The skepticism is melting away. WiMax is warmer, and closer to reality. What's
more, it's brought a sense of direction to the highly promising but utterly
chaotic broadband wireless access (BWA) space.
Several BWA specialist vendors have been around for years now, with a host of
tech offerings. Intermittently, they have also got service providers to conduct
trials over their gears, with quite encouraging results at times.
A takeoff has eluded, for various reasons, though, pushing many vendors to
financials troubles and some to even closures. Regulatory issues, spectrum
availability, technological limitations, et al have been identified as hurdles
and debated over hotly enough. The biggest evil-too many proprietary
technologies causing chaos and confusion-however, turned fewer heads. Not
until investors lost their patience, preceded by a few financial casualties.
That's history though, with a trail of lessons nevertheless....
Here and Happening
At least 127 companies had joined the WiMax Forum by the time of writing
this article, around 70 of which were vendors. Most of these vendors make BWA
gears, and at least 10 of them make the chipsets that power these gears.
According to estimates based on various BWA equipment shipment reports, the
worldwide market for BWA gear in the sub-11 GHz range was of the order of $500
million in fiscal 2003—04. (Sub-11 GHz is the spectrum in which the proposed
WiMax standard will operate.)
Pyramid Research estimates BWA connections to expand globally at a healthy
CAGR of 27 percent between now and 2008. This could grow the gear market up to
$1.8 billion by 2008. In-Stat/MDR estimates the overall BWA market at $558.7
million in 2003 and expects it to grow to over $1.2 billion by the end of 2007.
Analysts are of the opinion that once the market crosses the $1-billion
psychological mark, the growth rate will accelerate before it stabilizes.
According to Maravedis' research, the EMEA region, which represented 32
percent of the overall BWA market in 2003, continues to be the largest market
this year too, but Asia will be outpacing it by 2005.
BWA deployments in Europe and the US have so far been by niche players, given
the proprietary nature of gears currently available. Once WiMax Forum starts
certifying products in 2005, availability of standard equipment will make the
technology attractive for mass deployments. It's here that countries with low
teledensities, like India, will see a strong case in WiMax.
India Is a Big Draw
As many as 25 of the WiMax Forum vendors already have a presence in India,
including some of the leading ones like Airspan, Alvarion, Atheros, Fujitsu,
Intel, Siemens Mobile, Proxim, and Wi-Lan. However, some others like Navini,
NextNet Wireless, Redline, and SR Telecom are yet to set up base here.
According to Maravedis, Alvarion is the market leader in BWA gears with about
25 percent of the market share, followed by SRTelecom with 12 percent and Proxim
with 9 percent.
Alvarion is said to have sold $2.5 million worth of its WALKair gear to
Reliance Infocomm, with Siemens being the commissioning partner. WALKair is a
local multipoint distribution service (LMDS) solution that works in the 10.5 GHz
band.
In a recent development, Alvarion has entered into an agreement to acquire
all shares of InterWAVE Communications, a Nasdaq-listed vendor of compact and
scalable mobile network equipment and services.
According to Alvarion, InterWAVE's cost-effective GSM solutions, along with
its newly launched CDMA product line, strategically complement to Alvarion's
current residential voice and data solutions aimed at developing regions of the
world.
Also, InterWAVE's extensive mobile technology, research and development,
and systems capabilities will greatly accelerate Alvarion's mobile WiMax
strategy, claims Alvarion.
Proxim, the third largest player in the BWA space, has already set up a
development base at Bangalore. The team comprises about 35 people and the
company could be improving the headcount by another 10 or so in the near future.
Indians Do It too
Another BWA equipment company to set up base in Bangalore is Telsima
Communications, with a clearly pronounced focus on the Indian market, as also on
other emerging markets in Asia and Africa. This Vinod Dham funded venture is
looking at raising $30 million in its second round of funding, which is expected
to close anytime now. The first round got the company $6 million.
The man spearheading Telsima's operations in India is MT Karunakaran,
president, Telsima. Karunakaran is a never-say-die C-DoT veteran who manages to
keep his product dreams alive. He had earlier co-founded Deccanet Designs, a
products company focused on broadband transport and aggregation products. The
EMS major Flextronics acquired Deccanet.
Telsima is working on a two-pronged strategy-of IP and WiMax-for the BWA
market. "We want to bridge the IP world with the wireless world through our
products," Karunakaran says.
The company has an integrated broadband wireless offering, as a last-mile
access option for carriers. Its flagship product suite is a family of
metropolitan access transport products, called OptiFlow.
Telsima had acquired metro optical technology from Coriolis a few months ago
and plans to acquire more IP/companies in the coming future. "A part of the
money raised from the second round of funding will be used for these purposes;
there is, after all, no point re-inventing the wheel," Karunakaran said.
Global Forum at Work
Right now, the forum is focusing on the 802.16a standard, which was approved
by IEEE in January 2003 after a task group presented the amendments to the
802.16 standard.
The need for amendment had arisen for two reasons, mainly. One, 802.16
catered to line-of-sight deployments only. Two, it operated over too wide a
range of frequencies-from 10 GHz to 66 GHz, which made interoperability
difficult to achieve.
With 802.16a, IEEE addressed these and other issues by adding newer
functionalities. The standard, which is synonymous with the WiMax moniker, is
quite robust in nature and fills the most disturbing gaps in 802.16.
For one, the new standard provides support for non-line-of-sight service
deployments. Also, it makes the spectrum range much more manageable by
restricting it between 2 GHz and 11 GHz.
The measures are beginning to yield desired results. Some of the world's
biggest operators are already conducting WiMax trials. These include AT&T,
British Telecom, France Telecom, and Reliance Infocomm (see VOICE&DATA's
August 2004 issue).
It's not just a select few operators that have exhibited interest in WiMax.
At least 50 operators, including local exchange carriers and other niche
broadband service providers, have evinced active interest in the technology and
have joined the WiMax Forum to voice their expectations from gear and chipset
makers.
These developments are music to WiMax vendors' ears. Operators'
participation at the forum means that there will be quicker acceptability for
WiMax gears as and when they hit the market. The fact that WiMax Forum will be
certifying products brought out by member companies will increase the comfort
level of operators and in turn facilitate market development.
India will continue to attract more and more vendors, not only as a product
development base but also as a promising market, due to its still emerging
nature. In particular, the technology can turn out to be a powerful means to
bridge the digital divide and leapfrog the country in term of teledensity, to
begin with. What better beginning could one think of?
WiMax Forum Members Having Presence in India
Airspan Networks
HQ: Florida, USA
President and CEO: Eric Stonestorm
Presence in India: Through Tulip
Category: Equipment
BWA/WiMax Progress: Claims to have more than 160 operators as clients, across 60
countries. The main offering so far is a wireless IP local loop (WIPLL) product.
The company says its WiMax products will have Intel silicon at the core.
Financials: This Nasdaq-listed company reported $18.3 million in revenues for
the second quarter ended 4 July 2004, up 47 percent over the first quarter of
2004 and up 143 percent over the second quarter of 2003. It hopes to achieve a
profitable quarter this calendar year.
Alcatel
HQ: Paris, France
India Office: 25, Electronic City, Sector 18, Gurgaon 122015; Tel: 0124-2455050;
Fax: 0124-2455167
Country Head: Ravi Sharma, MD, Alcatel India
Category: Equipment
BWA/WiMax Progress: Announced strategic alliance with Intel for the definition,
standardization, development, the integration and marketing of end-to-end WiMax
solutions, in March 2004. Entered OEM agreement with BWA gear maker Navini
Networks in April 2004. Already a leader in the local multi-point distribution
service (LMDS) space.
Analog Devices
HQ: Massachusetts, USA
Presence in India: The India Product Development Center (IPDC) is located at
Bangalore and is responsible for all IC development for the SHARC family of 32
bit DSPs.
Recent initiatives include the start of a mixed signal design team and a DSP
apps engineering team. Also, the Hyderabad design center focuses on technology
developments for DSP and systems division of Analog Devices.
Category: Equipment
Andrew
HQ: USA
President and CEO: Ralph Faison
Presence in India: Two sales offices in Delhi; manufacturing facility in Goa
Category: Equipment
Areas of operation: Design, manufacture, and supply of communications equipment
systems and services like antennas, RF amplifiers, and repeaters.
BWA/WiMax Progress: Offers parabolic backhaul antennas for the unlicensed bands.
Also has a range of Wi-Fi antennas.
Financials: A Nasdaq-listed company. Reported third quarter sales at $493
million,
up 131 percent from $213.7 million in the year ago quarter. The company
attributed increase in sales to an improved wireless infrastructure market
demand and the acquisition of Allen Telecom in the fourth quarter of fiscal
2003.
Arris
Areas of operation: Design, engineering, product development and
distribution of telecommunications equipment and services that provide access
over broadband hybrid fiber/coaxial cable systems.
Presence in India: Reliance's fiber management system.
Category: Equipment
Atheros Communications
HQ: California, USA
President and CEO: Dr Craig H Barratt
Presence in India: Atheros India, Ground Floor, Rajam Towers, 44, Kavignar
Bharatidasan Road, Chennai 600 018. Tel: 044-4362445, 044-4362465, 044-4324483;
Fax: 044-52110560
Category: Equipment
Areas of operation: Design, development, and marketing of Wi-Fi chipsets.
Competes head on with Intel in this space.
Funding: The company has raised a total of $98.3 million in three rounds of
funding.
Ceragon
HQ: Israel
President and CEO: Shraga Katz
India Office: Ceragon Networks India, 418, 4th Floor, International Trade Tower,
Nehru Place, New Delhi 110019; Telefax: 011-26280364
India Head: Suhas Patil, managing director, e-mail: suhaspatil@ceragon.com
Ceragon has received orders exceeding $7 million from a single cellular operator
in India, and has significantly enhanced its mindshare among other operators.
Financial Performance: This Nasdaq-listed global provider of high-capacity
broadband wireless systems, reported revenues of $13 million for the second
quarter ended 30 June 2004. This was Ceragon's first quarter of operating
income. Revenues for the quarter were up 60.5 percent over the second quarter of
2003 and 14.1 percent over the first quarter of 2004.
WiMax Activity Level: Couldn't be gauged
Com Dev Saw Products
HQ: Canada
Director, business development: Chris Willson
Category: Equipment
Sales representation in India: NK Enterprises, 262, 2nd Main, Dolmur 2nd Stage,
Bangalore 560 071; Tel: 080-25281840; Fax: 080-5280429, Website: www.nkegroup.com
CTS Corporation
Sales Representation in India: Motwane, Gyan Ghar, 14th Road, Khar (West),
Mumbai 400 052, Tel: 022-26047394; Fax: 022-26043080, e-mail: motwane@eth.net;
website: www.chicago-radio.com
Category: Equipment
Financial Performance: An NYSE-listed company, CTS had a second-quarter 2004
revenue of $137.6 million, an 18 percent increase over the corresponding quarter
of 2003.
Cushcraft
HQ: Manchester, USA
President and CEO: Gregory S Czuba
Presence in India: Radelcom, 301, Raheja Chambers, 12, Museum Road, Bangalore
560 001; Tel: 80-5585999; Fax: 80-5585999
Areas of operation: Manufacturing and development of communications antennas for
WLANs, ISM band, small-cell applications, and RFID WMAN.
Category: Equipment
Elcoteq
HQ: Finland
President and CEO: Jouni Hartikainen
Presence in India: Setting up manufacturing base in Bangalore.
Areas of Operation: A leading electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company
specializing in wireless communication.
Category: Equipment
Fujitsu
Area of Operation: CDMA network infrastructure products, switches, microwave
radio solutions, semiconductors, etc.
Presence in India: 1st Floor, Mercantile House, 15, KG Marg, New Delhi 110 001;
Tel: 011-23706070 to 76; Fax: 011-23321321, 23706079
BWA/WiMax Progress: Has announced WiMax-compliant baseband ASSP
Category: Equipment
Intel
Presence in India: 136, Airport Road, Bangalore 560 017; Tel: 080-25076624,
6459
Contact Person: Joydeep Bose, director (corporate technology), Intel India
BWA/WiMax Activity: Intel has been the prime moving force behind the Wi-Fi and
WiMax technologies. It has also funded Ccompanies with BWA focus.
Motorola
Presence in India: Motorola Excellence Center, 415/2, Mehrauli Gurgaon Road,
Sector 14, Gurgaon 122 001; Tel: 0124-2303212; Fax: 0124-2306688
Broadband communications sector division, Bagmane Tech Park, 7th Floor, No.
66/1, Plot No. 05, CV Raman Nagar Post, Bangalore 560 093, Karnataka; Tel:
080-26017000; Fax: 080-26017037
Areas of Operation: Global provider of wireless, broadband and communications
technologies, equipment and solutions
BWA/WiMax Progress: The broadband remote access server (BRAS) concept, which is
extendible to all access technologies including cable, wireless, Wi-Fi, and
WiMax.
The company already has BWA platform targeted at ISPs to provide high-speed
access in the last mile.
P-Com
HQ: California, USA
Presence in India: A27/4, Qutub Enclave, DLF Phase-1, Gurgaon 122002;
Tel: 0124-2364614—16, Fax: 0124-2358743; e-mail: sales@pcomindia.com; linkqust@vsnl.com
Contact Person: Maj Gen (retd) L Tahiliani
Areas of operation: Develops point-to-point, spread spectrum, and point-to-multipoint
wireless access systems
Category: Equipment
Pronto Networks
HQ: California, USA
President and CEO: Jasbir Singh
Area of Operation: This Intel-funded company specializes in operations support
systems (OSS) and business support systems (BSS) solutions for large public hot
spot networks.
Presence in India: 562/640, Janardhana Towers, 3rd Floor, Bilekahalli,
Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore 560078; Tel: 080-267819 87
India Head: Paramjit Singh Puri, GM, India and Southeast Asia
Proxim
HQ: California, USA
Area of Operation: Point-to-point and point-to-multipoint equipment for Wi-Fi
and broadband wireless networks.
Category: Equipment
Presence in India: 302, 3rd Floor, Pinnacle, 15 Commissariat Road, Bangalore
560025; Tel: 080-51123232, 080-5550612; Fax: 080-51123271
Financial Performance: Revenue for the second quarter of 2004 was $31.4 million,
which represented an 18 percent sequential increase compared to the preceding
quarter of $26.7 million. The non-GAAP net loss from operations for the quarter
was $3.3 million.
WiMax Activity Level: High
SIAE Microelettronica
HQ: Milan, Italy
Areas of Operation: Design, manufacturing/marketing of telecom equipment, with
core focus on microwave systems in point-to-point and point-to-multipoint
environments
Sales Presence in India: Himachal Futuristic, distributor
Siemens
HQ: Munich, Germany
President and CEO: Heinrich V Pierer
Presence in India: 130, Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Worli, Mumbai - 400018; Tel:
022-4987000—5
Siemens is said to have clinched a deal from Reliance Infocomm for the supply
and installation of equipment (for commissioning an LMDS network).
Skyworks Solutions
Presence in India: Aarjay International, 583, 12 A Cross, JP Nagar II Phase,
Bangalore 560078; Tel: 080-6586844; Fax: 080-6586845; E-mail: aarjay@aarjay.com
Areas of Operation: Wireless semiconductor solutions, ranging from basic
components and integrated RF modules to complete system platforms, for mobile
communications applications.
Stratex Networks
HQ: California, USA
Chairman and CEO: Charles D Kissner
Areas of Operation: Development, manufacture, and marketing of microwave radio
solutions for point-to-point applications in licensed frequency bands, enabling
the development of complex communications networks
Presence in India: A center, 4 LSC, Sector C 6—7, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi
110070,
Tel: 011-26139041, Fax: 011-26139046
India Head: Raj Kumar, regional director
BWA/WiMax Progress: Has supplied microwave radios to Bharti for mobile backhaul
and expansion of GSM networks. WiMax activity level is in the moderate-to-high
range
Financial Performance: Nasdaq-listed. Reported first-quarter (fiscal 2005) ended
30 June 2004 net sales of $46 million as compared to $36 million in the
corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal. Net loss this quarter was $8
million as against a net loss of $3.4 million reported last year's Q1.
Telsima
HQ: California, USA
CEO: Alok Sharma
Presence in India: 301, Oxford Towers, 139, Airport Road, Kodihalli, Bangalore
560 008
President: MT Karunakaran
Area of Operation: This Vinod Dham-funded company is targeting service providers
in emerging markets, and incumbent local exchange carriers in developed markets.
Funding: The first round got the company $6 million. It is looking at raising
$30 million in its second round of funding, which is expected to close anytime
now.
BWA/WiMax Strategy: Aims to have a strategic combo of IP and WiMax in its
products
Its current flagship product suite is a family of metropolitan access transport
products, called OptiFlow.
Wi-Lan
Sales Representation in India: Adino Telecom Limited, 701—702, 7th Floor,
Eureka Towers, A Wing, Mindspace, Off Link Road, Malad (West), Mumbai 400 064;
Tel: 022- 56772940-43; Fax: 022-56772947, Website: www.adinotelecom.com
Also, presence in India through Tulip
BWA/WiMax Progress: The company has already launched certain customer premise
equipment (CPE) that it says will operate side by side, in the same network, the
same cell and even the same sector with future WiMax compliant CPEs.
WiMax Activity Level: Very High
Wi-Lan is a founding and board member of the WiMax Forum, and has led the forum's
technical working group and the IEEE 802.16 Task Group d. The company says it
will be sampling a WiMAX system-on-chip, in conjunction with Fujitsu
Microelectronics America, by fall 2004, and the complete system is expected to
be available for WiMax Forum conformance and interoperability testing in the
first half of 2005.