Today, IoT is a large and rapidly growing market and according to Gartner, “Android is Becoming the Standard Operating System for the Internet of Things”. Borqs International Holding Corp., a global leader, offers software and products providing customizable, differentiated and scalable Android-based smart connected devices and cloud service solutions for the fast growing IoT market. Borqs has achieved leadership and customer recognition as an innovative end-to-end IoT solutions provider, leveraging its unique strategic chipset partner relationships as well as its broad software and IP portfolio.
Leadership with an entrepreneurial passion
George Thangadura is SVP & President of International Business at Borqs. He is an accomplished leader in the computer industry with more than 20 years of experience in strategy, product management, business development, marketing & general management.
Prior to Borqs, George served as the EVP of Marketing & Chief Strategy Officer at Mobiliya Inc., Mountain View, California. He worked at Intel for more than two decades in various technical and senior management roles including GM of Strategy & Product Planning for the Mobile PC business and GM of Client Services business George was also a founding team member of the Center of Development for Telematics (CDOT), Bangalore, India. He has Masters in Computer Engineering degree from the University of Rhode Island with 2 IEEE published research papers, one industry conference paper and 8 patents.
George has a passion for small companies to succeed and has served in multiple board advisory roles.
Innovative Products and Services
Borqs has introduced Android based platforms optimized for different categories of devices & cloud services for IoT. Borqs is a prime deliverer of end-to-end capabilities across ideation, design, development, production, connectivity services and distribution. Their software IP and enhancements provide the ability to rapidly deliver customized and premium user experiences, that can accelerate monetization of IP in hardware and firmware through proprietary modules.
BorqsWare Client Software platform has been used in Android phones, tablets, smart watches and various IoT devices from leading brands. The BorqsWare Server Software platform consists of back-end server software which allows the customers to develop their own end-to-end services for their devices. The Borqs broad portfolio also includes Borqs Managed Cloud™, Borqs IVI™, Borqs Streets ™, Borqs Home™ through which they can stitch the devices and the cloud services into a customized, scalable IoT solution.
As an MVNO in China, ranked #2, Borqs delivers devices and services as a package for SMEs. This also positions Borqs to deploy 3G/4G and later LTE IoT Categories M1 and NB1 enabled devices faster to the market with E2E services building on more than the 8M base of subscribers.
Unique Strengths
Borqs’ diversified customer base includes mobile chipset manufacturers, mobile device OEMs and mobile operators. This includes more than six mobile chipset manufacturers (Intel, Qualcomm, Freescale, Marvell, et al.,) and more than 25 connected device OEMs (LGE, Micromax, Acer, Motorola, Vizio, etc.) in 11 countries with BorqsWare solutions embedded in approximately more than 15 million units worldwide. Products designed by Borqs have been deployed by more than 10 service providers (AT&T, China Mobile, Claro, Orange, Reliance Jio, Sprint, Verizon, Orange et al.,) in four continents.
Borqs’ unique strengths:
- Largest Android and connected wireless products software IP library covering chipset software, Android enhancement, domain specific usage and system performance optimization.
- Best in class hardware, software, and integration capabilities and the ability to realize the mass production – enable “day 1” support and leverage unique chipset partnerships.
- Android & Android Wear License from Google – enables compatibility and integration with Play Store for lower volume & specialized customers.
- Strategic relationship with leading chipset vendors like Intel and Qualcomm that enables Borqs to have an early & deep understanding of the chipset capabilities to deliver leadership innovation to targeted IoT devices.
- Bundling the SIM cards for connected devices for China market deployments.
Tailoring Android for different applications
Borqs leverages its unique strategic chipset partnerships with Intel and Qualcomm, as well as its broad software and IP portfolio that is enriched every year by new disruptive products.
Borqs was the first company to develop commercial grade software to support video telephony for Android, which was not supported by open source Android in the early days. In collaboration with China Mobile, Borqs enabled the first deployment of Android based mobile devices to support China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA network. Integration of IoT capabilities in Android devices: payment processing capabilities in rugged tablets used in restaurants, PTT (push to talk) & security in ruggedized enterprise phones, TV remote control in tablets et al. In early 2016, Borqs partnered with Qualcomm and developed the world’s first 4G Android wearable watch.
Solving IoT Challenges
Borqs addresses big problems and opportunities as: landscape is evolving to include non-traditional companies with not much IoT knowledge and experience; bringing devices to the IoT market is complicated; lack of off the shelf IP and app developed for IoT, and early support for advanced chipsets.
Fragmentation due to different vertical segments that deploy non-standard solutions, security vulnerabilities that can cause havoc, and privacy issues due to data breaches et al. Most concerns are driven by customers prioritizing cost over all else, and lack of IT knowledge in non-traditional industries.
Borqs’ Goal: Recognized global leader in IoT
Borqs’ goal is to be the global leader in IoT platforms from leadership devices to back end cloud platforms. They yearn to have millions of connected devices in various form factors, for various out applications, designed & commercialized by them, deployed by their customers all over the world. Along with it, Borqs wants to have millions of devices connected to their cloud platform delivering tailored services. Borqs has an experienced and proven management team executing on this focused growth strategy.