For the WIFI APs we got a 5 year software license at time of purchase of the APs. So they got the cash hit up front but now they have 5 years of costs before they could get more cash from us for that AP.
I mentioned the monthly subscription as an upside to Tarana since they could have money coming to keep the controller running even if they stopped all R&D spending. That money revenue also makes it more likely someone would buy it if Tarana goes under. Looking at cambiums' controller who would want to buy it, all of their clients already paid upfront for it and are going to be resistant to paying again for the controller when they would still be in term if cambium was still around. On Thu, Oct 1, 2026 at 4:36 PM Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote: > Yes, that was one of the things that turned me off about Tarana, was there > was a recurring license charge like a subscription. The only recurring > charge we have for our PMP450 stuff is for CBRS, part of which goes to > Federated Wireless as the SAS. Or if we wanted cnMaestro features that > aren’t in the free tier. > > > > Not sure about the 5 year upfront term for the controller you mentioned. > Is that something for the Enterprise or Fiber product lines? The only 5 > year term I can think of is an optional extended warranty on maybe a > licensed PTP link. > > > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Zach Underwood > *Sent:* Thursday, October 1, 2026 3:23 PM > *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] RIP Cambium Networks? > > > > I believe that Tarana charges monthly for the management service. > > That was part of cambium undoing was they would do a 5 year upfront term > for the controller. > > > > On Thu, Oct 1, 2026 at 4:05 PM Mathew Howard <[email protected]> wrote: > > I wouldn't be at all surprised if that's true, there could even be > government contracts of one type or another for all of the products that > Airspan acquired. > > > > I do have to wonder how well Tarana will be able to survive once the BEAD > money runs out. > > > > On Thu, Oct 1, 2026 at 10:46 AM Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote: > > The ongoing fiasco at Cambium is so bizarre I feel like I’m watching an > episode of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe and this is the universe where > Cambium crashes and burns, and nobody wants to buy the pieces. And in the > next episode Cambium will be back to normal but something else will be > bizarre. > > > > I don’t put much stock in news articles, but some reported this as > basically Airspan bought Cambium’s defense business and oh by the way got > some WISP stuff as part of the deal. Could this actually be true? Was > Airspan mostly interested in the defense oriented PTP700? Which I assume > is the descendent of the PTP400/500/600/670 which trace back to Orthogon > and Piping Hot Networks and is probably still designed by the Ashburton R&D > team? Announcement from 2018: > > > > > https://www.cambiumnetworks.com/blog/new-military-color-options-announced-for-ptp-700-from-cambium-networks/ > > > > With nobody stepping forward so far to rescue ePMP, does this say more > about the state of the WISP market and FWA in general than about Cambium? > Do the money people consider fixed wireless a dying market in the face of > fiber, Starlink and 5G? Even in third world countries which may be slow to > roll out fiber but I guess can get Starlink? My career has involved a lot > of products and technologies that became obsolete, like CRT TVs, T1, ISDN, > dialup and DSL. Are WISPs joining that list? > > > > Supposedly a lot of BEAD money will go to FWA, it will be interesting to > see what actually happens, and if Tarana sells a ton of equipment as kind > of the last man standing. Without a govt subsidy I know I couldn’t make > the numbers work in flyover country. > > > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Joe Novak > *Sent:* Friday, September 25, 2026 12:46 PM > *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] RIP Cambium Networks? > > > > 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 > > -- > 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 > > > > > -- > > Zach Underwood (RHCE,RHCSA,RHCT,UACA) > > My website <http://zachunderwood.me> > > advance-networking.com > -- > AF mailing list > [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
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