Who will supply WiMAX Radio Equipment for Clearwire's Network: Motorola, Alvarion, Cisco, Samsung?

[Alan J Weissberger]

We noted with interest today's rumor that Alvarion had won a WiMAX equipment contract with Clearwire worth up to $100M. The rumor was reported in a Hebrew language Tel Aviv newspaper and commented on by the WSJ. No Alvarion press release has been issued.

But we thought Moto was the only WiMAX equipment supplier for CLEAR:

Motorola Goes 2 for 2 with Clearwire Atlanta Launch

"Like its counterpart in Portland, the Clearwire network in Atlanta runs on Motorola radio infrastructure equipment – the Motorola WAP 400 and WAP 450 access points – and bundles service with consumer access devices from Motorola – including the desktop CPEi 150 and the USBw 100 laptop adapter."

http://connectedhome2go.com/2009/06/16/motorola-goes-2-for-2-with-clearwire-atlanta-launch/

And what about the Cisco-Clearwire partnership? In a May 13th press release, Cisco stated:
"Cisco will also look to expand its WiMAX portfolio with the growth of the CLEAR 4G network across the United States. Cisco and Clearwire will jointly develop and implement go-to-market plans that will benefit from Cisco's extensive distribution channels and presence with consumers and businesses of any size, which will assist to enhance and expand CLEAR mobile WiMAX services throughout the United States."

http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2009/prod_051309b.html

But to date, no Cisco WiMAX radio products have been announced for CLEAR.

Samsung could also be in the running to sell WiMAX Base Stations and CPE for CLEAR. They are Sprint's WiMAX equipment vendor (Xohm in Baltimore). And the SPRINT WiMAX team now works at Clearwire.

Do you think Clearwire will buy WiMAX radio gear from multiple vendors or just Motorola?

And what about WiFi routers with integrated WiMAX radio/ air interface (vs external modem/ USB dongle)? The Clearspot (made by Craddlepoint) requires an external USB dongle. If the market is big enough, we could see Cisco/Linksys as well as Netgear and D-Link produce those products. But we need more rollouts and more subscribers before that happens. What do you think?

[Ray Abrishami]

For WiMAX networks, the service providers will make sure they have more than one system supplier. All WiMAX systems are expected to satisfy the network interoperability requirements. This means that WiMAX networks will consist of a heterogeneous set of devices at both ends.
No one company will have a monopoly on anything whether base station or subscriber station (with RF block being an integral part of BS and SS). It will be price, quality/compliance and availability of systems which will determine who will get the lion’s share of the business. So the answer to your question of “Who will supply WiMAX Radio Equipment for Clearwire's Network: Motorola, Alvarion, Cisco, Samsung? “ is potentially all of them as long as they can meet price, performance, schedule, and compliance requirements.

Regards,

Ray Abrishami

[Alan J Weissberger]

The referenced Alvarion contract was announced today- it's with Open Range.

http://www.alvarion.com/presscenter/pressreleases/185114/

What does CSN stand for? Why has Cisco "won it all?"

[Rubens Kuhl]

Before this Alvarion rumor, the other vendors above (Moto, Sam, Cisco) were all saying that all of them will be in the CLEAR network, on both BTS and CPE sides, but it would be only those 3. So, I think it's very likely it won't be just Moto.

Besides RAN and CPE, CLEAR will also need lots of CSN gear... on this piece, Cisco seems to have won it all.

Unconfirmed stories like this Alvarion thing might be a stock manipulation gimmick from someone willing to sell shares.