Ubinetics to boost R&D investment in city

Firm sells testing division for #46 mn

UbiNetics, a Cambridge, UK-based wireless technology company will focus on its core 3G business and "invest strongly in R&D in Bangalore", Bjorn Krylander, its CEO told reporters here on Wednesday.

On May 23, UbiNetics sold its test and measurement business to Aeroflex Inc, a New York-based company, for £46 million ($85 million). Aeroflex, a Nasdaq-traded company, makes automated testing solutions and microelectronics for the aerospace, defence and broadband communications markets.

It will make a further contingent payment of 4.6 per cent if certain performance targets are met after a year, UbiNetics' major shareholders say on their websites.

UbiNetics is owned by PA consulting group, a consultancy and 3i, a private equity and venture fund, in the UK. It was "born out of the wireless technology practice" of PA, and founded in 1999 as an independent venture company.

Jon Moynihan, chairman of UbiNetics and executive chairman of PA Consulting Group, said in a statement, "UbiNetics has grown from 16 employees to over 400, with a £24 million turnover. It is at the vanguard of making 3G technology a reality for handset manufacturers, infrastructure developers, network operators and millions of consumers."

The 400 engineers work in Cambridge, UK, Japan and Hong Kong, with R&D facilities in Swindon, UK, Bangalore and Shenzhen, China.

A maker of protocol stacks and reference designs for wireless devices, UbiNetics had two core businesses: a 3G terminal software development and handset modem reference design business; and a 3G test and measurement solutions business.

The test and measurement division being sold to Aeroflex, designs and develops a range of sophisticated 3G test products. These are used by the world's leading network equipment developers and network operators for debugging new network features, interoperability analysis and network 'stress' testing, the release said.

The sale will allow UbiNetics to focus exclusively on its remaining 3G terminal software development business including it's multimode 3G protocol stack and 3G modem reference designs, being licensed to leading mobile handset and chip set developers.

"The sale of the 3G test and measurement arm of UbiNetics will enable us to concentrate more investment into global R&D," Krylander said.

"We are particularly looking to accelerate R&D operations in Bangalore, which will be a key market as Asian handset manufacturers make the transition to 3G." UbiNetics will continue to provide essential core technology to these companies, he said.