ArrayComm Inc. secured $15 million in funding last week to help accelerate the deployment of its i-Burst broadband technology, led by an investment of $8 million from Sony Corporation of America.
This marks the first major round of financing the company has announced since unveiling its technology.
i-Burst is designed to deliver data at rates up to 40 Megabits per second per cell, and provide connection to the Internet at user data rates in excess of 1 Mbps, said ArrayComm.
It works on any personal communications services system to deliver a signal directly to the receiver, instead of broadcasting it in all directions. Its potential applications include e-shopping, high-bandwidth streaming audio and video, emergency services and connecting to office local area networks, the company said.
ArrayComm expects to start a local pilot trial in the next few months in San Jose, Calif., said Dave Nowicki, vice president of marketing for ArrayComm.
“The reason we want to have this trial is to build a critical mass of partners around this technology,” he said.
Nowicki also said the company will begin a more widespread deployment of the technology in the second quarter of next year.
“We’re in discussions with operating companies right now that would be rolling out the network. Sony is one of the service providers on this open network,” Nowicki said.
Amerindo Investment Advisors Inc. and Ballentine Capital Partners also made investments.
In other news, Sony Corp. said last week it will launch in July a broadband telecommunications service in Tokyo for corporate customers using wireless local loop technology. The new service will provide data rates at 1.5 Mbps.
Sony said it plans to spend approximately $95 million in the next three years to build 100 base stations in major Japanese cities that will connect households through WLL.
