Wireless From the Ground Up

Undaunted, Proxim has high hopes for the wireless market. The company's product portfolio combines the best of Western Multiplex's digital- and spread-spectrum microwave radios and wireless Ethernet bridges with Proxim's wireless, Ethernet and home phone-line networking solutions for PCs and Macs. With a partner base numbering more than 800 and new technologies on the way, Proxim chairman and CEO Jonathan Zakin feels destined for success. A former executive vice president of U.S. Robotics, Zakin has seen other emerging markets sputter before taking off. All they needed, he says, was one big hit. Wireless, he adds, is no different.

VB: Is there a burden associated with being in the right space at the right time? The opportunity is great, but it's also "put up or shut up time," isn't it?
Zakin: I would love to say I was a deep enough thinker to think that way, but I am not. I have a feeling that that's the quote that will make it in the book. [Laughs

VB: Oh, no, nothing like that%85
Zakin: Seriously, though. We did something similar when I was with U.S. Robotics. This is sort of like U.S. Robotics II. There we were in a unique position in the modem business, and we were able to exploit it a lot better than some of the competitors because we were in multiple products with a very flexible technology. And I think the new, combined Proxim is in a similar situation.

VB: In what way?
Zakin: We have very interesting core technology that we can leverage across multiple platforms%85 You're right; we are in a gigantic market, and yes, it has not taken off. It hasn't taken off because things are too slow and too expensive. It's kind of like the modem business was. Clearly, if modems were at 1,200 bps, the Internet never would have taken off. But if the Internet hadn't existed, there'd be no need to have four or five modems in a house the way some people do today. Improvements in each technology helped the other.

VB: How so?
Zakin: Right now, last-mile access has been a disaster for companies, mainly because they are going too slow and charging too much money because their infrastructure costs are high. Once companies get to a point where they get the cost/speed ratio right, more opportunities will come up and the market will take off. We're in a unique position,though the market is somewhat out of favor right now, particularly on Wall Street,because a lot of companies have broken their picks on this thing. But it's really just a situation where if you get the product right, the market will evolve very quickly. The handheld market, which was out of favor before it took off, was no different. There were hundreds of guys before Palm who couldn't get things right.

VB: Drill down on that. What product in your portfolio will do for you what the Palm did for the handheld market?
Zakin: I think it's going to be the integration of some of the products. That's where I am feeling optimistic and where we have somewhat of a unique position. We are the only company that can deliver really high-speed wireless back-haul and low-cost wireless 802.11 products in the same group. There are a lot of 802.11 companies, certainly Cisco, Agere and people like that, and there are a few people that can deliver high-speed back-haul, though not in the license-free space. But nobody can do both but us.