Cisco buys Ubiquisys for $310m A UK technology company inspired by poor mobile connectivity in Wiltshire has been acquired by Cisco for $310m. Ubiquisys, whose small-cell telecoms technology uses local hubs to enhance call quality and data connection, is the latest UK company to be acquired by a larger US participant. If you consider increasing levels of traffic over networks, how do you deal with the fact that macro radio service [such as large masts] is insufficient? Small radio is a way to do that," said Hilton Romanski, Cisco's vice-president for corporate development. The all-cash fee includes retention payments for Ubiquisys executives, including founder Will Franks, whose frustration with poor rural connections led him to develop the technology. However, at least four-fifths of the $310m will go to Uniquisys's backers, who initially put in a reported $81m of venture capital. "The UK has a very strong record in radio engineering, and there was a large pool of talent that Ubiquisys could draw on," said Mike Chalfen, a general partner at Advent Venture Partners, the company's largest investor before the deal. The best European technology companies are globally relevant, and are increasingly being acquired by global companies. The deal is Advent's seventh technology exit in two years, having started its £128m fund in 2005. Mr Chalfen said Advent had averaged a 400 per cent return on its sales, which included that of Zong, a mobile payment service, to PayPal. Advent has six remaining tech companies in its portfolio. Ubiquisys's revenues grew fourfold between 2009 and 2011 to $22.7m, but orders stumbled as the company transitioned away from developing cells serving businesses and homes to a broader range of small cells for telecoms networks. The global market for small cell infrastructure, excluding micro cells, was worth $1.8bn in 2012, according to Informa Telecoms & Media. Cisco's drive into mobile networking has also included the acquisitions of Israel's Intucell for $475m and the US's BroadHop for an undisclosed sum, both announced in January. It expects to close the acquisition of Ubiquisys by the end of July.