Wimax News catches up with PureWave Networks, a company that develops high performance, compact outdoor 4G base stations, of this exclusive interview with the company’s VP of Business Development, Ronen Vengosh.
Can you briefly introduce your company?PureWave Networks develops high performance, compact outdoor 4G base stations. We’re a privately held, venture funded company located in Mountain View, California. PureWave Networks designs its Mobile WiMAX base stations to fundamentally change the economics of carrier operations.
What made PureWave Networks appealing to Allegis Capital, Benhamou Global Ventures, ATA Ventures and LeapFrog Ventures?
We have a very appealing and unique business model. The company is focused on making only 4G base stations while most of our competitors sell many different types of products & eco-system components. Also, we offer the only solution on the market that is compact yet uses a range of sophisticated smart antenna & beam-forming technologies. The company is led by Gideon Ben-Efraim. As an industry veteran (previous founder and chief executive officer to both Go Networks, Netro & P-Com), he’s led the IPO for Netro (1999) and P-com Inc. (1995).
What are the highlights of the new 4G wireless Quantum 1000 (Base Station)?The cost/size/performance combination makes the base stations attractive to any type of operator, from large mobile cellular service providers to small WISPs. The base stations have a fully integrated, single box design that can be deployed completely outdoors, with no need for shelter or air-conditioning. The fully open architecture allows customers to assemble a “best of breed” solution and to select other components from the broad WiMAX ecosystem. The PureMax™ Smart Antenna technology significantly increases base station range and capacity. The high performance base stations require as little as 65 Watts of power consumption, significantly lowering their operating costs and carbon footprint.
Is PureWave Networks considering rural broadband need as a target market? In this context, will PureWave Networks consider applying for the Obama Broadband Stimulus Initiative?Yes, but the rural market is just one of our targets. We have a compact self contained, open solution that is ideal for a number of very common deployment cases including rural, dense urban, private networks and campuses.
As a vendor, we do not qualify to apply directly for stimulus funding, however we are working with a large number of operators who have applied for stimulus funding. These operators are choosing PureWave Quantum base stations for rural deployment because our solutions’ low total cost of ownership allows operators to turn a profit even in areas with a very low population density and with few customers connected to each base station.
As a Mountain View headquartered company, are you participating in the Silicon Valley ’sandbox’ WiMAX network launched by Clearwire in April 2009 along with Google, Cisco Systems and Intel?
We are not currently involved in that project.
With Long Term Evolution (LTE) to be launched in the near future, how is PureWave Networks incorporating this 4G technology into its strategy?
PureWave Networks views itself as a 4G infrastructure company and we plan to introduce LTE based solutions in the future. We will make product announcements at the appropriate time. Our view of WiMAX and LTE is that both represent important market opportunities for our company, and both technologies will co-exist for a long time.
With WiMax equipment market expected to decline temporarily during 2nd Quarter 2009, do you see more growth opportunities domestically or internationally in the future?
Unlike most other businesses in this economy, PureWave Networks is actually experiencing an increase in customer interest & demand, as operators seek more cost-effective solutions for growing their networks. We see growth opportunities both domestically and internationally. Domestically, the government stimulus package is energizing the market for broadband infrastructure, especially in rural and underserved communities. Internationally, there are opportunities for growth around the globe, and especially in countries lacking sufficient wired infrastructure, e.g. India, the Middle East and much of Africa and Latin America.
About Ronen Vengosh
Ronen Vengosh joined PureWave Networks from Alvarion where he led the North America marketing and market development team. In this capacity he also worked closely with some of the largest operators in the U.S. to develop profitable business models for WiMAX deployment. Previously, Ronen practiced corporate law at Fischer, Behar, Chen and Co., where he specialized in M&A work and venture financing. He holds a law degree from Tel-Aviv University and an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA