P-Com
Encyclopedia
P-Com Corporation was a manufacturer of point-to-point and point-to-multipoint
radios in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The company banked on providing wireless local loop
and bandwidth facilities to metropolitan
and remote areas, using fixed antennae
and Asynchronous Transfer Mode
technology. At its peak, the company had operations at Campbell, California
, Melbourne, Florida
, the United Kingdom
, and an active client presence in Argentina
. The company stock had an IPO
of $25 in the late 1990s: by the mid-2000s, this had become a penny stock
, and several waves of layoffs decimated the workforce by that time.
P-Com acquired the wireless division of Cylink Corporation in early 1998, rebranding as P-Com Wireless Access Group, and incorporating the M100 and M400 products of its earlier acquisition ACS. The resulting product line-up included spread spectrum products for 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz, encompassing leased-line replacement for 64kbit/s-512kbit/s (AirLink, AirPro and M100), T1/E1 backhaul (AirProT1, AirPro E1, M400), and wireless routing/bridging (DataMetro and DataMetro-II). This line-up may be seen at www.p-com.co.uk which is maintained by a former Cylink UK employee, and which remains online at the time of writing.
A number of UK staff, including senior management and engineers left P-Com in 2002 to set up rival Fresnel Microwave Systems. Fresnel was later purchased by Centerpoint Corporation. See www.fresnel.com
Faced with fierce competition to its millimeter-wave point-to-point products, the company re-focused itself on the license-free product line and the expertise it had acquired from Cylink in 1998. Rival Wave Wireless of Sarasota FL was purchased in 2005, and P-Com restructured and rebranded itself Wave Wireless in 2005.
Wave Wireless contracted with B&B Test Solutions to manufacture all of their SpeedLAN wireless products. In November, 2006, B&B Test Solutions acquired the AirPro Gold “carrier class” wireless product line from Wave Wireless. In August, 2007, B&B Test Solutions acquired all of the rights to the SpeedLAN product line from Wave Wireless, which appears to have ceased operations.
In October 2009, B&B Test Solutions/Wave Wireless were acquired by Mountain Optech, who have then changed their name to Mountain Secure Systems.
Link (telecommunications)
In telecommunications a link is the communications channel that connects two or more communicating devices. This link may be an actual physical link or it may be a logical link that uses one or more actual physical links...
radios in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The company banked on providing wireless local loop
Wireless local loop
Wireless local loop , is a term for the use of a wireless communications link as the "last mile / first mile" connection for delivering plain old telephone service and/or broadband Internet to telecommunications customers....
and bandwidth facilities to metropolitan
Metropolitan area
The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...
and remote areas, using fixed antennae
Antenna (radio)
An antenna is an electrical device which converts electric currents into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver...
and Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a standard switching technique designed to unify telecommunication and computer networks. It uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing, and it encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells. This differs from approaches such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet that...
technology. At its peak, the company had operations at Campbell, California
Campbell, California
Campbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, a suburb of San Jose, and part of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 39,349...
, Melbourne, Florida
Melbourne, Florida
Melbourne is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. As of 2009, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 78,323. The municipal area is the second largest by size and by population in the county. Melbourne is a principal city of the Palm Bay – Melbourne – Titusville, Florida...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and an active client presence in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. The company stock had an IPO
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
of $25 in the late 1990s: by the mid-2000s, this had become a penny stock
Penny stock
In the United States, penny stocks are common shares of small public companies that trade at less than $1.00. In some countries, similar shares of stock are known as cent stocks.-Concerns for investors:...
, and several waves of layoffs decimated the workforce by that time.
P-Com acquired the wireless division of Cylink Corporation in early 1998, rebranding as P-Com Wireless Access Group, and incorporating the M100 and M400 products of its earlier acquisition ACS. The resulting product line-up included spread spectrum products for 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz, encompassing leased-line replacement for 64kbit/s-512kbit/s (AirLink, AirPro and M100), T1/E1 backhaul (AirProT1, AirPro E1, M400), and wireless routing/bridging (DataMetro and DataMetro-II). This line-up may be seen at www.p-com.co.uk which is maintained by a former Cylink UK employee, and which remains online at the time of writing.
A number of UK staff, including senior management and engineers left P-Com in 2002 to set up rival Fresnel Microwave Systems. Fresnel was later purchased by Centerpoint Corporation. See www.fresnel.com
Faced with fierce competition to its millimeter-wave point-to-point products, the company re-focused itself on the license-free product line and the expertise it had acquired from Cylink in 1998. Rival Wave Wireless of Sarasota FL was purchased in 2005, and P-Com restructured and rebranded itself Wave Wireless in 2005.
Wave Wireless contracted with B&B Test Solutions to manufacture all of their SpeedLAN wireless products. In November, 2006, B&B Test Solutions acquired the AirPro Gold “carrier class” wireless product line from Wave Wireless. In August, 2007, B&B Test Solutions acquired all of the rights to the SpeedLAN product line from Wave Wireless, which appears to have ceased operations.
In October 2009, B&B Test Solutions/Wave Wireless were acquired by Mountain Optech, who have then changed their name to Mountain Secure Systems.