Calabasas company makes a name in wi-fi industry; focus on municipal market gives firm an edge.

In the wireless network segment of the tech industry, sales are expected to hit the $3 billion to $4 billion range in the next five years.

Strix Systems, a Calabasas provider of wi-fi network equipment for municipalities and other users, is intent on getting its share.

"If we get just a little bit of that we'll be a fairly large company," said company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bruce Brown.

Even with the wi-fi market still in its relative infancy, Strix Systems pulls in the sales.

The company founded in 2000 by Brown and other investors landed in the No. 4 spot on the list of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal's 50 Fastest Growing Private Companies.

In 2005, the company had revenues of $1.4 million, or an 85 percent increase over the prior year.

As of June 30, the company had revenues of $6 million, quite a leap from 2004 when it posted revenues of only $762,000.

That growth is the result of three factors: good technology, an expanding market, and consumer demand.

"Those are the planets you want to see all aligned up at the same time," Brown said.

The revenue numbers indicate that Strix is tiding on the momentum of the industry as a whole and they are not falling behind competitors offering similar products, said Godfrey Chua, an analyst with IDC, a provider of marketing intelligence for the information technology sector.

With wi-fi still in its early stages, Strix is a serious player to watch, Chua said.

The wireless mesh technology employed by Strix for its municipal, military and other clients was not the first one developed by the company.

Early on, Brown and his partners set a course using Bluetooth as a wireless connector because of the number of portable devices that could use it.

But when it became obvious the technology would not be that useful, the company switched gears and started over.

"It would be a rare startup that didn't change course from its beginning to the time it's making product," Brown said.

Strix markets its multi-radio, multi-channel products under the name Access/One. The company has one patent for the technology, is nearing approval on two other patents, and still awaits review on eight others.

The equipment can be attached outdoors to light or telephone poles. Indoors, the boxes can sit on a desk or be attached to a wall or ceiling.

While IDC's Chua said it was hard to pick an industry leader, Strix Systems was up there in terms of its flexibility of its product portfolio.

The flexibility allows the company to make a play in a good number of market situations, Chua said.

"They can find something that fits you depending on the type of network you are trying to build," Chua said.

Municipal clients

Strix has deployed its wireless networks in Hermosa Beach, Tempe, Arizona, and overseas in India and China. The company is looking for municipal clients in the Valley, perhaps even in Calabasas, where it is headquartered, Brown said.

But while the firm has its fair share of municipal clients, it has also deployed its systems on passenger and military ships, hotels, airports, mines, racetracks, and football stadiums.

The North County Transit District in San Diego used a federal grant to install a Strix mesh wireless network along a quarter of its track as a way to place security cameras easier and cheaper.

"(Cell phone) service providers are becoming interested in how to deploy mesh technology to enhance their voice and data services," Brown said of still another use for Strix technology.

With Strix, Brown finds himself in charge at his fifth startup.

Strix Systems

Fastest Growing Company Under $5 Million (84.78%)

No. 4 Fastest Growing Company Overall

BY MARK R. MADLER

Staff Reporter