John,
You made some good points. However, I don't think the problem is an issue of
brand, but more an issue of not creating certain types of problems in
network design. In a sale, someone that takes over your network needs to be
able to manage it, and more so need to be able to find personelle capable to
manage it on an ongoing basis. And for National companies, they need an easy
way to keep track of it and maintain it remotely. As long as those problems
are solved, it really doesn't matter what brand the equipment is.
A company's worth is most commonly, judged by its revenue, profitability,
and ability to retain its subscriber base. In Wireless, it is more of an
issue, that the technology deployed will have the longevity to allow the
buyer to get their ROI, if a high value it to be put on the actualy
hardware. In many cases I have argued, that the equipment has little value,
as its understood that it would likely be replaced down the road anyway,
with the newer technology of the time. Its easy for buyers to say, they
want you to have a name brand equipment as a preference. What they don't
tell you, is that its more of a priority that you are a profitable cash flow
positive company. Financing expensive gear out to the wazoo, for 5 years,
definately has a huge impact on a WISP's ability to be profitable and cash
flow positive. So what good is it to have a high valuation for your
equipment, if you in return get a low valuation of your profitability? In my
case, I had a much higher valuation than normal, not using name brand gear,
as my infrastructure was all paid for, and all revenue from sales converted
directly to profit, apposed to going out the window to leases. I also, had
a management platform that solved certain business case problem, that could
not be solved without our proprieatary management system. That had a
positive value, not a negative value. Its the WISP's responsibility to
prove its case of why its network has value over others, the buyer isn't
going to do that for you. Advisors for aquisition don't really know how to
evaluate WISPs either, they aren't technical, and don't know the issues in
the industry that exist. Whats most important is to develop a strong
financial picture for your company. That often can't be done paying to much
for gear, to early in the growth stages.
However, with that said, few buyers are going to want to buy illegal gear or
Non-certified gear, jsut from a liability perspective.
It takes more effort to justify worth, when not using name brand gear,
however that does not make a network based on non-name brand gear, less
valueable. If a business case can be proven as a preferred way to do
business, that really all that matters.
So John, I'd add to your comment, the goal is that WISPs should think about
how they are going to position themselve from a value point of view, before
making a buying decission on hardware. A few extra dollars upfront, may
make a bunch of extra dollars at exit time.
There are so many ways to look at it. There were WISPS that boasted higher
value because they bought state of the art like VIVATO, but now their
networks are worhtless, with the manufacturer discontinuing product, likely
in bankrupcy. Or maybe a WISP considered name brand to be the product of
choice, only to learn later that Wifi and mobility become the technology of
the future, and Name brand fixed technology then would ahve a lower value.
Or a product like Trango could be chosen justified as a flexible product to
allow the WISP be last man standing.
What I've found is that no body wants to buy your gear for the price you
paid for it. They can build it cheaper and better today with newer
technology. So why go in debt, financing gear? What they want to pay you
for, is the revenue you arelikely to receive, and growth rate that you have
proven based on existing financials. To buy expensive gear, you need a lot
more sales, to make it all work on the balance sheets. And you need a cash
flow model for your business, in an industry that is typically under funded.
If your non-name brand gear, gives you a cash flow model that works, that
may be more valuable for your business's success, growth rate, and the value
proposition being sold to the buyer.
It also depends on a WISPs posible exit strategies. If the target buyers are
Telcos, they probably would be more interested in buying name brand gear
networks. Just because cost doesn't tend to be a problem for them, with
their ability to finance out long term. But the best way to make money in a
sell out, is to spend as little as possible, and get as many customers as
possible as quickly as you can. The last thing you want to do is make
purcahsing decissions that could inhibit that goal. The bottom line is a
buyer would choose to buy your revenue any day of the week over your gear.
The cost to procure customers, and time to market to take them on, is more
costly usually than the gear that serves them. Once you ahve client base,
they can afford and can predict future revenue, to justify replacing gear
and getting funds to finance it.
Just my 2 cents.
Tom DeReggi
RapidDSL & Wireless, Inc
IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Scrivner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 1:00 AM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] Legal Radio and Antenna Combos - Arethere anyin
existance?
I can tell you from past experience it is a good idea to find a good brand
and use it. One of the things I learned at the WCA show a couple of weeks
ago was that if you want to have a business worth selling later you had
better consider using one high-quality well-known platform instead of a
hodge-podge of radio solutions. Alvarion is definitely one of those "good"
brands. There are others but I am betting that many out there would choose
to go with Alvarion from the start if they had it all to do over again.
With that said I will not discount the value I have seen in others out
there like Trango, Tranzeo, Waverider, Mikrotik, Star-OS, etc. The trouble
is though that it is rare to find one brand with one management interface
(All FCC System Certified as well) for all the different platforms you will
need as a WISP. With Alvarion (and few if any others) you can literally
build your entire network on one trusted platform. I went to an Alvarion
sponsored conference on WiMAX triple play offerings in Washington D.C last
week. that was very informative but was NOT the reason I said what I did
about Alvarion. There was a company who specialized in WISP acquisitions at
the WCA show that described the most important factors in determining the
value of a company. One of the negatives about WISP operations was
generally the frequent use of a "hodge-podge" of different incompatible
platforms of radios. They stated this was a very big problem for WISP
valuations. They said that using one good brand of radios was a good way to
make your system worth its highest value. Just some food for thought here
guys. Especially anyone who might have funding but is new to running a
WISP. Rolling your own solution is not always the best way to go and can
actually hurt your efforts in many cases. Find a good brand and stick to
it.
Scriv
Kurt Fankhauser wrote:
The more you think about it the more you are going to find reasons not
to do it, what you have to do is just jump in and do it. Once you do you
will know what you want to do. Its like sky diving, you have to just
jump into it, if you stand up there and question it you will just freeze
up and not go anywhere.
Kurt Fankhauser
WAVELINC
114 S. Walnut St.
Bucyrus, OH 44820
419-562-6405
www.wavelinc.com
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Jason Wallace
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 8:45 AM
To: WISPA General List
Subject: Re: [WISPA] Legal Radio and Antenna Combos - Are there anyin
existance?
Marlon,
What would you suggest? I am afraid of proprietary stuff because I
don't know enough industry history to understand the players.
Jason
Marlon K. Schafer (509) 982-2181 wrote:
Hiya Jason,
Why not just buy ISP grade product? Then you don't have to worry about
all of this.
AND at 2.4 the CLIENT side isn't limited to 36 dB. It starts there with
a 30 dB radio with a 6 dB antenna. For every one db of radio tx dB you
drop you can go up 3 dB of antenna gain.
Marlon
(509) 982-2181 Equipment sales
(408) 907-6910 (Vonage) Consulting services
42846865 (icq) And I run my own
wisp!
64.146.146.12 (net meeting)
www.odessaoffice.com/wireless
www.odessaoffice.com/marlon/cam
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jason"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <wireless@wispa.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 12:26 PM
Subject: [WISPA] Legal Radio and Antenna Combos - Are there any in
existance?
Everyone,
I am at my wits end. I have searched high and low for a mini-pci
radio & sector antenna combo for an 802.11b AP that are legal under the
current FCC rules, which by my interpretation are:
1. Total output is 36 dbm or less.
2. Antenna characteristics must be the same as an antenna that has been
approved for use with that radio, where TYPE refers to antennas with
SIMILAR in and out of band radiation patterns.
3. Antenna gain must be equal to or less than the maximum the radio has
been approved to work with.
I can NOT find a radio that is approved for any antenna with real gain.
I don't want to mind just the SPIRIT of the law, but the law itself.
What combos are you other guys who like building your own system. I
want to put together a Mikrotik with 3 radios and sectors for an AP.
The sectors I am looking at are:
Antenna Gain Width Pol
WRW2400-VF/A/H 13dbi 120 H
http://www.winncom.com/moreinfo/item/WRW2400-VF/A/H/index.html
DT-AN-24-120H-135 13.5 120 H
https://www.demarctech.com/products/reliawave-antennas/2_4Ghz/DT-AN-24-1
20H-135.html
DT-AN-24-60120V-1521 15 120 V
https://www.demarctech.com/products/reliawave-antennas/2_4Ghz/DT-AN-24-A
S-60120V-2115.html
HyperGainR HG2417P-120 17dbi 120 V
http://www.hyperlinktech.com/index.php
Teletronics 19 120 H
http://www.teletronics.com/antenna2-419dBSector.html
Teletronics 22 140 H
http://www.teletronics.com/antenna2-422dBidirectional.html
I am sorry if this table doesn't wrap well on some email clients.
I am still looking for a 18 dbi HZ pol antenna with FCC certs because
I think it can be used with a DT-RWZ-200mW-WC, although it is pcmcia
and I'll have to figure out how to use it with a 500 series RB (Note,
there are foreign antennas that have 18 dbi, but don't come with FCC
certs; see my last post). As far as I can tell, the CM9's can't be used
anywhere.
Ideally, I would like to use the 22 dbi Teletronics in my application
with a 14dbm radio for the greatest receive gain. Or at least a HZ
polarized antenna with decent gain.
Anyway, can someone please help. I appreciate those of you who have
helped me to even reach this point.
Jason Wallace
WISP startup
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