Sequans

Sequans Communications
Public Company
Traded as NYSE: SQNS
Industry Electronics manufacturing
Founded 2003 in Paris, France
Founder Georges Karam
Headquarters Paris, France
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Georges Karam, Chief executive officer
Products 4G LTE and WiMAX chipsets[1]
Number of employees
 200 (2013)[2]
Website sequans.com

Sequans Communications (NYSE: SQNS) is fabless 4G chip company based in Paris, France with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and China. The company was founded as a société anonyme in October 2003 by Georges Karam. It originally focused on the WiMAX market and expanded to the LTE market in 2009. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in April 2011. Karam is the company's CEO.[2][3][4][5]

Sequans' chips and technology are used in KD Interactive's Kurio 7 tablets, Best Buy's Insignia LTE tablets and China Telecom's LTE-only modems.The company was one of two LTE chipmakers to provide technology to Verizon Communications for its LTE Multicast demonstration during the 2014 Super Bowl.[6][7][8]

History

Sequans Communications was founded in October 2003 by Georges Karam. He had previously worked at Alcatel-Lucent, SAGEM, and Philips before helping found Pacific Broadband Communications in 2000. He joined Juniper Networks in 2001 when the company acquired Pacific Broadband Communications and served as Juniper Network's Vice President of Engineering and General Manager for Europe until leaving the firm to found Sequans.[9][10]

In 2006, Sequans raised $24 million in venture capital in a funding round that was led by Kennet Venture Partners. It closed another funding round led by Reliance Venture that was joined by Alcatel-Lucent, Motorola, SAGEM, and others in 2007.[11][12]

Sequans was originally focused on the WiMAX chipset market and had more than seven WiMAX chips on the market by 2008. It expanded to the LTE market in 2009. Sequans was listed by the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SQNS in April 2011. A few months later, in September, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology approved Sequans' LTE technology for use in the country.[2][5][13]

The company released its first LTE chipset to market in 2012. Gilles Delfassy, former chief executive officer of ST-Ericsson, joined the company's board in June of that year.[2][14]

One of Sequans' SteamrichLTE chips was certified by Verizon Wireless for use in devices on its LTE network in January 2013. In February, Sequans was ranked the third overall LTE Baseband Supplier by ABI Researchand the company released its EZLinkLTE modules in May of that year. The EZLinkLTE modules, one of the first to support LTE bands 4 and 13, were built on the Sequans Mont Blanc chip that was previously certified by Verizon.In October 2013, two of the company's EZLinkLTE modules were certified by Verizon Wireless for use in tablets and mobile computers that run on Verizon's LTE network.[15][16][17][18]

In January 2014, Sequans was one of two LTE chipmakers to provide technology to Verizon for its LTE Multicast demonstration.That same month Sequans' EZLinkLTE module was selected by KD Interactive to provide LTE connectivity to its Kurio 7 4G LTE Android tablet. In April, China Telecom announced that its LTE-only modems would include Sequans' single-mode TD-LTE CPE units. The company's EZlinkLTE module was selected for Best Buy's first LTE Insignia tablet in November 2014.[6][19][20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Sequans Communications Prospectus Supplement". Securities and Exchange Commission. 21 November 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Ridha Loukil (19 February 2013). "Sequans, décrochage ou trou d'air ?" (in French). l'usine Nouvelle. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  3. ↑ Anita Podsiadio (18 September 2014). "Sequans and USI partner to deliver LTE modules based on Sequans' Colibri LTE chipset for M2M and IoT devices". M2MNow. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  4. ↑ "Sequans Announces Conference Call to Review Third Quarter 2014 Results". The New York Times. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  5. 1 2 Emmanuelle Delsol (9 June 2011). "Sequans, la start-up qui séduit Wall-Street" (in French). l'usine Nouvelle. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  6. 1 2 "Sequans powers new Kurio 7x 4G LTE tablet by Techno Source and KD Interactive". iTers News. 10 January 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  7. ↑ Martha Degrasse (21 November 2014). "Sequans wins contracts for LTE-only modems". RCR Wireless News.
  8. ↑ Connected World Staff (11 April 2014). "4G Insignia Tablet Hits the Market". Connected World. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  9. ↑ "Georges Karam". The Wall Street Transcript. 24 March 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  10. ↑ Jacques Marouani (20 August 2013). "GEORGES KARAM PRÉSIDENT DU GROUPEMENT PROFESSIONNEL GITEP TICS" (in French). ELECTRONIQUES. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  11. ↑ Kenan Machado (20 April 2011). "Reliance Makes Profitable Exit From Sequans". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  12. ↑ Katie Fehrenbacher (24 July 2006). "Mobile WiMAX Heats Up". GIGAOM. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  13. ↑ MD&D Staff (15 September 2011). "China Gives Sequans LTE Technology The Green Light". Mobile Dev&Design. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  14. ↑ "Gilles Delfassy Joins Board of Sequans". iStock Analyst. 28 June 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  15. ↑ "LTE Baseband Semiconductor Vendors". ABI Research. 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  16. ↑ Business Wire (7 January 2014). "Sequans Communications' LTE Chip Certified By Verizon Wireless". The Street. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  17. ↑ Nick Flaherty (21 May 2013). "Family of modules provides all-in-one LTE connectivity for M2M". EDN Network. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  18. ↑ Tammy Parker (8 October 2014). "Sequans' low-cost LTE platform makes a play for the Internet of Things". Fierce WirelessTech. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  19. ↑ Andrew Berg (29 January 2014). "Verizon, Sequans Demo Broadcast LTE Prior to Super Bowl". Wireless Week. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  20. ↑ "Sequans' LTE chip technology powers Verizon's LTE Multicast demo for Super Bowl Week". Fierce WirelessTech. 29 January 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
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