Alvarion 2010 report

Alvarion just released their 2010 report:

Highlights:

  • Q4 decrease – revenues and shipments
  • 2010 shipments “increase” of 0.4% – let’s call this “flat”
  • 2010 revenues down 16.3%

Management comment:

“We continue to see attractive, profitable business in the 4G RAN market, albeit on a smaller scale than we previously expected

2011 Guidance is not provided

I wish all the best to Alvarion, but they keep bleeding money while future is not promising.

WiMAX is not being deployed as it was supposed to; Can’t see Alvarion competing in the LTE market against the Giants.

Another Round of Layoffs in Alvarion

Israeli The Marker, reports another round of layoff in Alvarion .

Magic number this time is 170m about 20% of workforce. If this is not another indication that WiMAX is doomed, I don’t know what is. According to the article, Alvarion is expecting new projects in India as well as rural US.

What I am saying: “Reinvent yourself”.

LTE is almost there, while WiMAX couldn’t grab enough market share. Which basically means that WiMAX will stay in Niches, 3rd world markets which never deployed 3G, vertical markets, private networks, etc.

So, either Alvarion matches her size to the market, or find another market.

Cisco Quits WiMAX

Cisco has finally announced their pull out from the WiMAX business . Hardly surprising, as in the past two yeas, since Navini Networks acquisition, Cisco were not very successful with this new Wireless business.

Not sure if it was because the technology didn’t fit Cisco business, or just failure to execute. But, I can’t remember even one meaningful deployment from Navini (Cisco) .

The reason I am writing this post is to remind everyone that Alvarion was supposedly the first runner for Cisco’s WiMAX ambitions, when in the last minute (well, this is what newspapers preferred to portray), Navini was acquired. I am sure many people in Alvarion are happy today that it turned out this way.

UQ WiMAX Repeaters

On the same day UQ WiMAX announced the installation of the 5000th base station , they also announced the availability of WiMAX Repeaters.

As any other wireless technology the biggest issue is Coverage. Or rather, how to provide the best coverage with lower costs. A repeater is a good solution to extend a cell (when more bandwidth is not needed).

A PDF from UQ [JP] shows 3 different repeaters and usage. Graphics are quite bad , but I’ll ignore it this time.

Alvarion Message From the CEO

Alvarion Logo

Alvarion’s CEO, Eran Gorev, publised a message to Alvarion Shareholders.

I feel compelled to share the message as I find it entertaining:

As you know, I assumed the role of President and CEO on December 7, 2009. After working in high tech for many years, I have come to admire Alvarion for both its technology and the business it has developed.

Message starts with “As you know”. Press release was in Sep. 2009 , while he joined as CEO on Dec. 7th. It would have been nice if he could publish this letter closer to the date he joined Alvarion. The second excerpt of the quote above is more interesting since it tries to do two things:

1) Show that Eran Gorev is Experienced (he is)

2) Alvarion has good technology and Business (mostly correct)

But, I just don’t like the way it was phrased. Does it mean that if one does not have the experience Eran has, it is difficult to appreciate Alvarion?

As we enter a new year, I want to take this opportunity to reiterate our commitment to creating long-term value for Alvarion shareholders. We will work with renewed energy to successfully capitalize on the opportunities and meet the challenges, with our dual focus on profitability and growth. We look forward to sharing our progress with you during the year.

No comments on this part. Just I wish he could write more:

  • What is the focus for Alvarion for next year?
  • What is he going to change?

Anyway, I think the next Earning Conference Call is going to be interesting.