way of communicating between a base station and its core network.”
The success of the trials means that the technology is now ready to be deployed, with Vodafone also among the list of international customers that Sub10 will be rolling it out to. The technology is also being exhibited at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.
Chief sales and marketing officer Frank Pauer, who is one of the firm’s four-strong board of directors, said: “The next step is the commercial roll out. Every major operator globally has the same capacity problem.”
The global market for the ‘wireless backhaul’ systems connecting the mobile network to the internet is expected to be valued at £1 billion in the next three years. Sub10, which was established by directors Stuart Broome, Marks Stevens and Grant Grafton in 2010, is already a major international player in this market.
The company, which currently employs 30 Devon-based development engineers and 50 staff in total, has doubled in size every six months since its launch.
“This is just the start,” said Mr Pauer, “and this rate of growth will continue through 2014, with a further boost in 2015.”
Last year, the company was on track to achieve a £10 million turnover and announced plans to invest more than £1m in advanced product development over the next two years to enable the next stage of its global expansion.
It secured a £236,000 investment from the European Regional Development Fund to help create 22 new hi-tech jobs.