Cisco closes its WIMAX base state division
March 10
Late yesterday, Cisco said that it is shutting down its Wi-MAX base station division to better concentrate on its packet core and IP network technology barely 3 short years after it got into the business.
Cisco added that it remains technology-focused in support of its technology and that it will push Internet broadband access to as many wireless users as possible.
The networking hardware giant wants to better leverage its almost $3 billion investment in Starent Networks to better support its LTE (long term evolution) technology and Wi-MAX installations.
Starent Networks' products connect wireless carriers' radio access network to their core IP infrastructure, while at the same time provides higher-speed Internet access.
In September 2007, Cisco went into the Wi-MAX base station business with its $330 million acquisition of WiMAX radio access network equipment manufacturer Navini Networks.
For now, Cisco hasn't provided any details on what it plans to do with its Navini assets, only stating that it will continue to support its legacy WiMAX technology for at least the next 12 to 18 months.
The company recently signed a deal to provide mobile WiMAX provider Clearwire with Internet protocol equipment.
"Cisco's mobility strategy has always been to provide a radio technology approach that utilizes packet core and IP network services where the company can add differentiated value. After a recent review of its WiMAX business, Cisco announced its decision to discontinue designing and building new WiMAX base stations and modems," a company spokesperson said in a statement.
The company’s decision to exit the WiMAX base station business leaves the field open for WiMAX infrastructure vendor Alvarion. But Alvarion doesn’t seem to see this as being much of a boon to its business, least not yet.
Ashish Sharma, Alvarion’s v.p. of corporate communications says “in the first place, they’re not exactly that big of a player on the radio side of the wireless industry, so it doesn’t really change what they're doing in the market."
Sharma says it will probably be business as usual, though he admits that the loss of a competitor the size of Cisco will certainly enhance some of the contracts it is currently targetting.
In other related news, Cisco yesterday unveiled a new Internet technology that the company says will provide the ultra-high data speeds necessary to stay ahead of users' rapidly growing online video demands.
Called "CRS-3" Cisco's new technology is a new high-performance routing system that will be able to offer download speeds of up to 322 terabits per second, according to the company.
The new network router will be able to provide download throughputs of over 1 Gigabit per second. This is the equivalent of downloading the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress in just one second.
Recently, wireless and mobile service carriers have reported a sharp increase in data downloads as more consumers buy smartphones, and these carriers are quickly trying to find a practical solution to update their G3 and G4 networks to greatly increase the capacity for all that growing data traffic.
AT&T, which saw its network traffic increase by over forty percent last year, said yesterday that it has run a successful test of the new CRS-3 router under a partnership deal with Cisco.
Cisco's CEO John Chambers said yesterday "I know this is not that exciting to the average consumer right now, but it is the foundation for much higher Internet speeds. When it comes to smartphones and mobile devices, I want to get any video, anytime and be able to share that on any device in your living room. The foundation of that is our new CRS-3 high-speed router."
Chambers also acknowledged that many skeptics will say that such higher speeds and network capacity aren't necessary for now, but he did argue that the fast-growing media usage on mobile phones will ultimately demand it, and faster than what most people think.
And it's not just mobile service that is growing rapidly at Cisco. Streaming video services like YouTube are now offering higher-definition video, and broadcast networks and cable TV companies now continue to place more and more of their content on the Web as well.
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