Alvarion Ltd., a provider of optimized wireless broadband solutions addressing the connectivity, capacity, and coverage challenges of public and private networks, today announced the company has received IBM’s SAFE (Standard Architecture Framework for Energy) certification for its wireless broadband solution for Smart Grid connectivity. The Alvarion and IBM partnership offers power and water utilities, municipalities and telcos the strength of IBM—the industry’s leading systems integrator, software and hardware vendor—and the resilience of Alvarion—a leading 4G wireless broadband vendor—to support their Smart Grid network infrastructure requirements. The certification also marks a new step in the partnership between Alvarion and IBM in the Smart Utilities and Smart Cities markets.

IBM has formed partnerships with a limited number of market leaders in order to deliver a comprehensive end-to-end Smart Grid-ready solution offering that meets utilities’ needs on a global level. The Alvarion-IBM partnership offers customers the benefits of Alvarion’s best-of-breed wireless broadband connectivity solution, integrated with IBM’s Tivoli management platform to ensure a reliable, secure, and scalable Smart Grid network infrastructure solution. Tivoli will provide monitoring and fault management of the Alvarion wireless broadband infrastructure as part of the holistic management of the Smart Grid network, allowing the utility to achieve its Smart Grid project objectives within time and budget constraints.

Eran Gorev, Alvarion CEO and president, says, “IBM has been a long-term partner that we are proud to be associated with. This certification is also an important milestone in aligning our Smart Grid and Smart City offering to customer objectives, based on a holistic wireless connectivity approach that we are confident will bring benefits to our customers in this market.”

Alvarion’s powerful network infrastructure is a critical component of Smart Utilities and Smart City networks and a key enabler for successful deployment of applications that drive efficiency, enhanced services and cost reductions. Alvarion’s holistic approach to Smart Grid connectivity is founded on its reliable, scalable, secured and competitive Smart Grid connectivity offering, teamed with its unparalleled track record of successful long-term and large-scale wireless broadband deployments.