British smartphone middleware firm Intuwave Ltd. has gone into administration, the equivalent of the U.S.'s Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The company is currently being run by two administrators from Baker Tilly . A statement on the company's Website reads: "Graham Bushby and Geoff Carton-Kelly were appointed as joint administrators over the company on 13th of November 2006, to manage its business and assets. The joint administrators act solely as agents to the company without personal liability."

The administrators were in meetings all day and unable to take calls, according to Baker Tilly.

Intuwave developed middleware designed to help companies and mobile software developers extend PC-based applications so they would work on smartphones and enable interaction between the mobile devices and computers. Intuwave boasted relationships with the likes of Symbian Ltd. , Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK), Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications , and Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. (Nasdaq: SANYY).

But the company failed to gain enough traction, and, according to a source close to the company, who requested anonymity, the firm's 30 staff had been laid off after the company "basically ran out of cash."

The source says a major concern among creditors is that Intuwave's only real remaining valuable asset, its intellectual property, would be "ripped out" and not be made available as a source of returns for the company's creditors.

It's not known how much Intuwave owes its creditors.

Intuwave raised about $25 million in three rounds of funding, the latest being a $4.5 million round in September 2003 from 3i Group plc , GIMV , NIF Ventures , and Sum International .

— Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor, Light Reading