Global Wi-Fi sharing network company Fon has just completed a $14 million round of funding. Qualcomm Ventures, Qualcomm Inc.’s venture capital arm led the round; it is already a significant investor in Fon.
Fon said it is in the process of developing a new router that “combines social Wi-Fi with social music” and is based on a Qualcomm chipset; the device is expected to be available in the first half of this year. Meanwhile, Qualcomm Atheros is integrating Fon as an available feature for its chipsets, so that Wi-Fi router manufacturers can easily make it available.
Some of Fon’s other existing investors participated in the round, including Index Ventures, Google, Coral, Atomico and Deutsche Telekom. The money will be used to expand Fon’s presence in the U.S., and for new product development.
“We are excited about our new relationship with Qualcomm, which is an amazing company and a leader in mobile data communication,” said Martin Varsavsky, CEO of Fon. ” By integrating Fon into Qualcomm Atheros’ chipsets, more devices and systems will be automatically equipped to be part of Fon’s global Wi-Fi network.”’
Miles Kirby, senior director for Qualcomm Ventures, said that Fon’s crowd-sourcing Wi-Fi approach “is going to play an increasingly instrumental role in the future of mobile data” and that the company “fits perfectly into our vision to solving the increasing demand for data.”
Fon says it has grown 50% this year and now has a network of more than 12 million Wi-Fi hotspots.
—Dali Wireless Inc. will be providing wireless coverage to the Hilton Los Angeles Airport Hotel. The system covers more than 800,000 square feet of the facility and uses Dali’s RF router network, including the host, low-power remote transceivers and high-power outdoor remote transceivers that provide 3G and LTE MIMO coverage. AT&T is the anchor operator for the system, which can support multiple operators.
—Westell Technologies Inc. launched a new intelligent site management solution, Kentrox Remote RMC-700. The monitoring and control site device for M2M enabling of remote location can be managed through an Ethernet or wireless backhaul connection. Westell said that because of the device’s small size, it can be installed in virtually any roadside, tower or cell site enclosure and provide information about conditions such as temperature, humidity and DC power quality. It supports any two applications from Westell’s Kentrox suite, which includes generator management, fuel monitoring, aircraft warning light management, HVAC monitoring and environmental monitoring.
“No two sites are the same due to environmental conditions, differing infrastructure, power systems, and so much more,” said Ben Stump, senior VP and CTO of Westell. “To ensure we address all requirements for intelligent site management, we’ve introduced the RMC-700 for sites that require only a minimal number of applications to be monitored. With the entire Remote suite of products, we now provide our customers a complete range of options for managing their applications, whether it is one or ten.”
