Bedford-based NewPace Technology Development Inc.. has formed partnerships with two global leaders in mobile phone technology, greatly expanding its sales force reach.
The company, which is exhibiting this week at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, said Monday that it has signed deals with D2 Technologies, the market leader in embedded Internet protocol communications software, and with the European telecommunications distributor Iskratel.
NewPace also said it received Global System for Mobile Communications Association, or GSMA, accreditation for its hosted joyn Blackbird Drop 1 release from the GSMA’s Rich Communication Services Interoperability Testing group, a regulatory designation that means this product is now accepted in the international market.
NewPace has spent the past few years developing a suite of Rich Communications Service, or RCS, mobile phone products. These products increase the flexibility that companies can offer in texting services on mobile handsets. It means texts can be used for chat, group chat, file transfer, video and voice calling across networks and using any smartphone. The goal is to upgrade the current standards of voice and text messaging offered by mobile carriers.
The company, whose revenue was well into six figures in 2013, is now continuing with research and development, but is placing a far greater emphasis on sales. The sales cycle is almost two years long in mobile telephony, so NewPace is hoping the increased sales activity of the past year or so will result in accelerated revenues in the next few years.
Its partnerships with these international leaders should help that process, said NewPace founder and CEO Brent Newsome.
“The context is that a small company in Nova Scotia is getting the attention of some of the world’s biggest distributors,” said Newsome in an interview before he left for Barcelona. “It exponentially increases our sales force.”
D2 Technologies, based in Santa Barbara, Calif., is a leader in VoIP and converged IP communications software for devices used in 4G and next-generation networks. The California company’s mCUE 4G IMS software will be used on NewPace’s rcsConnect platform to give mobile network operators complete RCS functionality as they move from legacy voice services to more modern networks.
“NewPace has become an industry leader based on its deep understanding of the benefits of rich communication as a platform that can enhance the end-user experience and help operators remain competitive in the marketplace,” D2 Technologies chief operating officer Doug Makishima said in a statement. “We look forward to leveraging the company’s innovative technology to help bring RCS to the next level.”
Slovenia-based Iskratel is known for its R&D and manufacturing activities, and is affiliated with businesses in 20 countries, including NewPace in Canada. Iskratel will use NewPace’s rcsConnect solution to power its SI3000 product. By combining the two products, operators can deploy RCS with or without an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and seamlessly transition from the basic short messaging system to the more advanced RCS.
Last June, NewPace announced it signed six-figure sales agreements with Nokia Corporation of Finland and an unnamed European company, accelerating the traction of its Rich Communications Service, or RCS, mobile phone products.