Perhaps wise precautions, especially if your exposure is primarily enterprise/consumer WiFi and FTTH as opposed to FWA. But “Cambium as a whole is on life support and only has weeks left” may be overblown.
Hey, Mimosa is still around. New owner, but still around. And I wouldn’t put Mimosa in the same class with Cambium. And news that a company these days cut staff by 50% isn’t that shocking. I just hope they didn’t let AI decide who to fire, DOGE-style. Available info suggests a more strategic restructuring. That’s the part that hasn’t yet been fully revealed. I think Cambium felt they had to become an everything company like Ubiquiti, but couldn’t pull it off. Look at Tarana on the other hand, which is pretty much a one trick pony. In the long run, which is the best business strategy? Hard to tell. Especially with VC and PE money that sometimes funds stupid stuff. From: AF <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Zach Underwood Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2026 1:14 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] RIP Cambium Networks? We are treating Cambium as a whole is on life support and only has weeks left. * We have told vendors where we have pending orders of cambium wifi APs not to ship us any. * We are standing up on site cnmaestro server in one of our datacenters * We are working with what staff is left to get permanent licenses for our over 8k APs. * We are already having talks with Extreme and Arista about their wifi APs and controllers. * We got our first xgpon project using cambium that should go live before the end of the year, we are now looking for other vendors. On Tue, Sep 15, 2026 at 1:32 PM Ken Hohhof <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Go to their reception but put some money in the tip jar? But gallows humor aside, it’s probably difficult walking the thin line between “business as usual” and “being frugal”. A robust trade show presence might be important both for customers and potential buyers assuming they’re trying to find a buyer for part or all of the business. It doesn’t help preserve the asset value for creditors if you stop selling your products. If I’m understanding the situation correctly, the UK subsidiary is in “administration”, but Cambium Networks the parent is a US corporation and not in bankruptcy proceedings at least at this time. It seems clear that top management waited too long to take some extreme cost cutting measures, either some creditors forced their hand, or they literally couldn’t keep the lights on and make payroll, like a pilot who ejects just as the plane hits the ground. The cashflow situation couldn’t have been a mystery, so I doubt they were counting on booking some big sale or a bunch of BEAD driven revenue. One could speculate they have been trying to sell off some parts or the business or some product lines or maybe the whole company, and they just ran out of time. Maybe they thought they had a buyer and it fell through. Although it’s common for buyers to make the seller do the bloodletting before the sale. Anyway, I am not familiar with the UK version of bankruptcy. I’ve had some customers in Chapter 11 here in the US. They were actually good risks because all expenses had to be approved by an administrator or the bank or something so the checks were like cashiers checks, they never bounced, all expenses were pre approved and the cash was already there. Money owed from before they declared bankruptcy was another story. So in the US we have Chapter 11 which is usually “Debtor in Possession” where management continues running the business but needs outside approval for any major expenses. Or the company can be run by an outside administrator or trustee representing the creditors. Then there is Chapter 7 which is liquidation. I get the impression that administration in this case is either like Chapter 11 with outsiders running the company, or Chapter 7, not sure which. They make it sound like a store that has closed and they’re selling off the fixtures to make partial payments to creditors. I think Cambium had or has R&D in Ashburton. I’m not sure what they did there, and if it’s part of the UK subsidiary. Presumably that goes back to the Orthogon acquisition, but I don’t know what else they might have designed there. I know when I buy PMP450 or ePMP products, the box says Cambium Networks, Ashburton, UK. For all I know they were just assigning the revenue to their UK subsidiary to dodge US income taxes. Not sure that matters if you’re reporting a loss. I will say I’ve done my part recently to help Cambium survive, I’ve bought several license or unlock keys, which I assume are high margin if not pure profit items. Kind of like contributing to the Cambium GoFundMe. Unfortunately my company is very small so I can’t make much of a dent in their payroll or rent or utility bills. Probably the WISPAPALOOZA costs have already been paid. They still have to pay travel and lodging to staff the booth and other events. Maybe they can fly Spirit Airlines? I’m guessing they will show up. Whether to sell products or to sell the whole company, they have to put a team on the field and score some points. It sounds like some product lines might be getting the axe. In which case they would be furiously reworking their trade show strategy. Promoting a product you’re discontinuing would not be good. If I were going (I’ve never gone to the Vegas shows and I’m not going to start now at age 76), I would be grilling them about things like EVO and 450v/ePMP convergence, which is a story I never bought in the first place. They handed the Cambium QOE product back to Bequant, so they seem open to revising some of their plans, maybe not trying to be everything to everybody. Maybe the best thing show attendees can do to help Cambium is to give their product managers and top mgmt our unvarnished view of what they need to do and not do. Steve Jobs was famous for selling people things they didn’t yet know they needed. I don’t think anybody at Cambium right now is a Steve Jobs. We’ve all seen things at stores that any random person on the street could look at and say that will never sell, that’s a stupid idea. And we’ve all seen radios that any field tech could say is poorly designed and a pain in the butt to install. Or radios that no residential customer would let us install on their house. Cambium can’t afford any mistakes like that. Although I have to remember they have government customers who are not like WISPs. Brutally honest feedback from customers might be the best help they could get right now. Just my opinion, worth every penny you paid for it. From: AF <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > On Behalf Of Cameron Crum Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2026 10:10 AM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] RIP Cambium Networks? Sadly, I think you are correct. On Tue, Sep 15, 2026 at 7:01 AM David Hannum via AF <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: I guess that means I should make alternative dinner plans for Monday night at WISPAPALOOZA as Cambium had a reception planned . . . . We'll see . . . On Mon, Sep 14, 2026 at 5:45 PM Josh Luthman <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Half of the company was fired - no severance pay. On Mon, Sep 14, 2026 at 1:16 AM Ken Hohhof <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: This seems to be news out of the UK and from one person who has been let go. Some of the statements would seem to apply globally, but maybe we should wait for the light of day and see what comes out. This may be the source for some of the speculation: https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/09/wireless-uk-broadband-company-cambium-networks-falls-into-administration.html It sounds like administration is Brit speak for what we would call Chapter 11? But also they’re talking about the UK subsidiary. Years ago I worked at a company that did an IPO and I learned from all the nonsense on the Yahoo message boards not to assume everyone knew what they were talking about. Like big news flash, the board meeting was moved to Florida. Well, it was because one board member has an ear infection and couldn’t fly. Then some amateur sleuth discovered the board meeting was extended by a day. Turns out since it was moved to Florida, some on the board wanted a day to play golf. Then the CEO sold some stock. Reason was he was building a fancy new house. Maybe the speculation is all true. Nothing I would do in response can’t wait a few days. Unless you’re placing bets on prediction markets. From: AF <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > On Behalf Of Colin Stanners Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2026 10:30 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: [AFMUG] RIP Cambium Networks? It seems to be RIP for Cambium Networks, born in 2011 (when the Canopy/Orthogon products were spun off from Motorola, who had started selling those around 2002) to 2026. As well as its acquisitions Orthogon / PipingHot Networks and Xirrus. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/carljefferys_cambium-networks-appears-to-have-collapsed-share-7505055774495100929-X72q/ https://blog.j2sw.com/technology/an-open-letter-about-the-implosion-of-cambium-networks/ When I started in the WISP industry around 20 years ago, I found their products' good engineering, reliability and scalability a wonderful asset to help build a WISP. Since that time the products have increased greatly in bandwidth capability and the company's products and its hard-working employees have been a big contributor of my work life. Unless something magical comes in to save them, this will be then end and a big loss for the industry and a big reconsideration for our networks. -- AF mailing list [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- Zach Underwood (RHCE,RHCSA,RHCT,UACA) My website <http://zachunderwood.me> advance-networking.com <http://advance-networking.com>
-- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
