BelAir Networks, a supplier of Wi-Fi networks, has raised $2 million through T-Mobile Venture Fund, bringing to $24 milllion its total funding since the Ontario, Canada-based company was founded in 2001. T-Mobile Venture Fund is managed by T-Venture, the VC arm of Deutsche Telekom AG.
BelAir Vice President of Marketing Phil Belanger says the company will use the money to ramp up its sales and marketing through its two distribution channels: systems integrators, of which the company has about 20 partners, and service providers.
“Our hope is we don’t have to go for more VC money,” Belanger said in an interview at CTIA Wireless 2004 in Atlanta. The privately held company previously garnered investments through JPMorgan Partners, VenGrowth Capital Partners and BDC Venture Capital.
On Monday BelAir disclosed it would provide its wireless LAN platforms to municipalities in Des Moines, Iowa, Show Low, Ariz., and Lincoln, Neb. The cities are using the wireless networks for different reasons. For example, the police and fire departments in Show Low – a mountain town in eastern Arizona - are using the network to maintain communications between mobile units and databases at city hall, Belanger says. In Lincoln, a network will be used to link dispersed city offices and act as a redundant link for other wired networks.
BelAir is installing the platform called the BelAir200 in all three cities through AxtellTech Wholesale Inc., a systems integrator. The multiservice platform can be mounted outdoors on light poles, and projects into buildings covering up to 30 stories, Belanger says. BelAir has been shipping the product for about a month.
The BelAir200 costs between $4,000 and $9,000, Belanger says, but he adds that service providers can slash expenses on backhaul costs because there is only a need for one wired connection: numerous devices within a mile or more can be interconnected wirelessly.
On Monday BelAir also announced expanding its product portfolio with the BelAir100. Belanger says the product represents a way to cover a building indoors at a lower cost. The BelAir100 is simpler, more compact and less expensive than the BelAir200, according to the company. The product will be available for initial deployments in July.
