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Solar WiMAX System: Expansion and Consolidation
By - Jeff Orr
ORR Technology
Technology ecosystems go through a constant expansion and collapse just like the
life of stars in our galaxy. Collapse doesn’t necessary equate to the failure of
the ecosystem despite Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacob’s recent claim that WiMAX is
“crap” (a highly technical term meaning, ‘buy only what we sell you’). Collapse
can be correlated to the consolidation that occurs as larger companies enter the
ecosystem and consume smaller ones, or smaller vendors merge to form a larger
entity.
It may not be obvious that a nascent technology such as WiMAX has already
completed several of these growth and consolidation cycles. The entire ecosystem
for WiMAX undergoes this shift, but it is most easily witnessed through smaller
changes within supplier categories, such as chipsets, components, and products.
The early leaders in WiMAX chipsets don’t appear to be the giants like Intel and
Fujitsu, but smaller startups such as Beceem, picoChip, Runcom, Sequans, and
Wavesat. New chipset and component vendors continue to enter the WiMAX market.
Companies such as Altair (ironically one of the brightest stars visible from
Earth), who has its heritage in Texas Instruments, are looking to capture early
opportunities for mobile WiMAX handhelds. But even these new entrants are
already making strategic shifts in the vendor landscape. TeleCIS Wireless, who
offers fixed WiMAX chipsets and had expected to launch their Mobile WiMAX
chipset later in 2007, recently sold their 802.16e-2005 system-on-chip (SoC)
design team to CDMA-supplier Qualcomm. The WiMAX chipset business is not
relegated to startups though. Over half of the world’s ten largest semiconductor
manufacturers have already announced or introduced WiMAX plans.
WiMAX equipment manufacturers have been making the transition from proprietary
fixed wireless access to standards-based WiMAX systems over the last few years.
Some of the proprietary vendors, such as Motorola and their Canopy brand of
multipoint radios, decided to skip fixed WiMAX equipment altogether and aim for
introductions around the larger mobile broadband market utilizing 802.16e-2005
technology. The vendor landscape shift includes: the acquisition of Proxim Corp
by Terabeam, the sale of Wi-LAN’s chipset and product businesses to become an
intellectual property rights (IPR) specialist, and SR Telecom announcing that
they are exploring strategic options that include sources of funding, mergers or
even acquisition.
Alvarion, who is considered the largest equipment vendor for proprietary and
fixed WiMAX gear, has even become the subject of rumors about potential buyers.
Along with the other fixed wireless vendors, Alvarion faces the challenge of
reinventing themselves into a mobile supplier to compete with the likes of
Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, and Motorola. That is not bad company to be in, but no
corporate re-branding program can expect overnight success. With departures
earlier this year of the CFO and VP of Marketing Communications, change at
Alvarion has already started.
This expansion and consolidation of the vendor ecosystem is typical in high
technology markets. For WiMAX, it is a positive sign to see the traction of the
smaller vendors and the entrance of the largest semiconductor players. While
success is not guaranteed, the interest being generated around fixed and mobile
broadband using standards-based wireless technologies is the vote of confidence
necessary to drive initial carrier trials and network deployments.
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