Published : 11 years ago, on 20/03/2014

Rob Dobson, founder of Actix, sees IoT as next big thing

UK-based start-up 1248 Ltd., that provides expertise and services to the rapidly emerging Internet of Things (IoT) industry, has received a £1/4 million investment from experienced serial telco entrepreneur Rob Dobson, who takes up the position of Chair of the 1248 Board. Dobson founded mobile network optimisation company Actix and has a strong track record of backing successful early-stage technology ventures.

Pilgrim Beart And Toby Jaffey

1248 helps companies to connect their products to the internet without spending time building infrastructure and provides off-the-shelf service components that make it quick and easy to build a scalable IoT platform. The company is already playing a leading role in creating an open standard to enable IoT applications and services to work together automatically, as part of a project funded by the UK government’s Technology Strategy Board. The prime minister, David Cameron has also just pledged to spend an extra £45m with UK firms on developing IoT technology.

“The Internet of Things wave is building and 1248 is in an ideal position to help companies break down vendor silos and implement open IoT solutions at scale,” said Rob Dobson. “1248 is one of the few start-ups whose founders have real experience of taking connected products to market in the millions and have a real practical and scalable approach to harnessing the opportunities presented by the IoT.”

1248 was set up in 2013 by Pilgrim Beart and Toby Jaffey. Previously, Beart has co-founded connected product companies activeRF, antenova, Splashpower and AlertMe, while Jaffey has over a decade of experience designing and developing connected devices, gateways and services at Polatis, AlertMe, RealVNC, HyperTag and Amino.

“Rob’s investment is great vindication and support of our strategy and the potential of our market,” said Pilgrim Beart, CEO at 1248. “Even more valuable to us is Rob’s in-depth market knowledge and contacts. The name 1248 reflects the ability of the IoT to scale to very large numbers and Rob’s experience of managing connected products extends into billions.”

1248 was born out of the University of Cambridge Computer Lab, where Beart was a Visiting Industrial Fellow, and the Lab retains an undilutable 1% Golden Share in the company.

About Rob Dobson

Rob Dobson founded Actix in 1991 and served as its CEO and CTO until 2007, growing revenues to over $50m by working with many of the world’s leading mobile operators and infrastructure vendors. He sold 72% of Actix to Summit Partners in 2005 at a valuation of $107m and subsequently 100% was sold to Amdocs for $127m in 2013. Over 90% of mobile operators around the world are Actix customers including China Mobile and Unicom, Airtel, Vodafone and Verizon. More than 90% of the world’s mobile phone customers have their networks optimized by Actix software. Dobson is also Chairman of SingleTrack systems, NED of cash-flow forecasting company Float, on the Advisory Board of RadioOpt GmbH and a Trustee of the Southbank Sinfonia.