Proxim reorganizes internally to expand external focus

Broadband wireless vendor Proxim has reorganized its management to tighten its internal operating focus and free key executives to pursue external relationships that build its increasingly coordinated wireless LAN and WAN businesses.

David King has moved from president and COO to a new position as vice chairman, continuing to report to Chairman and CEO Jonathan Zakin, who assumes president and COO responsibilities while the company searches for a new executive. Additionally, Amir Zoufonoun, vice president and general manager of the WAN Division, has moved to executive vice president of WAN strategy and business development.

The company consolidated its WAN division under Kevin Duffy and its LAN division under Angela Champness, bringing appropriate product lines under those umbrellas.

“The plan has always been to beef up the functions in the division and to make the company more divisionalized,” said Zakin, noting this will enable King to “focus on building the top line.”

Proxim has been promoting a wireless WAN-LAN scenario that takes advantage of both fixed broadband and Wi-Fi technologies and allows users to move within different wireless networking spheres. The strategy is starting to get attention in education and healthcare markets where “we are able to bundle WAN bridging products along with in-building distribution of the LAN products,” said Zakin. The company is on target to build a product that combines the technologies in 2003, he said.

The reorganization was facilitated when Champness joined the company with ORiNOCO and Duffy came over from Siemens and was seen as a way to refocus wide area businesses acquired via Western Multiplex and Agere’s ORiNOCO LAN products.

“We made substantial progress in the last three months in putting together the three companies and we’ve actually made tremendous progress in reducing the cost structure of the companies to right-size the organization to meet the current market environment,” King said.

That right-sizing included the elimination of about 100 employees over the last three months, bringing Proxim down to about 450 workers dealing with what Zakin described as “what is still a very difficult market for us.”

Proxim also reaffirmed its financial guidance for the fourth quarter during the conference call this morning.