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Tech Filed Day | #MFD 11 – Presentation Highlights, Summary and My take on this Context.

Ubiquiti Inc.’s involvement at #MFD11 was noteworthy and well-received, earning praise as one of the best first time presentations by long-time delegates.

Ubiquiti Inc. was represented by Craig Wojtala, Tom Hildebrand, and Andrew Pieper, who covered the below topics with passion and commitment, delivering one common message – “We are here to deliver & ready to go!”

Craig Wojtala kicked off with an overview of the company for the benefit of all listeners and how they have transformed since they started 2 decades ago. There was an emphasis on their product lines, business model & Innovation in software engineering.

They unveiled new Wi-Fi 7 Access points (U7 Pro and U7 Pro Max) and showcased a fully-featured routing and security suite, including a secure network management platform.

Craig exhibited the use case and adoption of Wi-Fi base station AP models used for high density and how they were deployed in many sporting arenas, including capacity reports from a few events.

There was an emphasis on design philosophy & enterprise strategy including hardware, software engineering and better support needed for enterprise segment .

The content captures three key adjectives that could make a difference during a journey: Approachable UX, Actionable Analytics, and Augmented Workflows.

Next up was Tom Hildebrand who presented Wi-Fi 7, engineering efforts and described various features with clarity and passion for technology.

The content discusses the evolution of Wi-Fi, including technical features like Band steering, QoS, MLO, MLSR, and MLMR, as well as improvements in hardware and capacity. It also covers demo metrics for Wi-Fi 7, emphasising how the results were achieved and its practical application in real-life scenarios, comparing expectations with reality.

He beautifully summarised why do we care about Wi-Fi 7 for enterprise. It was for better band steering, low latency and Jitter, and Enhanced QoS. He stressed on the point that Wi-Fi 7 is about not how fast can I go but how fast I can move between bands.

Last was Andrew Pieper who presented their professional support model with ease and ever lasting smile .

The Trio delivered a great presentation, complementing the company’s vision positively. It was an energetic display of content and passion for their product offering, including Wi-Fi #7 hardware, software engineering, and professional support.

The delegate question round was exceptional, with many posing challenging questions about the company’s strategy and future. The questions were answered thoughtfully and the attendees and delegates took away a positive experience from the event.

Here is a brief summary of Ubiquiti.Inc and my take !!!

Ubiquiti Inc.: A leading company in affordable networking products. In business for over 20 years. Diverse product portfolio including wireless, switches, IP cameras, security gateways, and VOIP.

Historically, Ubiquiti products have catered to various SMB verticals such as residential, retail, commercial, and education, addressing diverse access network needs. One of Ubiquiti’s core strengths is the accessibility and affordability of its products, which are competitively priced like consumer-grade offerings. Ubiquiti products are widely available through retailers, distributors, and online platforms, typically with a 1-year manufacturing warranty and the option to extend it to 2, 3, or 5 years.

Typically, Ubiquiti installations require minimal design work, as they are often implemented by personnel with varying skills. Some may conduct a wireless site survey for optimized design and configuration, while others may deploy them with default settings. The products are popular for many DIY projects due to their simple configuration and cloud management capabilities, allowing for easy setup of network switches and wireless access points.

Having solidified its presence in consumer and SMB market segment, Ubiquiti is now penetrating into enterprise segment. This ambitious move will necessitate significant enhancements in Reliability, security, integration, intelligence, scalability, monitoring , functionality, and support to satisfy the stringent demands of enterprise networks.

Another important aspect during this journey is to consider how solutions and products will live up to the engineering stability of hardware which is the case with other leading vendors in this space using their own ASIC/software to ensure various features provide optimised performance eg: RRM, RF stability etc .

It is important to note that planning and design are crucial for achieving success across the enterprise segment. A lack of attention to these areas can lead to escalations and a negative user experience.

They are rolling out a new support model tailored specifically for enterprise customers, which will involve associated costs—a reasonable expectation given the elevated level of service required to support this market.

As of May 2024, professional support is being offered in the USA and Canada, with plans to expand to North America, Europe, and the UK. The intention is to eventually broaden this support to other regions across the globe, including Asia and Oceania.

Conclusion :

By venturing into the enterprise arena, Ubiquiti.Inc aims to provide a compelling and cost-effective networking solution with enhanced support and features tailored for the sophisticated needs of businesses in enterprise environments.

As of today, Ubiquiti’s main advantage is its competitive pricing and absence of mandatory subscriptions when compared to other vendors.

“It will be interesting to see how they will fare in this market and they seem to be heading in the right direction.” This conveys curiosity about their performance in the market and optimism regarding their current trajectory.

As the company expands globally, significant customer success stories will influence other customers’ technology decisions. They will need to move away from the “sell it and forget it” mindset. Integration for deploying their solution in production will be crucial.

The content is about the potential for market disruption in this specific segment. Time will tell if they will indeed be disruptors!!!