09 April 2018

Hollis Technology has teamed up with Mist, the US company that is said to have pioneered a self-learning wireless network using artificial intelligence.

Shropshire-based Hollis specialises in providing business support solutions to both public and private sector organisations throughout the UK. It will be responsible for supplying and supporting the full range of Mist AI-driven wireless platforms and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) location-based services to customers nationwide.

California-based Mist was founded in 2014 and is backed by investors that include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Cisco Investments. The company has built what’s said to be the first AI-driven wireless platform, designed specifically for the smart device era.

Mist says its learning WLAN makes Wi-Fi “predictable, reliable and measurable” by providing “unprecedented” visibility into the user experience, and by replacing time-consuming manual IT tasks with proactive automation.

In addition, the firm says it is the first vendor to bring enterprise-grade Wi-Fi, BLE and IoT together to deliver personalised, location-based wireless services without requiring battery-powered beacons. All operations are managed via the cloud.

Mike Anderson, VP of channel sales at Mist, says Hollis Technology will play an important role in building UK market share. He adds: “We are seeing enormous demand for next-generation wireless cloud solutions that ensure fast, reliable, predictable and measurable Wi-Fi and high value BLE location services.”

Hollis technology sales director Simon Hollister believes that as well as providing his company with a competitive advantage, the addition of Mist to the portfolio will give customers cost-effective access to wireless networking that will deliver “significant productivity gains”.