Accuris Networks to double Irish workforce after $15m investment

Dublin-based Accuris Networks is to double its staff to 60 following a $15 million investment from the Ulster Bank Diageo Venture Fund and the China Ireland Growth Technology Fund.

The company will use the equity funding to invest in future product development, to maintain its lead in connecting networks and build more solutions as it scales globally.

Accuris wants to expand in China, Japan and other Asian markets. It will also broaden its presence in the North American market with the establishment of a new Silicon Valley office.

"We are future-proofing the product and also building out the customer base," said chief technology officer Aidan Dillon.

He said new positions will be created in Dublin in the areas of software engineering, operations and customer support. He said the company is also likely to double its global workforce from 50 to 100.

Accuris has appointed US- based wireless executive Jeff Brown as chief executive. He was previously president and chief executive of mobile technology company Kineto Wireless. He was also chief executive at RadioFrame Networks and Data Critical, a wireless healthcare company, where he spearheaded an eventual sale of the company to GE Medical Systems.

"With marquee customers and partners such as AT&T, Bell Mobility, Telus, GoGo, Cisco, HP and Alcatel-Lucent, Accuris Networks has already established an enviable track record in this market," Mr Brown said.

“But we’ve barely scratched the surface of the opportunities here so far,” he added.

The original Accuris was founded in 1997 as a joint venture between Eircom and KPN/Telia but was acquired by former executives of Aldiscon in 2002 including Mr Dillon and Aldiscon founder Larry Quinn. Accuris Networks was then established in 2003.

The company has offices in Brazil, Malaysia, Ireland and the US and counts China Mobile, Telecom Malaysia and Digicel among its clients. Accuris previously raised $8 million in venture capital funding, bringing total investment to date to $23 million.

Earlier this year Accuris Networks signed a strategic partnership with Autelan, the biggest Chinese-based wifi infrastructure provider to bring seamless, secure wifi offload to Chinese mobile carriers such as China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom as well as carriers in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa.

Wifi offloading involves moving data from mobile networks on to wifi networks to handle the large amount of data in the mobile networks.