<Yep . . . remember this is the year of broadband wireless rollout . . . we should see a number of announcements from VARL relating to follow on orders and the like in new orders.>
I've just come back from the ATUG show in Sydney. This is Australia's biggest telecom show, but actually it's getting smaller every year. I'm looking to introduce a consumer device related to e-mail and Caller ID, which I will remarket through Telco's and ISP's.
There were equipment suppliers for FWB, but not Netro. Lucent was there and so was Airspan. Breezecom was there pushing low spectrum as well.
Anyway, there will be a big auction in 6 months for 3.4 gh in 6 months. They expect this to be followed on by a quick roll out. This lower spectrum is appealing for Aus because it'll work in larger cells and be less dependent on line of sight. Data speeds will not exceed 1 mbps, but be more likely be around 300Kbps.
I also attended the Wireless Symposium in Feb in San Jose. I actually spoke to the people at the Vari-L booth, but when I wrote my report on these discussions, for some reason it was lost and I didn't have time to write it again.
I spoke with their Intl Sales Manager and it was very encouraging. He talked about Neopoint and others being selected from all the choices for subscriber handset vendors because VARL didn't want to be overwhelmed. He said they have the ability to take on the Nokia's and they will soon, but they wanted to start out in a managed progression. I'd say it will be 6 months, or less, before Nokia is buying subscriber VCO's for handsets. He said the VARL VCO's are ahead of all the competition. That the standards were raised for the coming generation of phones, but they had to pull back because only one vendor could meet the specs, VARL.
Also, there is a big upgrade cycle in the base station market. They were doing everything they could to ramp personnel to support all the opportunities.
As far as FWB, there were many vendors waiting for it to start, but even though they would like it to be hitting stride now, they were certain that it would hit in a big way soon. It?s just a matter of patience.
I don't understand the differences in VCO's. I'd even have a hard time understanding what it does. I'm good at interviewing people. I walked away from VARL secure in my investment. In fact, I upped my holdings 4x. I was also pleased that whenever I asked other companies about VARL, they all said they were the best. While other companies made VCO's, they competed in a different space.
Regards,
Mark |
