Intel has refused to comment on speculation that it has acquired Belfast mobile technology company Aepona for an estimated US$120m.
Aepona itself didn’t answer or return calls on the subject either.
Rumours surfaced at earlier this week that the company was about to be bought by technology giant Intel for US$120m.
So who is Aepona?
Aepona delivers mobile intelligence to cloud computing, with a software platform providing customers with a very effective way of developing unique mobile applications that employ the key assets within a mobile network.
The company employs around 260 people worldwide of whom 75 are based in Belfast. The remainder work mostly in Sri Lanka and in North America.
Aepona’s technology is used by 25 major telecoms companies to process more than 1.2bn global transactions per month, creating more than US$1bn in annual revenues for the firm’s customers and partners.
Founded in 1999, Aepona is a privately-held, venture capital-backed company with main offices in Belfast, Denver and Sri Lanka, with global operations serving telco and ISP customers worldwide.
The company’s origins extend back to 1995 when its management team worked at a subsidiary of Aldiscon, which was subsequently acquired by Logica in 1997.
The subsidiary was retained by the original investors, including Gilbert Little, renamed Apion Ltd, and went on to become a leading supplier of Wap Gateway technology for GSM networks. In 1999, Apion’s product assets were acquired for US$250m by Phone.com and the remaining business, led by the same management, was re-launched as Aepona.
