Cambium Networks brings High Quality products with Affordability to customers

After becoming independent from Motorola Solutions in 2011, Cambium Networks has always been working towards connecting people, places and things, justifying the company’s vision “Connect the Unconnected”. The company also focusses on offering affordable quality products which is a result of the company’s relentless effort towards innovating products. While discussing about the values and focus of the company with VARINDIA, Atul Bhatnagar, CEO, Cambium Networks, also mentions about the key verticals, investment plans and importance of R&D and innovation.

With a vision to connect the unconnected, Cambium Networks has understood the needs of Indian customers. In a price-sensitive country like India, customers always look for both quality and price. So understanding the customer’s requirements, the company has designed affordable products through innovation.    

“Our vision is ‘Connect the Unconnected – People, Places and Things’. We focus a lot on products with affordable prices and high quality. So affordable quality is a key strategy because for Indian market you need quality products which work in variety of temperature, moisture, rain, icy conditions. So what we have done is we design the products which are affordable through innovations and yet we keep the quality of the product very high. That is our formula for winning,” explains Atul Bhatnagar, CEO, Cambium Networks. 

Key verticals

The verticals that are important for the company are service providers, energy grid, oil & gas, smart city, etc. Cambium helps to aggregate and transport data wirelessly with a coverage capacity of two metres to 245 kms.  

“The key segments are wireless internet service providers, especially for developing cities. The big service providers are providing business-to-business connectivity. Other segments include energy grid, oil & gas because wherever there is telemetry, wherever there is data to be brought back in to the applications or headquarters or cloud, our products are used because they can bring the data wirelessly. Indoor-outdoor Wi-Fi, hotspots, smart city are some other segments. The smart city has a lot of data which generates within a city which has to be aggregated and transported wirelessly. We can cover two metres to 245 kms so that brings a good territory to provide the loop, the fabric and it can transport the data,” says Bhatnagar.  

R&D and Innovation

Cambium Networks has its innovation centre in Bangalore with a capacity of around 200 people who design global products of quality and affordability. 

“We have a strong presence in Bangalore and our engineers are innovating to offer affordable products which are not easy. It is easy to make expensive products with quality, but it’s tough to make affordable and yet high-quality products. We will have strength of over 200 people soon in Bangalore Research and Development (R&D) Centre. For our company, it’s a pretty strong size and it is also designing global products. The India R&D Centre is not just providing high-quality products at an affordable price but also innovative products,” states Bhatnagar.

Few factors drive innovation in the company. Customer requirements, emerging technology, standards, etc play an important role behind innovation.   

“Innovation in our company happens by three-four different paths. First, the engineers come up with an innovative idea and they decide, peruse and experiment in the lab. Sometimes, they succeed and at times they fail. When they succeed, it gives us a base for innovation. Second, sometimes customer requirements drive us. If a customer says we are in a noisy condition then we have to design products which can connect a link in a very noisy condition. Third, it’s the new technology which is emerging on the horizon by the chip makers as they are designing the next- generation chip which gives us more processing power, memory, bandwidth. Sometimes, innovations happen due to new chips and hardware. Fourth, it is due to new emerging standards. While everyone will use the standard, it needs innovation to make it supportable, diagnosable. So, all these four areas drive innovation in Cambium Networks,” highlights Bhatnagar. 

Talking about the latest innovation, he adds, “cnMedusa is the most important innovation of Cambium Networks because that is world’s first 14/14 massive mu MIMO and that access point does seven conversations at the same point in a 20 megahertz band. It is our most sophisticated innovation. We have deployed 3,000 Medusa units worldwide.”  

Investment plans

While discussing about the investment plans of the company, he mentions, “The Indian market will be our biggest target and we spend 16-17% of the revenue on research and development. India is a growing market and there is a lot of opportunity for channel partners and those who provide affordable quality.” 

Tags: Cambium Networks, atul bhatnagar ceo cambium networks, atul bhatnagar, varindia, Connect the Unconnected, Key verticals, R&D and Innovation, Investment plans, Indian market,