ip.access Announces New Breed of 'Presence' Small Cells

ip.access has announced a new kind of small cells which the company says are designed around “Presence Cells” and provide lucrative opportunities. 

Presence Cells are based on FSM small cells solutions, which are made by Qualcomm Technologies. In addition, the new P-series of Presence Cells will be able to “unlock a range of new solutions and revenue opportunities,” according to an ip.access statement.

“Presence Cells are about capturing data and providing supporting services and value,” ip.access CEO Simon Brown explained in a statement. Brown – who has two decades of telecom management experience – joined the company as CEO in 2011, and has as his goal to make the company the pre-eminent vendor of small cell solutions.

“It’s a completely new breed of small cells with unique capabilities to support an exciting but specific vertical segment’s need,” he added. “The Presence Cells product line allows operators to leverage their existing network assets and infrastructure around SIM identity and subscriber knowledge. It instantly enables operators to get added return from their network investment and improve its overall value.”

Small cells can be used in different locations for improving coverage or capacity. Small cells, when used in high density with additional spectrum, can increase network capacity beyond 1,000 times of macro networks.

In a recent statement, ip.access explained, too, how new small cells unlock “the capture of presence data and support mobile phone location authentication to enable a range of new solutions.” The sectors which are targeted by these solutions are: mobile finance, mobile promotions and retail analytics. In addition, ip.access provides back-end processing so presence data is provided securely to a vertical application provider.

The market is impressive, given that new Presence Cells are compatible with more than 2 billion 3G handsets. No modifications are needed, nor are specific applications nor user configurations required, the company said. The solutions provide information on subscriber activity, location, behavior and profiles.

Qualcomm is a key partner in the initiative. Qualcomm’s small cell chipsets (FSM) were developed by Qualcomm Atheros. “Qualcomm is delighted to collaborate with ip.access in a new area of innovation in the mobile infrastructure segment,” Dan Rabinovitsj, senior vice president at Qualcomm Atheros, said in a statement. “By leveraging small cells networks for analytics, big data opportunities are now unfolding for carriers and innovative companies who can deliver a new range of added value services to businesses and consumers."