Meet the Irish tech companies going to Mobile World Congress 2019

22 Feb 2019

The scene at a previous Mobile World Congress. Image: John Kennedy

The theme of this year’s Mobile World Congress is intelligent connectivity, something that comes naturally to the Irish tech companies exhibiting this year in Barcelona.

Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the epicentre of the tech breakthroughs and telecoms industry intrigue contributing to eventually bringing almost 8bn people online.

Every year, MWC gets bigger and bigger with more than 100,000 telecoms and technology professionals trooping through the Fira Barcelona Gran Via venue, as industry giants from Microsoft to Google and Vodafone rub shoulders with young start-ups that will one day be household names.

Major talking points this year (25 to 28 February) will no doubt be driverless vehicles, foldable phones, China and Huawei’s frictions with the US, AI, 5G, the internet of things (IoT), and the pressing issues of getting the world’s population connected in order to seize the advantages of the digital age.

MWC differs from most tech conferences because it is where the drama really is, it is where the intrigue is. Whether it is telecoms CEOs taking Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to task in previous years, or Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealing where the cloud is headed next, the air generally crackles and fizzles with expectation and the feeling that something is happening.

Enterprise Ireland, which is exhibiting in Hall 7 (Stand 7D71), will have 13 client companies at its stand: Benetel, Cubic Telecom, Decawave, Druid Software, Endeavour Technology, Inhance Technology, Joulica, Klas Telecom, Madme Technologies, Openmind Networks, Software Radio Systems, TIDBO and Zyalin Group .

In addition, a number of Enterprise Ireland clients will also have their own stands at the event, including: Asavie, Ding, Opennet, Taoglas and Alpha Wireless.

So, here are some of the Irish tech companies attending MWC 2019 and what they are all about.

Alpha Wireless

Alpha Wireless designs and manufactures high-performance base station antennas for all applications and standards. Wireless network operators are facing new challenges with a greater customer demand on their networks and the need to minimise the cost of serving these subscribers. This need requires the proper packaging of antenna solutions to meet the demand for wireless data.

Asavie

The Asavie PassBridge platform delivers on-demand connectivity services to manage and secure connectivity across diverse networks, at scale. It is a key element in the industrial internet of things (IIoT). In partnership with more than 20 leading mobile operators including AT&T, Telefónica, Three and Vodafone, and leading providers such as Dell and Amazon Web Services, Asavie enables more than 10,000 end-user enterprises, large and small, to scale their smart, connected projects.

Benetel

Benetel is a telecoms infrastructure provider, delivering innovative, custom and off-the-shelf solutions to the market. With a product portfolio that spans from high-performance radio frequency (RF) modules to disruptive remote radio units, Benetel is specifically focused on three market segments: public safety, private LTE and disaggregated RAN.

Cubic Telecom

Cubic Telecom is a global connectivity platform that offers mobility solutions to power connectivity for leading IoT, machine-to-machine (M2M) and mobile device companies across the globe. An expert in connected intelligence, Cubic Telecom enables global scalability with local connectivity any time, anywhere. Cubic provides connectivity in more than 100 countries.

Decawave

Decawave develops semiconductors solutions, software, modules and reference designs that enable real-time, ultra-accurate, ultra-reliable, local area microlocation services. Decawave’s technology enables an entirely new class of easy-to-implement, highly secure, intelligent location functionality as well as services for automotive, mobile, IIoT, and smart consumer products and applications.

Ding

Claiming to be the world’s largest mobile top-up network, Ding safely delivers a top-up every second of every day. Created to help people living abroad to support loved ones back home, the company is directly connected to more than 400 operators in 130 countries with a reach of 4bn phones. Top-up can be sent via the web or mobile app and in more than 600,000 retail locations globally. Ding employs a team of 200 and is headquartered in Dublin.

Druid Software

Druid is a software development company providing cellular core applications for CBRS (citizen broadband radio service), IoT, public safety, neutral host, patrol and enterprise communications. Druid supplies 5G, 4G, 3G and 2G core network technology and components to global system integrators and network equipment providers.

Endeavour Technology

Endeavour is an Irish company that specialises in IoT service assurance products. Its groundbreaking product, nSpire IoT Service Assurance, provides the actual visibility of the IoT connectivity quality delivered and enables the IoT solution provider to offer service-level agreements to their customers.

Inhance Technology

Cork-based software pioneer Inhance Technology is a specialist in remote mobile device diagnostics and content transfer. The company’s partners include tier-one OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), regional and global carriers, insurance providers, retailers, financial institutions, and some of the largest device logistics companies in the world. Focused development is underpinned by cutting-edge R&D, which has seen the company achieve 32 granted patents so far, with another 30-plus at various stages of the application process.

Joulica

Joulica unlocks insights from real-time data streams and accelerates decision-making. It moves beyond the analysis of ageing and historical data to allow interactive exploration of the data powering a business. Customers can use the Joulica microservices on private or public clouds to develop and visualise live analytics from the most common enterprise message streaming solutions.

Klas Telecom

Klas Telecom is an engineering and design company with more than 25 years of experience developing innovative communications solutions for the network edge. The company specialises in integrating enterprise networking capabilities from global IT leaders with in-house hardware and software platforms that meet the most stringent environmental requirements.

Madme Technologies

Madme, an industry leader in customer engagement technologies for mobile operators, enables new real-time engagement channels for operator-to-customer communications. Operators are using the platform to have behaviour-changing conversations with their customers at every stage of the customer life cycle. The platform enables the presentation of rich, interactive content to subscribers’ mobile devices, triggered in real time by usage of the device.

Openet

Openet provides the systems and expertise to assist communication service providers to grow and become digital service providers. This is enabled through its real-time monetisation, control and big-data preparation systems. At the vanguard of network virtualisation, it has successfully deployed solutions with many world-leading tier-one operators.

Openmind Networks

Openmind Networks provides mobile operators, inter-carrier operators and aggregators with messaging solutions tailored for the digital age, to help them become digital services providers in a new telecoms environment. Openmind’s communication platform is deployed in more than 120 sites across 30 countries in Europe, Middle East, Asia and North America, powering more than 5bn transactions every day.

Software Radio Systems

Software Radio Systems (SRS) delivers high-performance L1, L2 and L3 software for wireless systems. It provides custom product solutions, applications and modular, portable libraries for a range of wireless technologies including LTE, LTE Advanced and LTE Advanced Pro as well as NB-IoT. Its software-defined radio approach targets commodity-processing hardware and flexible RF front-ends to deliver cutting-edge wireless solutions.

Taoglas

Taoglas, an Enniscorthy-based tech company, provides advanced antenna and RF solutions to the world’s leading wireless and IoT companies. With world-class design, support and test centres across the globe, Taoglas works with its customers to provide quick and easy solutions for their unique antenna and RF challenges.

TIDBO

TIDBO (Telecoms Infrastructure Design Build Operate) is a 3D platform that offers mobile network operators and network asset owners a virtual, highly accurate ‘digital twin’ of their network sites. TIDBO brings the sites into the office through 3D digitisation and thereby eliminates unnecessary site visits, and slashes lead times for acquisition and design, while improving health and safety.

Zyalin Group/iKydz

Zyalin Group provide AI-based endpoint device identification and management solutions for network operators. Zyalin gives network operators the ability to identify all endpoint devices, employ network intelligence, and deliver parental internet control and IoT security suites to their customers. The company has also devised the iKydz family of breakthrough parental control apps and technologies.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com