Proxim Returns With New Name, Channel Plans
Could be, but some partners wonder if the story will have a happy ending or whether the company's missteps have thrown it too far off course to recover its standing in the WLAN market.
"There's a chance for them to come back, but these guys have really missed the opportunity in a big way," said Michael Simmons, president of MAS Enterprises, a solution provider in Las Vegas. "Proxim was the leader of that wagon train, and they just let everyone pass them up."
Rick Nelson, president of Pacific Communications, a Proxim VAR in Sunnyvale, Calif., said he saw customers and other VARs flinch and hesitate as the vendor's problems mounted, but Proxim "made it through the murky water." Proxim Wireless, with a little help from product quality and a hot market for wireless, is still a major player, he said.
Duffy was CEO of Proxim before Terabeam Wireless bought the troubled vendor out from under intended buyer Moseley Associates through a bankruptcy court auction in July for $25.2 million and relaunched the combined entities as Proxim Wireless. He also helmed the company back in March 2001 as it launched patent infringement lawsuits against rivals Symbol Technologies, 3Com, Cisco Systems and others, a strategy that later backfired and led Proxim toward bankruptcy when it lost a countersuit brought by Symbol, which was granted a $26 million settlement.
Now two months after re-emerging as Proxim Wireless, the company has a new channel program and a developing product line that, when complete, will combine the best of both Proxim's and Terabeam's Wi-Fi technology offerings, Duffy said. Proxim brings to the party its arsenal of WLAN products, multi-point broadband wireless gear and network management software. Terabeam boasts a similar product line.
"There are about 20 products now. And on the multi-point side there is a little bit of redundancy," Duffy said. "We haven't said yet how we will rationalize that, but we will whittle it down to a common set of brands over the next six months."
Devising the new channel program also has presented challenges, Duffy said. While the old Proxim was channel-friendly, Terabeam was mainly a direct player, albeit one that saw the value of the channel. "Terabeam's direct channel was problematic, but they wanted to change to a distribution model, and that's what they did," Duffy said.
Joe Wargo, vice president of business development WiFi Connective, a Proxim partner in Rocklin, Calif., said the transition went smoothly. "They did a great job of keeping us informed, and we still had a few deals on the table."
Proxim Wireless has added a third, Platinum, tier to what used to be Proxim's bi-level channel program, a move that doubles margins, Wargo said. The higher margins should make up for incentives that have been removed from the program, such as discounts for jobs in education.
But Wargo would like to see a bit more discipline from the vendor when it comes to making sure that VARs are involved in every sale.
"I'd like to see them turn more of their internal leads over to their Platinum partners," Wargo said. "And I would love for them to keep away from the online sales space: It commoditizes the products. You have to understand, it takes engineering and services expertise to do these jobs, and selling online or allowing the CDWs of the world to sell direct without someone like us adding services is not good."
Proxim Wireless now has twice the field sales force of the old Proxim, and added an expanded range of incentive and promotion packages to the program, which is guided by a newly formed VAR council, the vendor said.
JENNIFER HAGENDORF FOLLETT contributed to this story.