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Interview with Proxim
Article: Proxim discusses WiMAX-mesh, certification, market trends and the overall industry roadmap & challenges.
Maravedis: Tell us about Terabeam and where Proxim fits?
Terabeam, Inc. is a holding company with two primary operating subsidiaries - Proxim Wireless Corporation and Ricochet Networks, Inc. The company conducts its wireless equipment business through Proxim Wireless and its wireless service provider business through Ricochet Networks. However most of Terabeam's 2006 revenues estimated between $70-$75 million come from Proxim sales. Ricochet merely represents $3 million of total sales. Terabeam is a publicly listed company under TRBM sticker.
Proxim had about 360 employees at the start of 2005, compared to about 100 at YDI. The combined company now has about 270 employees.The previous year, YDI bought another troubled wireless company, Ricochet Networks of Denver. Ricochet had a proprietary portable wireless technology it sold commercially in about a dozen metro areas, but was then operating only in Denver and San Diego. In terms of subscribers, Ricochet Networks is one of the six largest WISPs in the US and, we believe, operates the largest wireless mesh network in the United States.
We have consolidated Proxim/Terabeam/YDI under the Proxim Wireless brand. Proxim has the better-known name, more products and more sales channels. Proxim Wireless is a provider of wireless networking equipment for Wi-Fi and broadband wireless networks. The company is providing its enterprise and service provider customers with wireless solutions for the mobile enterprise, security and surveillance, last mile access, voice and data backhaul, public hot
spots and metropolitan area network
Breaking down the equipment portion of revenues, 20% were driven by point-to-point, 30% by WiFi and the remaining 50% by BWA including both certified and proprietary equipment.
Maravedis: Tell us about your WiMAX platform.
We look at WiMAX as a market opportunity that includes both our proprietary systems as well as our WiMAX certified equipment. Proxim's Tsunami family of outdoor PMP wireless Ethernet systems offers solutions for connecting multiple remote sites to the network - for interconnecting campus buildings and security systems, integrating detached business sites or installing last mile connections. Tsunami PMP models range from 11 to 108 Mb/s capacity in the 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz license-exempt bands and 3.5GHz licensed band
Point-to-Multipoint Products
o Tsunami MP.11 Model 5054, 2454, and 5012
o Tsunami MP.16 Model 3500.
Proxim differentiates itself from other BWA vendors by delivering a combination of wireless WAN and LAN products to allow broadband service providers to grow their internet business from the fiber demarcation all the way to the end customer.
Proxim MeshMAX products are a series of tri-radio outdoor devices offering Wi-Fi connectivity for access, Wi-Fi mesh gateway for network redundancy, and a high capacity carrier-class WiMAX link for backhaul.
Maravedis: Tell us a bit about your current most notable customers and deployments.
Proxim has deployed over 200,000 BWA CPEs worldwide. The largest network is in India where Sify Limited, one of India's largest ISPs, has deployed over 700 base stations and 3500 CPEs in 200 cities to residential, business and Cybercafes.
Maravedis: Do operators care more about performance or certification?
Operators care more about performance today, especially those who are deploying and want to address a market today for broadband wireless last mile access and backhaul.
Having said that, we have certified our Tsunami MP16 3500 base station which operates at 3.5GHz using 3.5MHz channels and TDD.
We are using the Rosedale chipset from Intel. Regarding RF integration, Proxim has internal expertise as well as partnerships with external RF chipset developers to create hybrid systems. In addition to WiMAX CPE, Proxim has a compact WiMAX base station which provides the performance of a macro cell design in a zero-footprint pico cell form factor which can be deployed anywhere outside to provide denser coverage at higher data rates to subscribers. The Proxim base station can be deployed as a cost effective alternative for enterprises and service providers looking to provide high-speed broad-reach access to our customers.
The companies will also co-develop a reference design for WiMAX CPE equipment. Intel will provide the CPE architecture, including the key hardware and software components, as a reference design for other WiMAX equipment makers.
The migration strategy consists of integrating new WiMAX cards into existing base stations to create hybrid networks.
Maravedis: Tell us about your OEM relationships
We have licensed our MP16 technology to CPQD and Parks an ADSL manufacturer in Brazil to manufacture WiMAX equipment in Brazil. No agreements with tier 1 equipment vendors have been established yet.
Maravedis: What is your view on FDD and TDD co-existence? Is this a worry for service providers? Regulators?
FDD is dead because TDD is a more efficient duplexing method and 802.16-2005 will be TDD-based. Our systems have been TDD-based from day 1.
Maravedis: What are the most important challenges facing WiMAX in the next 18 months?
Separating the reality from the hype is key to increase credibility for WIMAX. We believe there is a market today for fixed/portable access in rural areas and developing countries. The industry as a whole needs to focus on explaining the viability of the business model. There are also interoperability issues beyond the air interface that still need to be addressed by the vendor community. This goes back to setting the right expectations and delivering them on time.
Robert E. Fitzgerald has been Chief Executive Officer and a director since April 2003. He was Chief Executive Officer and a director of Young Design, Inc. from March 1999 to April 2003. From July 1998 to February 1999, Mr. Fitzgerald was an attorney with the law firm of Greenberg Traurig. Prior to that, he was an attorney with the law firm of Ginsburg, Feldman & Bress. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of California - Los Angeles and a J.D. from the University of California - Los Angeles School of Law.
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