Voice-over-Wi-Fi has strong support from Apple, T-Mobile US and Sprint, and that’s been good news already for several wireless infrastructure companies. Taqua was one of the first to react, buying longtime partner Kineto after learning that Apple would include support for voice-over-Wi-Fi in the iPhone 6. Kineto CEO Jeff Brown did not make the move to Taqua, but last week he emerged at the helm of another up-and-comer in this space: Accuris Networks.
Accuris Networks is an Irish startup that provides convergence, roaming and interworking solutions to connect cellular and Wi-Fi networks. T-Mobile US and Gogo Wireless are using the Accuris interworking gateway to enable the carrier’s customers to make calls and send text message over Wi-Fi during flights. AT&T is also an Accuris customer.
Accuris Networks won the Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough award at Mobile World Congress this year, for making Wi-Fi a carrier driven extension of GSM for offload and roaming with its AccuROAM solution. The AccuROAM solution includes a diameter signaling server, a AAA server, a roaming server and a Wi-Fi client.
“With marquee customers and partners such as AT&T, Bell Mobility, Telus, GoGo, Cisco, HP and Alcatel-Lucent, Accuris Networks has already established an enviable track record in this market,” said Brown. “But we’ve barely scratched the surface of the opportunities here so far.”
Those opportunities are on the radar screens of larger players as well. Accuris CTO Aidan Dillon told RCR that on the roaming side, his company competes with Syniverse, while on the AAA server side of its business Accuris faces giants like Cisco and Ericsson. But Dillon said that for now, his company has an edge.
“Whether you’re coming from the Wi-Fi side or coming from the mobile side, we’re actually able to do both sides,” he said. “We’re kind of the first ones that are really strong on both sides. At the moment we have an advantage. Part of getting the funding in is [that] we want to make sure we stay ahead.”
This week Accuris announced a $15 million funding round and a new Silicon Valley office, where Brown will be based. Accuris said it will use the $15 million to further develop AccuROAM, to build more solutions in carrier-grade Wi-Fi offload and roaming, and to expand in Asia. Investors in this round included Ulster Bank Diageo Venture Fund L.P., managed by Investec Ventures and Summit Bridge Capital, which manages the China Ireland Growth Technology Capital Fund.
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