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"Secret investor" puts capital into LocustWorld for Mesh expansion.

A fairy godmother has intervened, according to a press announcement from LocustWorld - offering finance for expansion, without giving control to "vested interests" in wireless.

An excited Richard Lander, the marketing head of the small company, said that expansion was getting out of hand. "We're having our various clients disputing with each other over the size of new MESH installations," he said. "We'll get one announce a new large mesh, and then someone else in the area will say: 'What's the big deal? We've had one twice that size for months' and we're having trouble keeping up with everything our customers are doing.

Lander forwarded an email from Guy Jarvis, mesh installer in Hull, boasting about SeasideRadio, which occasionally "broadcasts" from the local community radio station, in Withernsea. "The interesting thing about this application is that we managed to supply, fit and put into service a new mesh node in two hours flat - to a location that has no other means of internet access (not even a phone line for dial-up)," said Jarvis.

The LocustWorld finance release doesn't give much away. Full text follows:

"This is a great boost to the LocustWorld Mesh and will allow us to deliver the next generation of technical deployment even more rapidly than we had hoped", says Jon Anderson of LocustWorld.

Over the last 12 months, LocustWorld has been self-funded through the sales of the MeshAP as well as customization and support services. LocustWorld's success has attracted a lot of attention from the communications industry, including offers of partnerships and other deals with established players.

LocustWorld have chosen a financing route that helps to maintain the project's independence, avoiding influence or bias from vested interests in the industry. "Maintaining our independence is very important for us, and for our customers", says Richard Lander, "We are very pleased this situation lets us grow the business, ensuring stability and continuity, while maintaining the spirit of individuality and freedom that we have enjoyed so far."

The LocustWorld approach contrasts with other competing technology companies, who typically have raised millions in capital before actually attempting to produce a workable product. LocustWorld have instead produced a fully functional, standards compliant, scalable system, successfully tested and deployed in many commercial and non-commercial settings around the globe. Only now, with a rapidly expanding customer base, is investment being used to meet deployment volumes and push ahead with development plans.

This approach consumes very much less capital than a top heavy business plan, and helps LocustWorld to deliver excellent value for money. "Our customers are in a very competitive market, with demanding users. We need to give them the very best product, excellent value and consistent support services, so that they can deliver the very best broadband service to their users. Our lean use of capital helps us to deliver great value to our customers. Our success is dependent upon the success of our customers, so we must do everything that we can to support them."

The exact details of the LocustWorld investment deal remain undisclosed, but it can be revealed that the investment comes from a private investment group, with interests in the hi-technology and property industries.

"Implementing large scale meshes with rapid turnaround is a significant operational challenge.", says Richard Lander of LocustWorld, "With a strong financial base we can better meet this exponential demand and help to increase the effectiveness of regional operations delivering the LocustWorld mesh around the world." The full text of the release is on the LocustWorld site.

For more information about LocustWorld see www.locustworld.com or email business@locustworld.com