NetGear first with 3G femtocell/router/modem/WiFi access point

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 07 February 2008 04:41

Business IT - Technology

NetGear, in conjunction with Ubiquisys, has trumped rivals to launch the first commercially available 3G cellular base station designed for installation in the home, and combined with ADSL modem, router, WiFi access point and four port switch. In short, it is everything a cellular service provider needs to offer its customers better in home coverage, lower tariffs for calls made in the home, and all their normal requirements for broadband Internet access. It is the latest in a string of recent significant announcements in the emerging femtocell market.

It comes with market researchers forecasting rapid growth in the market. Infonetics Research in December predicted that worldwide sales of GSM/GPRS and 3G femtocell access points would heat up quickly with unit shipments expected to grow 10-fold from 2007 to 2008, and revenue reaching more than $US630 million in 2010.

The new product puts NetGear well ahead of arch home and SOHO networking vendor, Cisco's Linksys. Cisco has just become an investor in ip.access, a rival to Ubiquisys, but there is so far no indication that a joint product offering to match the Netgear product is imminent.

However while these devices will be installed in the home like today's ADSL routers and access points, they won't be bought by consumers in retail stores: they are an integral part of the cellular network and will be sold to network operators and supplied to end users through them or their service providers.

Chris Gilbert, CEO of Ubiquisys, said: "The femtocell market is moving at an astonishing speed and 2008 will undoubtedly prove to be 'make-up-your-mind' time for many operators. We are currently involved in 10 trials and expect several to expand into larger deployments later this year.