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January 31, 2012

Tech Firm Plans To Get Bigger In Littleton

BTI Systems has chosen Littleton as the site for its United States headquarters.

Senior executives with the company said if the Canadian-based network technology firm achieves the growth it is expecting in the coming years, its operations in northern Interstate-495 region could expand even further.

The company provides hardware and software products to help service providers better manage a range of technologies, from data, to voice, Internet and video offerings, said Sally Bament, the company's senior vice president of global marketing.

Bament said the firm decided that MetroWest, and specifically Littleton, seemed like a perfect fit for the company's expansion and U.S. headquarters.

The move comes as BTI Systems receives a $24-million infusion of venture capital money and as it is expanding its employee base internationally. The company is now approaching 300 workers across three continents.

Connection Control

Started in 2000, BTI Systems helps service providers better manage content for customers.

BTI offerings form the foundation of metro networks, Bament said, which she described as the "on ramp" for customers to access Internet content. BTI Systems helps service providers increase service capacity when it is needed for customers, whether they be businesses or consumers.

For example, a BTI offering would allow a service provider to better manage what type of content is being requested by customers, and provide additional bandwidth where it is needed. This combination of scalable capacity combined with intelligence on where that additional capacity is needed simplifies and accelerates service delivery, Bament said.

One of BTI's customers, for example, is Epsilon Telecommunications, a provider of voice and data connectivity between locations in Europe, America and Asia. The company owns its own fiber optic cable connections, and BTI helps the company better manage and optimize its customers' connections.

Another client example is South Slope, which is a large rural independent service provider based in Iowa. The company offers a suite of services to businesses and consumers, including voice, Internet and data. Using BTI Systems, the company can now integrate those offerings into a single platform, allowing it to save money and offer new services to customers.

The demand for these types of solutions is expected to increase in the future. According to market figures cited by BTI, mobile broadband subscribers could reach 1.8 billion users internationally by 2014. Meanwhile, video content is expected to increase from 40 percent of consumer Internet traffic today to 62 percent of traffic by 2015. Delivering all of that increasingly bandwidth-intensive data in a well-managed way is what BTI helps providers do.

The company has already seen the fruits of its technology offerings as it expects more.

Prior to the company's $23-million venture capital investment last spring led by Bain Capital Ventures, the firm had already raised $48.1 million in VC financing.

The new infusion of cash has allowed the company to expand its employee base, adding Bament - who formerly worked at MetroWest next-generation battery company Boston-Power - and others.

The company has a MetroWest presence, with a Marlborough research and development center, which it may keep for training purpose, Bament said. But, the 10 employees working there will be moved up to the Littleton location, which will eventually house about 50 workers.

Bament said Littleton was a natural place for the company to expand. The space at 1 Monarch Dr. is nestled in with some of the industry's largest technology companies, including Cisco and IBM, which have operations in Littleton and Boxborough.

Bament explained that the 14,000-square-foot Littleton facility will be able to take advantage of the wealth of technology experts in the MetroWest area, specifically in the packet - or Internet service niches - the region has excelled in.

The company's Littleton office opened in December and will be not just an R&D facility, but also a hosting site for customer briefings and product demonstrations, she said.

If the company experiences the growth it is expecting in the coming years, it could expand additionally both in terms of space and employees in MetroWest, she said.

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