In the fixed wireless broadband world, we often talk about throughput, form factor, price, and feature roadmaps; they are all outcomes of internal capabilities, plus critical component capabilities. These components are rarely discussed, and often overlooked, and should be carefully examined by discerning system operators with a long-term vision of their networks.
How Durable Is the Silicon Strategy Behind the Product?
When a vendor chooses a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) provider, they are locking in the features and benefits of the SoC and committing to its future roadmap, and that is a crucial technical and business decision.
An SoC has certain properties, which are critical to the features and functions that can be enabled on a specific piece of hardware. Equally critical is the silicon’s roadmap because when software is written, it is inevitably SoC-specific, meaning that without a robust roadmap on the hardware, future software cannot be written. A strong silicon roadmap enables standards evolution, which in turn enables graceful and cost-effective migration, customer retention and business continuity. It gives service providers and enterprise buyers confidence that what they deploy today will still be relevant tomorrow.
Cambium uses QCA-based platforms for our ePMP™ product line. Current chips are feature rich and its roadmap is detailed and secure. Those investments in software will easily migrate to future chips and backwards compatibility is assured. Compare this to products built on silicon from vendors that are exiting the business: there is no future silicon, and while this might be viable in the short term, as speeds increase and market competition increases, the network’s long-term future is destined for a rip-and-replace.
When an SoC roadmap ends, the consequences tend to show up everywhere:
- Reduced innovation in system products
- Feature velocity reduction due to lack of support
- Standards improvements no longer assured
- Support is maintenance-oriented
- Investments payback horizon must be significantly reduced
While no system supplier will overtly lie, ones who face this problem tend to signal it with fewer platform updates, less visible roadmaps, constrained next-generation planning, and a growing gap between market needs and delivered features. When this happens, a wise customer should ask why and try to understand if the constraint is because of the SoC.
In the fixed wireless broadband ecosystem, this is critical because of the interaction between the SoC and the feature capability. It is almost impossible to change SoC vendors without a complete software rewrite, which takes time and significant resources. As competition increases, the last thing a network operator should want is a supplier with a silicon problem and a product with no future. The ability to take advantage of upcoming standards and ongoing platform-level enhancements can have a direct impact on network stability, customer experience, and total cost of ownership.
Ask these simple but critical questions:
- “Where is this platform going?”
- “What does the next generation look like?”
- “What silicon is being used and what is their plan for the evolution of the standard?
The answers will be telling, and they will be critical to your future business.
The best ROI is achieved by building on ecosystems with momentum, partners with staying power, and platforms with a clear future. Choosing the right SoC partner is a commitment to lifecycle confidence.
In wireless, a product is only as future-proof as the silicon strategy behind it. Choose a platform with roadmap strength, and you create optionality. Choose one with limited horizon, and you inherit constraints.