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Wednesday, Mar 27, 2024

Poised for Growth

Wireless access provider Xirrus is basking in the glow of expansion announcements and marketplace kudos as it eyes new market opportunities in Europe and Asia. The Thousand Oaks-based startup announced on Sept.18 it was launching operations in Germany. A week later, it revealed that it received $23.5 million in late-stage funding to back its international expansion and product development. A couple of days after that, it landed at No. 2 on the Wall Street Journal’s list of companies poised to be “The Next Big Thing.” Last week, it made its second appearance on Business Insider magazine’s list of the 100 Most Valuable Private Tech Companies. “Wi-Fi is on a tear,” said Dirk Gates, executive chairman and a co-founder of Xirrus. “It’s really changed from a nice add-on to a must-have, and we’ve been a big beneficiary of that.” Xirrus, which is nearing the exit of its startup stage, makes wireless array systems that provide dedicated lines of wireless access. Its primary competitor is industry leader Cisco Systems, which dominates the $3 billion Wi-Fi market and already has a firm foot in the international markets Xirrus is eyeing. According to Gates, the latest round funding will go toward investments in sales expansion, product development and a continued geographic push in Europe and exploring partnerships in Asia. “We hired a country manager for Germany last month,” Gates said. “Next we will probably need to hire a country manager for France.” Xirrus’ 2010 revenue was roughly $70 million. Seventy percent of the company’s sales are currently domestic and the rest are in concentrated areas of the United Kingdom, Northern Europe and Australia, according to CFO and co-founder Steve DeGennaro. While the company has not established any operations in Asia yet, Gates said that move is likely in the next few years. “We’re looking at partners and distributors that could help us get our foot in the door on offerings in Asia,” he said. The company also will likely establish an additional facility in the near future. Xirrus currently employs roughly 170 people, with between 80 and 85 working out of the Newbury Park office location. The remaining employees work from home offices or other field resources, including a presence in the Bay Area, DeGennaro said. “When we first started, we were over in Westlake, in a little corner office, subleasing from someone else,” DeGennaro recalled. Product Developments Xirrus’ primary product is a variety of wireless arrays that feature directional antennas and multiple radios, providing a stronger wireless signal to user’s devices. The systems have been secured for convention centers including the Jacob Javits Center in New York and the Moscone Center in San Francisco. While many of its clients employ installations as temporary setups for events, the company also has installed more permanent access systems at many locations, including at all 11 campuses in the Moorpark Unified School District and at Chaminade High School in West Hills. According to DeGennaro, clients also include large healthcare campuses such as Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. For Moorpark Unified School District, the move to Xirrus was seamless. “It’s just been a really nice partnership,” said Julie Judd, director of technology at Moorpark, which began installing Xirrus arrays three years ago. “The service has been very consistent. The whole thing is kind of a ‘set it and forget it.’” The district, which switched to Xirrus from a Cisco wireless service, now has 169 arrays installed and plans to order more. “The amount of time I’ve spent on the system in three years probably doesn’t add up to 24 hours,” said Judd. “I’ve just been so pleased with it.” She noted the only time an array has been broken since the installations was when kids in a gym repeatedly and purposefully bounced a basketball into it. “Even then, I just called up, ordered a new one, and it was quickly replaced,” she said. Gates said new product developments are on the horizon, including faster speeds from their systems. “We’re looking at being able to offer a higher speed that will finally be the speed of what you can get wired,” he said. Within the next few years, the company also will have expanded product lines that can get better Wi-Fi to all of its customers, he said, alluding to new product announcements within the next year. Last month, the company released its Splunk for Xirrus Wireless Arrays, a downloadable application that allows users to track the types of devices and traffic using their wireless signals.

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