Cambium Networks Offers ‘Fiber-Like Speeds’ Without Fiber Using New CnWave Technology

The wireless specialist has introduced three new solutions based on the 60 GHz millimeter-wave spectrum that will help extend faster broadband to more environments, sans fiber.

Wireless player Cambium Networks has introduced three new solutions based on 60 GHz millimeter-wave technology, providing spectrum that will help bring faster broadband to more dense urban and suburban areas without fiber.

The new Cambium Networks 60 GHz cnWave technology is based on Facebook Connectivity’s Terragraph technology and Qualcomm Technologies’ latest 802.11ay compliant technology. The latest cnWave solution provides gigabit speeds or “fiber-like speeds” at the edge, for a lower cost, and can be up and running much faster than alternative last-mile wired networks, said Scott Imhoff, Cambium’s vice president of product management, told CRN.

Based on the spectrum, Cambium’s three new specific products include a distribution node V5000 and two client nodes, the V300 optimized for high-capacity, point-to-point paths, and the V1000.

[Related: Cambium Networks CEO On Going Public, 5G, And What The Xirrus Deal Means For Partners]

The 60 GHz cnWave solution is Cambium’s first set of offerings that take advantage of this spectrum band, which has been readily available in the U.S. since 2013, according to the Rolling Meadows, Ill.-based company.

In addition serving as a last-mile solution, the new cnWave technology offers expanded coverage of multi-gigabit wireless speeds to more homes and businesses. The cheaper, stronger connectivity option means more opportunities for partners to serve urban, suburban, rural, industrial and enterprise environments, Imhoff said.

“[Partners] can build a product that delivers high data rate and allows service providers to compete with fiber and do it at a price point that meets the customers’ business case,” he said.

The prominent use cases will be expanding the reach of carrier networks to residential users and those working from home, as well as enterprise campus networking that need economical connectivity or diverse connections between buildings, Imhoff said.

Another use case is fiber extension to new customers. “The time to revenue can be extensive. It takes long time to get permits and do the construction and it‘s expensive to bring that to one address,” he said. “These operators can use 60 GHz to cover those meters.”

For the Cambium partners that focus on the enterprise, the latest offerings make for a combined Wi-Fi 6 and access strategy, said Ron Ryan, senior vice president of global channel management at Cambium.

Many MSPs that offer indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi today can add on the latest solution to include access for their end customers, Ryan said.

In August 2019, Cambium Networks acquired Xirrus Wi-Fi products and cloud services from Riverbed Technology, which originally acquired Xirrus in 2017.

The 100 percent channel-focused company operates in 154 countries through about 6,800 channel partners to date, according to the company. Cambium brought on about 5,000 partners over the past three years as the company has pivoted its focus on the enterprise, Cambium told CRN in August.