Wilson Connectivity (formerly Wilson Electronics) is positioning itself as a key player in addressing the complex connectivity needs of modern enterprises. In this interview, CEO Bruce Lancaster sits down to discuss the company's transformation and its role in shaping the future of wireless connectivity.
During the discussion, Lancaster highlights the increasing complexity of wireless networks, from the early days of 2G and Wi-Fi to today's multifaceted ecosystem encompassing Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and public networks spanning frequencies from 600 MHz to 29 GHz millimeter wave solutions. This complexity, coupled with enterprises' growing demands for data, security, and seamless connectivity, has reshaped the industry landscape.
Wilson Connectivity's evolution reflects these changes. The company has expanded from producing simple two-band repeaters to offering sophisticated solutions like the Enterprise 4330 wideband and channelized optimizer, the Enterprise 1398, C-band amplifier, Zinwave Hybrid and Active DAS and, most recently, Wilson Connectivity Private 5G. These innovations allow for unprecedented connectivity speeds and throughput for single to multiple carriers in a single venue.
With its broadened focus and innovative solutions, Wilson Connectivity is poised to play a crucial role in shaping the future of wireless connectivity, ensuring that enterprises can navigate the complex wireless landscape with confidence and ease.
Tune into the full conversation with Lancaster to find out more!
Mitch Wagner:
This is Mitch Wagner. I'm Chief Analyst for Fierce Network Research and I'm happy to be joined today by Bruce Lancaster, who is the Chief Executive Officer at Wilson Connectivity, which was until recently known as Wilson Electronics, and that's part of what we're going to be talking about today. Welcome Bruce. Thank you for joining us, and please tell us a little bit about yourself,
Bruce Lancaster:
Mitch, it's a pleasure to be here and great to spend some time with you. So I'm the CEO, Bruce Lancaster of Wilson Connectivity, as you said, formerly known as Wilson Electronics. It's been a great journey that we've had over the last 20 years, and the name change is part of that journey. Our change from electronics to connectivity really underscores the evolution in communication that many of the people in the world are seeing. It's really the underpinning of life and business. People have greater demands for data, higher security needs, and the network has gotten way more complex and really, we are becoming the connectivity solution provider for the world, and that's hence why we went from this monumental name change.
Mitch Wagner:
What are we seeing as the important trends in the state of wireless today?
Bruce Lancaster:
Well, as I mentioned on the introduction, the complexity in the connectivity solutions is just growing by leaps and bounds. In the past, if you think about the 2G networks going way back, it was really two bands. You had Wi-Fi, and 2G networks. And now if you look at the connectivity needs of the industry, you have everything from Bluetooth to Wi-Fi to public networks that span many, many bands from the low frequency, seven, 600 megahertz bands, all the way up to 29 gigahertz millimeter wave solutions. So we're seeing incredible explosion of needs from the enterprises in these connectivity solutions and understanding. So there's also a greater convergence of the interconnectedness of these networks. The enterprises will very often integrate public, private and Wi-Fi networks in the same building, and the users don't know what they're connecting to, they just want to be connected. They just want to make sure that they have mission-critical connectivity at all times without the hassle and the challenges of figuring that out themselves.
So an example, maybe a hospital staff moving through a hospital. As they go from one part to the building to the other, patient's records and the security needed for that is really important, and yet the patient wants to have their public phone working, but it may not be advantageous to have that on the same critical network that's being responsible for patient's records and patient care. We're also seeing in research, the organizations are having difficulties in keeping up with all of these changing demands, and the pace of those new connectivity needs is really challenging many, many enterprises. And that's where Wilson Connectivity really comes in. We're the solution provider that can help simplify and pull all of that together.
Mitch Wagner:
And how are these changing trends changing the buyer decision-making process and actions?
Bruce Lancaster:
Yeah, that's a great question. The challenges with this complexity, the buyers are being more confused. They're not necessarily radio experts, they're not necessarily experts in all of these various technologies and what's most appropriate for their needs. There's lots of connectivity needs from IOT to two-way voice to high-speed video and enormous data needs. So the buyers are not experts in all of these various communication and connectivity solutions. They need help from companies like Wilson to help them through that journey. They need solution providers that can help them ferret between the various methodologies of connecting their services because one... Wi-Fi is a great example of very ubiquitous, very easy for users to connect to, but it may not be as secure as the buyers are looking for. The public cellular is great, it's super secure, but you're relying on the carriers in those public networks to provide that.
So they may be looking for alternative solutions for their needs, like private network that offers both security as well as the high bandwidth and low latency capabilities. But understanding all that technology is difficult, and that's where solution providers like Wilson can really help them in that journey.
Mitch Wagner:
Yeah, that leads to the next question of how the changing market trends change your role as a company.
Bruce Lancaster:
Yeah, so we've been in business well over 20 years providing connectivity solutions. In the past, the solutions were very simple. We used to have two band repeaters that we were able to sell to customers to improve that journey. Now we have a whole host of solutions that are helping in that solution set. So for example, we just launched a 4330 solution, which is a channelized product that really helps the enterprises target the specific frequencies that they want to allow in their building and maximize those capabilities. We just launched a 1398 product, which is one of the first broadband C-band repeaters. So the carriers really rolled out a mid-band spectrum, the C-band spectrum, and spent tens of billions of dollars on that spectrum and they're needing help to propagate that through buildings, and we're rising to that challenge and providing a solution.
We have a Zinwave solution, a fiber optic distribution system that is able to propagate signals through buildings from 150 megahertz all the way up to five gigahertz. And that wide band connectivity is, I would say, revolutionary in the industry to be able to provide all of those connectivity solutions over one fiber optic cable. An example of that is in a recent enterprise rollout, we were able to... There was a public venue in this enterprise space and multiple carriers wanted to have their signal and the enterprise wanted to have their signal propagated in this space. And we were able to provide simultaneous connection from both Verizon and AT&T as well as T-Mobile. But we were getting over 1.2 gigabit per second speeds on both Verizon and AT&T simultaneously in that space.
And I believe that that is a first. The enterprise who was a technology leader certainly had never seen that. AT&T was actually pretty surprised and impressed with that capability. And that happened because of the carrier aggregation, because of the mid-band propagation. So Wilson has adapted from that two-band repeater to a multi-broadband fiber optic distribution system that can carry multiple frequencies simultaneously to one venue and provide unparalleled speeds.
Mitch Wagner:
That's very interesting. Can you provide me some other examples of your new role as a company?
Bruce Lancaster:
Yeah. We've just launched a private 5G. So when you think about that story I just told about the public network carrying such high data rates into an in-building solution, one of the values that we can add is by launching a private network, and we will provide the radios, we'll provide the network management, we'll provide the entire solution to enterprises, and we can run that over the same fiber optic distribution system in a building. And that's really a unique value proposition that brings all that connectivity complexity down to one pipe. So we're able to provide two-way radio, public safety, LTE, 5G public networks at unparalleled speeds, as well as private networks over the same pipe. And that's just an incredible journey when you consider where we were 20 years ago, just as a consumer repeater company now to a leading enterprise provider of connectivity solutions that some of the best and top companies in the world rely on.
Mitch Wagner:
Let's look ahead. What are your hopes for the future of the industry and also for your company?
Bruce Lancaster:
Well, I'm really proud to be leading this company. I've been here for over nine years, and it's been an exceptional, good journey. I think the world is better when we're connected. I think the world is better when we have secure and safe connections and capabilities. I'm really proud that we're a US manufacturer, or actually I would say US and UK manufacturer. We have a factory in both Cambridge England as well as Utah, St. George Utah, where we produce all of our products, and that provides a level of security and confidence for our enterprises going forward.
There's a recent article in the Wall Street Journal that talked about the security risks with some of the communication systems that were being deployed in the world. And I'm really proud to be able to say that we can domestically provide leading technology solutions to the world and provide that confidence and security that the world depends on. We're a better place when we can talk. We're a better place when we can access our data in a safe and secure environment. So my hope is to continue to build on that experience we have and to keep driving our solutions forward that really simplifies the technology for the enterprises and really allows them to embrace whatever their needs are, and Wilson can provide those answers for them.
Mitch Wagner:
All right. Thank you very much.