WiMax solutions vendor Alvarion Ltd. (Nasdaq: ALVR; TASE: ALVR) is entering 4G LTE. The company today announced its support for the upcoming TD-LTE standard as part of the company's strategy to provide an open and flexible platform for 4G networks that use TDD (Time Division Duplexing). It said that it expects to begin TD-LTE field trials in the first quarter of 2011.
Alvarion said that it would "continue to actively drive the WiMAX standardization activities, ecosystem development and state-of-the-art products that incorporate the latest features to meet global operators demand," and that it would "enable customers to take advantage of an expanding device ecosystem based on the LTE standard in relevant frequencies as it develops."
Alvarion said, "Insatiable demand for capabilities requiring broadband connectivity everywhere will continue to be addressed by a host of technologies. The trend in wireless spectrum availability around the globe supports the fact that unpaired TDD spectrum will have an even greater role to play for broadband wireless deployments in the future. TDD spectrum uses unpaired channels that combine the uplink and downlink, and split resources on the basis of real-time demand. TDD spectrum is relatively plentiful, cost effective and creates attractive opportunities for broadband applications over this spectrum."
Alvarion president and CEO Eran Gorev said, “Our primary aim is to offer tailored broadband wireless solutions which can also evolve along with customers’ needs. Our development effort over the past two years has been designed to accommodate the support for TD-LTE as a natural extension of our existing solution. We are moving full speed ahead both with our ongoing WiMAX development to bring the latest 802.16e enhancements, as well as incorporating TD-LTE into our platform. This approach allows our customers to offer the latest 4G features currently available and will also enable them to leverage the LTE device ecosystem as it evolves."
In May, Alvarion CEO Eran Gorev told the Oppenheimer annual conference in Tel Aviv that LTE appeared to be the winner over WiMAX technology. He said, "There are already more than 560 WiMAX networks worldwide, far more than the 3G networks. The problem is that they are most small networks in thinly populated areas and with few subscribers. It will take time for LTE to deploy many networks, and this is WiMAX's opportunity. LTE will come, and it will be important, but there is no doubt that WiMAX will continue to grow."
Alvarion's share price rose 5% by mid-afternoon on the TASE today to NIS 8.10, and rose 3.5% at the opening on Nasdaq to $2.10, giving a market cap of $126 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 13, 2010
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