Alvarion, a provider of optimized wireless broadband solutions,
announced its agreement to acquire Wavion, an Israel-based technology provider
for carrier-grade WiFi applications, for $30 million in cash.
Wavion’s revenues for the last twelve months were $16 million. This
acquisition marks another milestone in the execution of Alvarion’s strategic plan aimed at shifting its primary focus from WiMAX-based RAN
solutions to becoming a multi-technology wireless broadband solution
powerhouse.
“Wavion’s field-proven solution is the ideal addition to our portfolio,”
said Eran Gorev, president and CEO of Alvarion.
“Wavion’s offering will enable us to leverage our global reach,
extensive customer base, and network of go-to-market partners. This acquisition
will also position the company in exciting new high-growth segments such as
WiFi offload,” Gorev added.
The explosion of broadband data usage is creating coverage and capacity
challenges that cannot be addressed effectively by any single technology.
Alvarion’s strategy is to employ multiple complementary technologies,
which can be optimized for various types of networks and applications.
The advanced WiFi technology provided by Wavion, including its
beamforming capability, has reached a level of maturity and acceptance that
makes it an attractive option for addressing the most demanding
mission-critical applications.
Alvarion will combine Wavion’s WiFi platform with Alvarion’s 4G RAN
solution and DAS capabilities to create a full suite of capacity and coverage
solutions.
“Carrier WiFi is one of the fastest growing segments in the telecom
equipment industry, and represents a significant new market opportunity for
Alvarion,” said Adlane Fellah, president, Maravedis.
This market is expected to grow at least 40 percent annually to about
$500 million over the next several years. Alvarion’s leadership and global
presence in 4G solutions, augmented by Wavion’s enhanced WiFi 2.4GHz and 5GHz
technology, will allow network operators to address the increasingly complex
requirements of wireless broadband networks.
Wavion’s two-way spatially adaptive beamforming and Multiple Input
Multiple Output (MIMO) technologies, based on the latest 802.11n standard,
address the performance, penetration and profitability challenges of today’s
wireless broadband networks.
“Wavion has a strong team of 75 people and a cutting-edge WiFi product
portfolio which we believe will fit well with Alvarion’s vision of
multi-technology solutions,” said Tal Meirzon, CEO of Wavion.
