Google has made a multi-million dollar investment in Ubiquisys, whose ZoneGate femtocell product promises 3G mobile coverage in homes with poor GSM and 3G mobile coverage.
You might be asking, so what? Well, femtocells are access points for residential mobile users, which wirelessly connect to your mobile to your existing home broadband gateway. In laymans’ terms it means that if you live in an area without strong (or reliable) 3G coverage, something like ZoneGate can be plugged into your existing broadband Internet connection to guarantee you 3G mobile coverage in your home.
Femtocells are still a new product, but it’s not only Google that sees something in them. It’s believed that Vodafone will launch its first femtocell products next year.
Following Google’s undisclosed investment – believed to be around $13m - Ubiquisys has now secured a total of $25m from Google, Accel Patners, Atlas Venture and Advent Venture Partners in two rounds of funding. It means the ccompany can now push ahead with developing ZoneGate and bringing it to market.
(Ubiquisys Website)
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