Our WiMAX leadership is essentially the result of our history. In 2001, when the full potential of wireless was beginning to be recognized, we took the two leading broadband wireless access vendors and merged them together to create Alvarion. This did not just give us the means to deliver the industry's top wireless broadband solutions. It also provided us with the incredible human capital we needed to pioneer WiMAX and transform wireless communications for the future.
Alvarion was established in 2001 with the merger of BreezeCOM and Floware, two leading broadband wireless access equipment developers offering point-to-multipoint broadband wireless access solutions. Since both companies complemented each other in terms of product offering, geographical presence, customers and distribution channels, the merger enabled Alvarion to become a major player in the broadband wireless access market.
Alvarion viewed the birth of the idea for WiMAX in the wake of the telecom bubble in 2002 as a new window of opportunity for broadband access. Realizing the potential of WiMAX to reduce prices and integrate better technologies, such as NLOS and OFDM, as well as increase capacity, the company became a founder member of the WiMAX Forum®, the regulatory body established to smooth the way for WiMAX regulatory and certification issues.
In 2003, Alvarion purchased Innowave, a company with extensive experience in carrier grade data and voice solutions and an extensive roster of customers. The company also announced a strategic collaboration with Intel for the development of a WiMAX chip and system. This was followed by the commercial launch of the BreezeMAX 3500 in 2004, and the live showcase of BreezeMAX Si (self-install CPE) with Intel’s WiMAX chip in 2005.
Other milestones in Alvarion’s history include winning of the InfoVision and WCA awards for leadership in WiMAX technology in 2005; showcasing of 4Motion, an end-to-end mobile WiMAX solution in 2006; the establishment of Accton Wireless Broadband with Accton in Taiwan to develop mass market consumer devices for WiMAX in 2006; a live MobileTV demonstration in a moving vehicle using 4Motion and successful participation in the 802.16e plugfest in 2007; reaching over $100 million in WiMAX revenues early in 2007; and unveiling of the company’s OPEN WiMAX strategy – an ecosystem of partners enabling the combination of Alvarion’s BreezeMAX base stations with best-of-breed systems to create operator-centric network solutions for WiMAX.
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