The one common thing both of our views share is firmware taking forever to mature a product line. I wonder how much that extended into every other part of the business. I've had PMP450 for a few years; it was mature before I got into it. I've been with EPMP since the GUI change around version 2.4.3, and every new release took several years to mature into a deployable product.
The 450V was way too expensive. I priced it out on release. Tarana was within spitting distance of it, and there was no 450MV at launch. At least MU-MIMO at scale would have prepared it for the speed plans people demand, but it's still vaporware today. They are still saying they hope FWA will be back after a short pause. Based on how they talked about it I was/is assuming they might be spun into their own unit instead of being parted out, especially with the cross licensing deal going on with Airspan - it just doesn't make much sense to me otherwise. On Fri, Sep 25, 2026 at 12:17 PM Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote: > I think our beliefs (mine anyway) about how profitable each product line > was needs to be flipped on its head. If it’s profitable, somebody would > buy it or invest in it. Apparently the numbers guys decided the Enterprise > product line was hopeless. The stuff Airspan bought seems to have > maintained decent gross margins despite not being high growth. ePMP must > be somewhere inbetween, nobody has rescued it yet but the administrators > are still funding it and both R&D and support appear to still be in place. > > > > Prosumer/MSP products like switches, firewalls and WiFi APs are probably > not high margin products, that may be why Enterprise is no more. Also we > don’t know if they were consuming a ton of AWS cloud computing dollars, > that could explain the eagerness to move Enterprise products off cnMaestro > cloud to on-prem. Here, we’ll upgrade everybody to X, just run it on your > own hardware or VM. > > > > If R&D dollars were spread thin, I don’t think ePMP was suffering due to > 450 and 670/700, nor were those products low margin. There were really no > new 450 products for a long time other than 450v which was what, 2 years > ago? And I feel like one major reason 450v wasn’t taking off was the > firmware development was taking forever. Clearly there was somebody still > working on it, but promised features were coming out in dribs and drabs > over 2+ years. Mostly the 450 development folks were doing bug fix > releases and minor features. No new hardware. As far as 450v, I > personally believe the other thing holding it back was that other than the > 450b6, the SMs (both the 2x2 and 4x4) were not suitable for residential > installs, you would only install them at a business. Maybe this was the > intent, I don’t know. I bought some, assembled 1 of each, showed them to > an installer, and we both said “Nope”. Kind of like the first time Sheldon > met Denise at the comic book store. > > > > The other thing that was clearly spread thin was cash to have products > actually manufactured. 450 products would spend 6 months or more in “out > of stock” status and would be snapped up when some arrived from Thailand. > I don’t buy a lot of epMP stuff, but it seems like ePMP suffered the same > fate but not as bad. Not sure of Enterprise. I suspect manufacturing had > already stopped due to the cash crunch and announcing end of manufacturing > was just a formality. > > > > I once worked at a company that was on credit hold with all its vendors, I > was in R&D and if we did an Engineering Change Order, we had to design > around parts we could obtain from the vendor to which we owed the least > amount of money and then we had to get Finance to write a check and hand > deliver it to get off credit hold. Since Cambium had all their > manufacturing done by outside contract assembly companies who probably > procured the parts themselves, chances are that Cambium has been juggling a > credit hold situation with those assemblers for a long time, maybe years. > > > > As to what was consuming more than its share of cash, I would look to > Enterprise. It might have looked like to us outsiders like the most > promising area, but like I said, if it was profitable somebody would have > saved it. > > > > Worst prepackaged bankruptcy ever. You’re supposed to have all this > worked out beforehand and then get the bankruptcy court to approve it. > Like you’re not supposed to start looking for a gas station (or charging > station) when the gauge is already on E. This has been bad for us > customers, but I have to believe it was bad for creditors as well. But if > they were the ones standing in the way of a better outcome, I have no > sympathy for them. > > > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Joe Novak > *Sent:* Friday, September 25, 2026 11:26 AM > *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] RIP Cambium Networks? > > > > EVO platform was dead before it started against Tarana, IMO. The current > view of the EPMP staff on the forums suggests a renewed focus on the core > platform, EPMP, for whatever comes next. There have been a few posts by > staff saying the EPMP core team is still there, and still developing and I > hope that is true. EPMP has the potential to be a solid platform, it just > seems like it's had an even longer firmware development cycle than > EPMP3000. If that is because R&D dollars got spread thin among other, > unprofitable projects -- I'm hoping we see it happen. > > > > On Fri, Sep 25, 2026 at 10:27 AM Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote: > > It seems like the R&D and support people for the product lines acquired by > Airspan are now Airspan employees. Some sales people too, but not all, > which is not surprising since Airspan has their own salesforce. > > > > But has anyone heard about product management? I see absolutely no > information about the senior managers like Scott Imhoff and Matt > Mangriotis. I assume there are individual product managers too and I just > don’t know their names. Are these folks just too busy with the transition > to post or update their LinkedIn profiles? Is their fate uncertain? Are > they gone? I would imagine Airspan needs to decide between having the > existing PM team set the new direction vs putting their own people in > charge. Beyond the immediate concern of restarting production now that > they have cash, this will determine what products and features we can buy > from them in the future. > > > > I have to assume given what a cluster this was, that the C suite and board > will be gone. But all that’s tied to what happens to the remaining parts > of Cambium that haven’t been sold or liquidated, essentially ePMP and one > fork of cnMaestro. Could Cambium Networks Ltd. get a new infusion of cash > and continue operating with Morgan Kurk and friends still in charge? They > might get new financing and continue operating, but I can’t believe top > management will still be around. They may already be quietly gone. > > > > And with PMP450 split off from ePMP, I assume the EVO converged platform > is gone (if it was ever real). Airspan must have some plan to compete with > Tarana though. The question would seem to be whether backward > compatibility with the deployed base is a necessity. Lots of things are > possible from an R&D perspective if given a clean sheet. But when would it > come out, where would the FWA market be at that time, would anyone be doing > greenfield FWA deployments by then? EVO was no doubt a response to these > considerations, but I wasn’t optimistic about it. Let’s hope Airspan has > some brilliant ideas, or that Cambium product management had some that can > now be pursued. > > > > But what is the status of people like Scott and Matt? Any rumors? > > > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Adam Moffett > *Sent:* Thursday, September 24, 2026 12:18 PM > *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] RIP Cambium Networks? > > > > It's been a minute since I did anything with LTE, but I don't recall > interference between our own sites being a bigger deal than with anything > else. Interference from someone else's WiMax thing was definitely a > problem. I left that behind before CBRS really got properly rolling, so > you've probably seen more than I have. > > > > Actually, I do recall that if you had uplink issues (whether interference > or congestion or whatever) that the eNB could miss CQI messages from the UE > and it would just kick them off. Like your connection could work > acceptably well, but you get kicked anyway if too many of those get missed, > and then you're offline for a minute or two while it reconnects. I thought > Telrad was bullshitting me about it at first, but then I thought about the > times my cell phone would suddenly stop doing data even though it had 2-3 > bars. > > > > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> on behalf of Joe Novak < > [email protected]> > *Sent:* Thursday, September 24, 2026 12:37 PM > *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] RIP Cambium Networks? > > > > You know how 450/450M handles interference? LTE _really_ hates any > interference. I believe the used Nokia equipment offers better value; I > think people talked about deploying entire sites for around 10k-12k, 4 > sector array, with an opensource eNB. > > > > On Thu, Sep 24, 2026 at 10:50 AM Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote: > > Looks like Airspan AirHarmony 4200 CBRS LTE basestation is $4500 not > including antennas, CPE is $300. Maybe this is a product we should have at > least considered at some point. I wonder if it does magic things because > it’s LTE. > > > > Wikipedia says Airspan was spun off from DSC, a big telecom equipment > manufacturer, and that AirHarmony was an internal development not through > an acquisition. > > > > Does Cambium still have an LTE product? I thought that went away. 60 GHz > might be interesting to them for small cell backhaul. > > > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Jason McKemie > *Sent:* Thursday, September 24, 2026 5:35 AM > *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] RIP Cambium Networks? > > > > Does Airspan have a large international business? They've been around a > long time, but never seemed to have nearly the presence that the companies > they've acquired had previous to becoming part of Airspan. > > > > On Tue, Sep 22, 2026, 12:58 PM castarritt <[email protected]> wrote: > > Airspan bought PMP450 and some other stuff. > > > https://www.cambiumnetworks.com/blog/airspan-acquires-fixed-wireless-product-lines-from-cambium-networks/ > > > > On Sun, Sep 20, 2026 at 11:51 PM Mathew Howard <[email protected]> > wrote: > > According to Google AI, the airfiber 5xHd was released in 2018 and the > first LTU ptmp radios in early 2020. > > > > On Sun, Sep 20, 2026, 10:17 PM Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote: > > FWIW, Gary Schulz's LinkedIn profile says VP Engineering Aug 2010 - Aug > 2020. Nothing after that. How does that line up with LTU release? > > Exactly 10 years. What's the significance? Stock option vesting? Bought an > island and retired? > > > > On September 20, 2026 7:58:55 PM CDT, Mathew Howard <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Yeah, they did develop a custom chip (ASIC, if I remember correctly) for > the LTU radios. The airfiber 5xHD PTP radio was the first product using it. > They're decent radios, but never quite lived up to the hype. I think they > original airfiber 5x would have performed better in most cases, except that > the HD supported up to 100mhz channels instead of only 50mhz. I never used > the PtMP version, but it seemed pretty mediocre from what I saw. As far as > I know, they're still in production, but they don't really seem to be doing > any development anymore. > > > > I'm not sure how involved the old Canopy team was with that project, or if > they were even still there at that point. > > > > > > On Sun, Sep 20, 2026, 7:16 PM Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote: > > Didn’t Ubiquiti go the route of developing a custom chip at the Chicago > R&D center (the old Canopy crew) for the later airFiber models? And was > this same silicon used for their LTU line of PMP radios? I never used LTU, > is it still an active product? Sounds like it’s being phased out. > > > > It would seem that’s the tradeoff for cost reducing something like PMP450, > turning the FPGA into customer silicon. But you lose the ability to change > that part of the design, you can still change the firmware. > > > > I feel like the companies like Analog Devices and Altera have continued to > advance the functionality in their programmable chips aimed at the Software > Defined Radio market. Probably driven by SDR applications like 5G cellular > and maybe satellite and military. I think when I glanced at an FCC report > for a Tarana radio they were using silicon like that, but they may also > have their own custom chips for some functions. And I feel like today’s > 450i, 450m and 450b radios have much more capable programmable silicon than > Canopy or the original 430 and 450 radios. > > > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Mathew Howard > *Sent:* Sunday, September 20, 2026 4:26 PM > *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] RIP Cambium Networks? > > > > At the time, it probably wasn't possible to hit the price point they > needed to with 450. I'm sure the FPGA and whatever else needs to go into a > 450 costs a lot more than the SOC in an ePMP. > > > > At this point, from my perspective anyway, ePMP seems positioned a lot > better for the future than 450. > > > > On Sun, Sep 20, 2026, 3:18 PM [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > > I never understood why they invented the ePMP in the first place. If > they wanted a lower cost product just spin a lower cost version of the > 450. > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> on behalf of Ken Hohhof < > [email protected]> > *Sent:* Sunday, September 20, 2026 1:40 PM > *To:* 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] RIP Cambium Networks? > > > > If true (and probably is), I don’t understand why buy the PMP450 business > and not also pick up ePMP if it can be done for $4-$5 million. > > > > ePMP does not strike me as low margin product that loses money. And if > someone else buys it, that could be a competitor and you could regret it. > Better to buy it and figure out how to migrate the customers to 450 if you > want to shut it down. You could also avoid some complexity selling off > cloud based systems like cnMaestro that support both products. > > > > I figured if the buyer is Airspan they might consider ePMP redundant with > Mimosa, but it looks like they no longer own Mimosa? I had low confidence > in the EVO plan, but even if you give up on the converged platform, for > that little money some companies would buy ePMP just to shut it down and > eliminate a competitor. (Larry Ellison would do it. Google or Amazon > would do it.) Maybe do the shutdown gracefully so as not to piss off > PMP450 customers any more than has already been done. Because some WISPs > use both products. Mine is basically a PMP450 shop but I’ve got some Force > 300 at customer prem and Force 425 backhauls. > > > > Maybe it’s something crazy like when Airspan sold Mimosa they agreed not > to have any future WiFi chip based products and therefore they are legally > prohibited from buying ePMP. That’s pretty far fetched. > > > > Or maybe they don’t want the products or the customers, they want the > design team for new projects. I find it interesting to peruse LinkedIn and > try to figure out where Tarana hired all their R&D people. Or look at what > Ubiquiti did when they hired most of the Canopy engineers to staff their > airFiber design center. They managed to do it without buying the company > though. > > > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Tyson Burris > *Sent:* Friday, September 18, 2026 2:25 PM > *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] RIP Cambium Networks? > > > > I have no direct knowledge of any of this, but I have now had several > people openly tell me the following: > > The PMP 450 product line is supposedly being purchased by Airspan, which > itself previously went through bankruptcy and later became a privately held > company. > > I have also heard that the ePMP business was being shopped for somewhere > in the $4-$5 million range. > > None of this really makes sense to me. Cambium was still doing roughly > $35-$45 million in sales per quarter. It seems like deeper workforce > reductions and the discontinuation of underperforming product lines should > have happened much earlier rather than allowing the situation to > deteriorate to this point. > > There is a lot of head-scratching over the whole situation because, from > the outside, U.S. sales still appear to be largely intact. While the stock > itself is delisted and on the non-filer expert market, it is still trading > though worthless. > > *Tyson Burris* > *President & CEO* > > > > Internet Communications Inc (ICI) > > 739 Commerce Dr. Franklin, IN 46131 > <https://www.google.com/maps/search/739+Commerce+Dr.+Franklin,+IN+46131?entry=gmail&source=g> > > > > > 317-412-1540 <(317)%20412-1540> (emergency/after-hours) > 317-738-0320 <(317)%20738-0320> (office) > [email protected] > www.surfici.net > > > > > > *Fixed Wireless & Fiber Broadband Solutions* > *PtP / PtMP • Indoor & Outdoor Wi-Fi • IP Cameras • MDUs* > > *Member: **WISPA.ORG* <http://WISPA.ORG>* | **NBBC.COOP* > <http://NBBC.COOP> > ------------------------------ > > > *Confidentiality NoticeThis email and any attachments may contain > confidential or proprietary information intended solely for the use of the > individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended > recipient, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message. > Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, or distribution is prohibited.* > > > *No Binding AgreementThis email does not constitute a binding agreement or > contract unless it expressly states otherwise and refers to a written > agreement executed by authorized representatives of all parties. Any views > or opinions expressed are those of the sender and do not necessarily > reflect those of the company.* > > > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Ken Hohhof > *Sent:* Friday, September 18, 2026 3:15 PM > *To:* 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] RIP Cambium Networks? > > > > It’s a challenge trying to decipher the communication and activity or lack > thereof from Cambium. Like they just did an ePMP firmware release, > although maybe just to move it from RC to release status. Support is still > available and guidance is being issued on transitioning to cnMaestro > onprem. Very quiet regarding PMP. > > > > If I had to take a guess, I’d say all this indicates (1) they have a buyer > lined up for PMP, (2) they are trying to find a buyer for ePMP and have > some hopes that can be accomplished, and (3) the Enterprise stuff is being > flushed. (anybody remember “getting flushed” from Men In Black?) If > that’s true, it would be the exact reverse of what I would have expected, I > would have expected the new switching and WiFi stuff to be hot, ePMP to be > warm, and legacy 450 to get flushed. > > > > I echo what Dev says about the people there. Obviously at the top levels, > mistakes were made (to quote Ronald Reagan). Somebody dropped the ball > either on financial or M&A management or both. Chuck will recognize the > acronym CFIT. > > > > But all the individuals we deal with are as Dev said, solid folks. My > network is 450 with a smattering of ePMP and licensed PTP, so I mostly know > people on the PMP side. The head of PMP Product Management is Matt > Mangriotis, and I hope he stays or if not that he lands somewhere good. > Maybe because I spent 20 years around 1980-2000 in telecom equipment > engineering management, so I might have an old fashioned concept of what a > Product Manager does, but Matt is very professional and well qualified, and > has always responded quickly and rolled up his sleeves to solve problems. > I’ve talked to him at trade shows, and never felt I was getting hype or > spin. Yes, 450 had some questionable product direction decision over the > years that didn’t work out so well or that I disagreed with, not sure who > to blame for those. But Matt as well as all the support people I’ve dealt > with are indeed solid folks. > > > > Unfortunately there’s no way this adventure doesn’t negatively impact > whatever remains of Cambium, or that some good people don’t end up leaving > because of the uncertainty. It’s always the best people who can easily > find a job elsewhere. Customers and distributors may also avoid them, even > under new ownership. I don’t know about creditors especially supply chain > companies, I’m guessing they get burned by bankruptcies all the time. > > > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Dev > *Sent:* Thursday, September 17, 2026 1:22 PM > *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] RIP Cambium Networks? > > > > I’m sure the remaining employees at Cambium are also waiting for a > resolution anxiously. I’ve always had good relations with them as > individuals and they seem like solid folks. We should wish them well and > assume they’re trying to help. > > > > The corporate dynamics very likely have hard constraints placed upon them > by other parties that they have to sort though, which will take time. I’m > sure that they want to retain maximum value through this (regardless of > where things land), which involves engaging customers and others as soon as > they possibly can. This will take time, like days and weeks, not hours. > > > > On 17 Sep 2026, at 8:30 AM, Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > There are other odd things as well. Like moving PMP production from > Mexico to Thailand, not clear why, and it wasn’t handled well. Were they > on credit hold with Flextronics? > > > > > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >
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