Vivato lands deals, cuts jobs

Vivato Inc. announced two big deals this week, plus took steps to cut costs by laying off seven workers at its Spokane Valley research and development office.

Vivato makes wireless “smart antennas” and other devices for creating large indoor or outdoor networks. The privately held company has landed major investments from several Silicon Valley venture capital firms.

Currently, Vivato has about 60 workers in Spokane, and another about 10 people in its headquarters in San Francisco.

The company has just concluded a deal to provide its equipment to the St. Pete Times Forum, the primary indoor sports and entertainment venue in Tampa, Fla.

The 660,000-square-foot, seven-level facility will use Vivato equipment to cover the entire area with a wireless data network, according to a Vivato press release. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The forum hosts about 150 events a year, including all home games of the NHL hockey team, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The second Vivato deal involves the sale of six outdoor base stations to Columbia Energy, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Columbia Rural Electric Association, a cooperative utility that serves about 3,000 customers in Walla Walla, Columbia and Umatilla counties.

Columbia Energy will use Spokane-based 180Networks to provide wireless services and manage billing. Vivato is providing the hardware and support services, said Kevin Lamb, vice president of marketing for the company. Again, terms were not disclosed.

The area to be covered in the wireless network will be about 3,700 square miles, said Lamb.

Among several uses, the network will allow residents and area farmers to collect remote data about water use, weather and power consumption, said Lamb.

Despite the new deals, Vivato managers are trimming operating costs by eliminating seven local jobs and about a half-dozen contract workers, Lamb added.

The seven jobs cut in Spokane are in engineering and marketing, he said. Among those laid off was Siavash Alamouti, who had been hired in February as Vivato’s chief technology officer. Alamouti, reached by phone, said the move was prompted by Vivato managers focusing on short-term revenue instead of long-term development of future wireless products.

“I will continue with Vivato as a consultant for now,” Alamouti said.

Lamb said that Vivato expects to see continued revenue and customer growth over the coming year. In that case, he expects the company to be filling more positions in sales, marketing and support.