Tell us something about Deltenna. When was the company founded, what is the background to its formation?
Deltenna was founded in 2002 by Andrew Fox, who has been CEO ever since. The company initially provided design services to a number of companies in the UK and abroad. Later on, with some customers, it started to manufacture low volume products (tens to hundreds) as well as designing them, and also sold these products to third parties. In the last two years Deltenna has begun develop products in its own right
How is the company funding its product development? Will it be looking to attract further investment in the future?
To date all of Deltenna's funding has come from reinvesting profits, combined with debt funding to cover working capital. As the company grows we are investigating other sources of funding.
These are technical products - how many development engineers does the company employ? Any plans to extend the headcount?
Deltenna employs a total of 6-7 development engineers out of a total headcount of 15, and these are usually augmented by several contractors.
Explain in more detail the company's technology platforms
Deltenna's main expertise is in antenna and radio technology and the integration of this with baseband processors. In the past this expertise has been applied to a range of niche products for professional wireless markets. Our new product, the WiBE (Wireless Broadband Enabler) has built on this core expertise to produce a product that is aimed at the mass market and will be produced in hundreds of thousands, if not millions.
When did you join Deltenna, what was the attraction?
I joined at the end of May 2010 and had consulted on strategy for about six weeks before that. I was attracted to join because Deltenna has a unique, differentiated product in the WiBE and I could see that my skills and experience, making high volume products and selling them to mobile operators, would be of significant benefit to the company.
When will the company's products hit the market?
As of November 2010, the WiBE is being sold to business customers in the UK and Ireland through distributors, initially Buzz Networks and Cetag respectively. Over the coming months it will become available in a greater number of geographies and through additional channels, including mobile operators.
Who are the target customers?
The target end customers are consumers and businesses in areas where wireline DSL coverage is poor or non-existent. And we'll reach these through distributors and mobile operators.
Do you sell the completed product or will you be licensing the technology to potential customers?
We sell completed products. There are a few examples of companies being successful by licensing their technology, but the reality is that the rewards are a lot higher for product companies; there are many times more ARM processors produced each year than Intel processors, yet ARM's annual revenues are less than $500 million, whereas Intel's are approaching $30 billion. If Deltenna licensed the WiBE we could expect to get 3-5% of the selling price of each device in royalties, whereas our gross margins on making and selling the WiBE are a lot more than that.
Which geographic markets do you expect to target first?
We've targeted Northern Europe first, simply because we're there, which makes things a lot easier. However, we now have prospects evaluating the WiBE in India, South Africa and the Middle East.
What regions do you think could most benefit from these?
The really big markets for the WiBE are in countries where the wireline infrastructure is poor or non-existent and where 3G or 4G cellular networks are being deployed. These include India and South America.
