re: Ericsson Invests in RadioFrame Networks WiFi WLAN Supplier
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Message 17266398
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>> Ericsson Invests in WiFi Hardware Supplier
Cellular News
2nd April 2002
Ericsson Venture Partners has lead a US$15 million investment in RadioFrame Networks. Other investors include: Ignition, a venture capital firm focused on early stage computing, network infrastructure and telecommunications startups in the Western United States, Nextel Communications and Orange Ventures. Ericsson invested US$8 million.
"Carriers are seeking stronger relationships with their enterprise customers," said Mark Maybell of Ericsson Ventures. "RadioFrame is a truly unique platform that enables carriers to deliver new services and a higher quality wireless experience to these customers indoors. No other company has developed a wholly converged, carrier-grade solution like RadioFrame's. We believe in this technology and the people behind it."
RadioFrame Networks manufactures and markets the first platform solution to converge indoor wireless mobile voice and `carrier-grade' 802.11b WLAN services in the same installation. The RadioFrame System can support multiple wireless interfaces running over a single, powered CAT-5 wire (RJ45) in wide-area installations up to 2 million square feet (186,000 square meters). New, multiple wireless standards can be added to the existing installation with `plug and play' ease. Presently, RadioFrame sells its converged system in the United States in partnership with Nextel Communications. It has announced a GSM-interface system that will support hundreds of callers and thousands of subscribers in the United States and Europe, available later this year. <<
>> Investors Put $15 Million More Into RadioFrame
April 01, 2002
John Cookseattle
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
RadioFrame Networks Inc., maker of networking equipment used to enhance cell-phone reception and Internet service on corporate campuses, has raised $15 million in a third round of financing.
The money will be used to develop new products -- based on the GSM and CDMA technology -- for the European and North American markets.
The round was led by Ericsson Venture Partners, which invested $8 million. Additional investors include Ignition, Nextel Communications and Orange Ventures.
Telecommunications billionaire Craig McCaw, an early investor in the company, did not participate in the round. Total financing in the Redmond company stands at $26 million.
Founded in 1999 by Rob Mechaley, the former chief scientist at McCaw Cellular Communications, RadioFrame began delivering products to its first customer, Nextel Communications, earlier this year.
Jeff Brown, president and chief executive of RadioFrame, would not disclose revenues from that sale, saying only that it was a "big commitment," in the millions of dollars. Nextel, which in turn sells the product to corporations, has only recently begun to roll the service out to its customers. Brown declined to name Nextel's customers using the equipment.
Nextel could not be reached for comment.
RadioFrame's core product consists of a wall or ceiling-mounted device -- about the size of an exit sign -- that allows desktop computers, Internet-enabled phones and laptops within a corporate network to be tied together without wires. Often referred to as 802.11b, or wireless local area networks (WLANs), these networks are creating a buzz in the venture capital community because they reduce cabling and increase computing mobility within corporations.
"There are major cost advantages," said Matthew Peretz, managing editor of the Web site 80211-planet.com. "There is an incredibly reduced amount of cabling and, for a company, that means so much in terms of office settings and expansions because companies are so mobile today."
The wireless network market is expected to grow over 30 percent a year and reach nearly $5 billion by 2006, according to Synergy Research Group.
In addition to creating wireless data networks in a corporate campus setting, Brown said RadioFrame's technology provides higher-quality cellular phone connections and intelligent routing of calls.
He says it is one of the first systems to converge high-speed wireless LANs with mobile voice service.
The coverage area of the RadioFrame wireless network ranges from 32,000 square feet to 2 million square feet.
"If you need more capacity than that you can actually run two systems side by side and manage them as one," said Brown, a former McCaw Cellular executive who prior to joining RadioFrame was CEO of Data Critical.
To cover 2 million square feet, Brown said, 64 RadioFrame units would be needed. The equipment cost for that system would be about $380,000.
Although wireless networks provide flexibility, Peretz said some corporations have been slow to adopt them because of security issues.
"There are some very large corporations using it," he said. "However, it seems that there are as many corporations that are hesitant because of perceived and real security risks with the technology."
Brown said that security is a "huge focus" and that RadioFrame has been working with Microsoft on several security issues.
RadioFrame employs about 55 people. The $15 million investment put a higher valuation on the company than the previous venture capital round, Brown said. <<
- Eric - |
