MORRISVILLE -- On the morning of Aviat Networks' coming out party, more than a hundred workers assembled in the company break room, most of them still unaware of their employer's new name.
The workers were treated to a tightly choreographed corporate rebranding event Thursday at the company's Morrisville headquarters. As executives led the group in pronouncing the company's new name, the rank-and-file intoned "ah-vee-aht" in a ragged chorus. Applause followed their CEO's videotaped pep talk, a message that was broadcast to more than 30 company offices worldwide.
Then the employees received strict marching orders: Erase all traces of our previous, 3-year-old name from the office by the end of the day. That meant taking coffee mugs, packaging materials and marketing items out of the office or to the trash. It meant ordering new business cards, changing e-mail signatures and re-recording voice mail greetings.
As attentive employees sipped juice and munched cake, the corporate signage was switched on the building entrance off Davis Drive.
By midmorning, Harris Stratex had ceased to exist.
"We will de-brand the office today," said Keith Donahue, Aviat's vice president for global network services. "We don't want to have things visible that customers - or even peers - will see that is connected to the old name."
Even as Aviat officials touted the company's new focus, they referred to the company's 50-year legacy in radio technology and wireless communications. Aviat makes the technology that transmits wireless connections from cell phone towers to their next destination, whether it's a central office or another relay station.
In the past few years, Aviat has adapted to the changing business landscape by shifting strategy from selling stationary hardware to selling communications software and data management services.
The company's customers includegiant telecommunications providers such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless, as well as municipal police and fire agencies that use two-way communications.
The company in its current configuration was formed as a publicly traded company in 2007 with the merger of Harris Corp.'s Microwave Communications and Stratex Networks. Last year Harris Corp. said it would spin off its controlling interest in the company's stock, which forced the company to change its name.
It also forced the company to build its own network operations center in Morrisville, since Harris Corp. would be keeping its own facility in Florida. Aviat's center, or NOC, monitors communications network outages and other glitches for five customers, but sales teams are pushing to sign more contracts.
Last year Harris Stratex staffed up the NOC by hiring several key people from Nortel Networks, the company in bankruptcy protection that had operated a larger round-the-clock monitoring center in Research Triangle Park.
Aviat was selected from more than 1,000 suggestions submitted by employees and consultants. Other names under consideration are being kept secret.
The synthetic name, which means absolutely nothing, is designed to evoke an agile technology innovator.
Aviat is counting on business from wireless carriers that are upgrading their networks to handle the surge of texting, music, video and other wireless downloads to cell phones and devices like BlackBerries and iPads.
Aviat is poised "to capitalize on the mobile Internet tsunami," Donahue said. "This is what's driving our business at the present time."
CEO Harald Braun was in New York Thursday morning to ring the opening bell at the Nasdaq stock exchange to celebrate the new name and ticker symbol. The company's 1,500 employees, including about 250 in Morrisville, listened to Braun's videotaped message at their offices or from home.
Wall Street analysts are keen on Aviat, despite its shaky performance over the past few years. In 2008 Harris Stratex was forced to restate earnings, which resulted in a shareholder lawsuit.
Last year the company withdrew from a potential $4 million in state grants for meeting hiring goals, after having qualified and received $442,343 of the money.
The company's stock has tumbled from more than $22 a share when the Harris Stratex merger was completed to $3.09 last year. It closed at $7.34 Thursday, down 18 cents.
Aviat "is very much a turn-around story," said Stephen Ferranti, an analyst at the Stephens firm in Little Rock, Ark. "The company has new management, a new name and brand within the last 18months."
It's the market leader in its category in North America, and the fourth-largest provider globally. The company's biggest market is in Africa.
Ilya Grozovsky, who follows Aviat's stock for the MorganJoseph firm in New York, said Aviat is a much different company from the one that restated earnings.
Even though the company has reported losses for the past five years, Grozovsky said that its balance sheet is strong, with $137 million in cash and little debt. The operating income was $12 million for the past calendar year and Grozovsky projects $14 million for 2010.
"It's only a matter of time," he said. "If the carriers don't improve their networks, then the quality of service becomes poor and customers get upset and switch service."
