Kerry-based mobile technology player Altobridge has raised US$7.8m in funding from technology giant Intel and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) subsidiary.
The investment is in addition to US$12m that Intel and IFC had already invested in Altobridge.
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The announcement was made during the influential Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Altobridge’s technology reduces the cost of delivering voice and data across mobile networks and the company has been named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum.
This latest investment will provide Altobridge with additional capital to accelerate the pace of rollout of its mobile data optimisation solution, Data-at-the-Edge (DatE), in both urban and rural markets globally.
DatE optimises data delivery for mobile network operators. It is a self-learning, content pre-positioning platform that enables network operators to drive down their data transmission costs while, at the same time, dramatically improving their end users’ quality of experience.
Its functionality includes HTTP acceleration, in-line data and header compression, user data caching at the cell site, data traffic management and least-cost routing.
Since its Series C funding round in 2011, Altobridge has taken DatE from concept to full commercialisation, exemplified in the company’s recent announcement of a significant DatE-enabled 3G mobile broadband rollout with Maxis Berhad, Malaysia’s largest integrated communications service provider.
Commercial trials for urban DatE deployment are pending, with leading network operators in the US, Europe and North Africa.
“Since our last funding round, we have expanded rural connectivity in Indonesia, Malaysia, Iraq, Niger and Ghana, while at the same time we have made Data-at-the-Edge a commercial reality,” Altobridge’s CEO Mike Fitzgerald explained.
“With some industry analysts forecasting a 13-fold increase in global mobile data traffic by 2017, wireless network infrastructures face a major challenge to keep pace with this level of demand.
“Managing, optimising and caching mobile data at the point closest to consumers’ mobile devices is the key to alleviating backhaul pressure. DatE does precisely this, and the way in which we implement it makes it the first commercially deployed solution of its kind,” Fitzgerald said.
“This growth investment will help fund our cash-flow requirements through our continuing growth and it is further testament to the ongoing financial and strategic support provided to us by IFC and our lead investor, Intel.”
Mobile signal image via Shutterstock
