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Identical twins Adrian and Richard Cunliffe are taking
the internet communications world by storm after hitting
on an innovative idea.
The
high-flying brothers established their business Bozii
last year, shortly after graduating from Liverpool University
with identical first class honours degrees in Computer
Science and Management.
Now they have launched the first nationwide Wi-Fi (wireless
fidelity) umbrella service, enabling their subscribers
to connect to a national network of internet hotspots.
Adrian
and Richard, who are originally from the Midlands, chose
St Helens to locate their business after Adrian spent
a summer placement with a local telecoms company, Elite
Telecom.
“We
were really impressed with the central location and
great road network,” explained Adrian, who has
located Bozii in the stately setting of Rainford Hall.
Financed
by local private investors, the high-tech company recently
reached the finals of the Merseyside Innovation Awards.
Wireless broadband hotspots can be found across the
UK in a host of locations including airports, train
stations, hotels and coffee shops, allowing users instant
access to the internet. Before the launch of Bozii,
anyone wishing to use these hotspots to connect to the
internet would have to pay several different service
providers, depending on the location. Bozii has simplified
the service bringing together the leading networks,
including BT Openzone, Square Mile and Surf and Sip,
offering its subscribers access to all of them.
Adrian
Cunliffe explains: “There are hotspots all over
the country but anyone travelling around and wanting
to use the internet would have to pay subscriptions
to five or six different providers to ensure that they
could use the service wherever they were. We wanted
to make that simpler and offer one subscription, whatever
the network.
“We
are working with some of the biggest names in the industry
to provide a cost-effective and easy to manage solution
which is ideal for business travellers and companies
with a mobile workforce.”
The company which employs four, but hopes to increase
this to between 10 and 15 employees by the end of the
year, has secured some major clients including The Guardian,
The Daily Telegraph, Sharp and HP.
Subscribers to the service require just one user name
and password and Bozii is now linking up with several
airlines including Lufthansa to allow passengers to
use the service while flying.
“We
have a global presence, as we are now in 26 countries,
using 23 different networks,” added Adrian. “We
also offer on-line billing to make it easier for our
customers and another feature is our SMS hotspot locator
which enables customers to find out where their nearest
hotspot is online.”
The
brothers are grateful for the ongoing help and support
they have received from St Helens Chamber. “The
Chamber has been very helpful indeed,” said Adrian.
“Setting
up a business is an expensive and complicated process.
We were lucky enough to receive Entrepreneur KickStart
funding and the Chamber’s advice was extremely
useful in our early days.
“It
is also useful to be able to talk to other local businesses
through the Chamber and find out what is happening in
the business community.”
For
more information on Boziil, telephone on 0870 380 2111
or visit their website
Read success stories about
other successful St Helens companies
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