Nortel and Alvarion, two companies aggressively pursuing early market opportunities with WiMAX, announced that they will collaborate to create a new end-to-end WiMAX solution.
The Nortel and Alvarion mobile WiMAX solution is expected to combine industry-leading technologies from both companies to allow operators around the globe - including well-established service providers and new entrants to the wireless market - to simply and efficiently deliver high-speed wireless broadband for a variety of applications, mobile or nomadic, including VoIP, streaming music, and HD video.
This collaboration is allowing both companies to bring solutions to the WiMAX market - which experts say could be worth somewhere in the one to two billion dollar range by the end of 2009 and up to five billion by 2012 - faster and at a lower cost than either company could on it’s own.
For Nortel, this collaboration allows the company to bring WiMAX to market faster at a lower cost and focus R&D resources on bringing LTE to market. Nortel is accelerating its 4G strategy to bring both WiMAX and LTE to market faster.
The joint solution features the integration of Alvarion’s advanced radio access network technology, which has been proven in over 200 commercial WiMAX deployments, with Nortel’s core network solutions, backhaul solutions, applications such as Nortel’s number one carrier VoIP solution, and Nortel Global Services for WiMAX.. The Nortel and Alvarion WiMAX solution will allow operators to offer high speed wireless Internet access across large areas, including those currently underserved by broadband capabilities. The joint WiMAX solution will also provide the speed and capacity to help operators meet the exploding demand for true mobile broadband.
“Wireless broadband is one of the fastest growing opportunities in the telecommunications market,” said Richard Lowe, president, Carrier Networks, Nortel. “Early movers in this market are looking for a high quality, turnkey WiMAX solution that delivers vast coverage in a cost-effective way and meets growing demand for true mobile broadband that can support new services like streaming music and mobile TV. The collaboration between Nortel and Alvarion will allow both companies to deliver on these needs quickly and efficiently with a world class WiMAX solution that is based on the best technology from each. The solution will also include Nortel services, ranging from network consulting, design and deployment to full network management, to help customers maximize network investments by providing the flexibility to handle changing coverage, capacity and other unique requirements.”
“Nortel and Alvarion, both innovators in the wireless arena, are coming together to respond to the demand for WiMAX solutions in all regions of the world,” said Tzvika Friedman, president and chief executive officer, Alvarion. “Alvarion’s mature, extensively deployed WiMAX radio access network solution, together with Nortel’s core network technology, applications and services will address the requirements of large WiMAX projects with the combined strength of both organizations. In keeping with our strategy of best of breed collaborations, this initiative will also allow us to tailor solutions and applications for specific customer needs. The platform offers WiMAX solutions for multiple frequency bands thus leveraging economies of scale from global deployments, expected to result in a lower cost of ownership for the customers.”
The agreement also covers the resale by Nortel of the Alvarion platform of WiMAX access products in order to form the end-to-end solution for customers. Alvarion’s development of its portfolio of leading-edge WiMAX base stations will be accelerated by Nortel’s contribution of resources, expertise, and funding to enhance the development of the joint solution. Both companies will also work together to perform Interoperability Testing (IOT). Alvarion will focus on device to network interoperability testing and Nortel will concentrate on the end-to-end network integration with the IP core, and applications. In order to incentivize the parties to engage in these activities, during the term of the agreement, Alvarion will be Nortel’s exclusive supplier of WiMAX IEEE 802.16(e) 2X2/2X4 macro base stations and both parties have agreed to designate account leads in order to go to market in the most efficient and effective manner.