PCTEL, Inc. (PCTEL) operates as a global provider of wireless technology, including purpose-built Industrial IoT devices, antenna systems, and test and measurement solutions.
The company strives to solve complex wireless challenges to help organizations stay connected, transform, and grow. The company has a strong brand presence and expertise in radio frequency (‘RF’), digital and mechanical engineering.
The company has two product lines (antennas/Industrial IoT devices and test & measurement)...
PCTEL, Inc. (PCTEL) operates as a global provider of wireless technology, including purpose-built Industrial IoT devices, antenna systems, and test and measurement solutions.
The company strives to solve complex wireless challenges to help organizations stay connected, transform, and grow. The company has a strong brand presence and expertise in radio frequency (‘RF’), digital and mechanical engineering.
The company has two product lines (antennas/Industrial IoT devices and test & measurement). The company’s antenna products include antennas deployed in small cells, enterprise Wi-Fi access points, fleet management, IoT applications, and transit systems. The company’s Industrial IoT devices include ruggedized access points, IoT interface cards and IoT sensor platforms for applications, such as logistics, remote monitoring and control. The company’s test & measurement products are designed to improve the performance of wireless networks globally. Mobile operators, private enterprises, and network equipment manufacturers rely on the company’s products to analyze, design, and optimize next generation wireless networks. The company seeks out product applications that command a premium for product design and performance, and the company avoids commodity markets.
In 2021, the company acquired all the outstanding stock of Smarteq Wireless Aktiebolag, a Swedish company based in Kista, Sweden, that designs antennas for specialized Industrial IoT and vehicular applications (‘Smarteq’), pursuant to a SPA between PCTEL and Allgon Aktiebolag, a Swedish company and holder of the outstanding stock of Smarteq (the ‘Agreement’). Smarteq owned all the outstanding stock of SAS Smarteq France (‘Smarteq France’), which engaged in sales of Smarteq products. Smarteq France was merged into Smarteq Wireless Aktiebolag on November 1, 2022. The acquisition of Smarteq provides a strong European presence, expertise, and channel partners that the company expects will accelerate its growth in Europe, as well as a complementary portfolio of products for the company’s Industrial IoT and intelligent transportation customers worldwide. The results for Smarteq are combined with the company’s antenna and Industrial IoT device product line.
Antennas and Industrial IoT Devices
PCTEL designs and manufactures precision antennas and Industrial IoT devices. The company offers in-house wireless product development for the company’s customers, including design, testing, radio integration, and manufacturing capabilities.
The company’s antenna portfolio includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Land Mobile Radio (‘LMR’), Tetra, Global Navigation Satellite System (‘GNSS’), Cellular, Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (‘ISM’), Long Range (‘LoRa’), and combination antenna solutions. The market applications for the company’s antennas include public safety communications, military communications, utilities & energy, precision agriculture, smart traffic management, Electric Vehicle (‘EV’) charging stations, passengers and cargo vehicles, forestry machinery & off-road vehicles. For smart traffic management, the company provides antenna systems for smart roadways and smart rail. Fleet antennas for public safety, including police vehicles, is a key market. The company not only manufacture the antennas, but the company also provides engineering design services to determine the layout of multi-antenna installations to minimize potential interference between each antenna element. The company’s customized solutions often result in general purpose products with advance capabilities, such as multi-element antenna systems in a single radome. These systems can include several LTE bands, Wi-Fi bands and GPS navigation elements, all in one housing. An antenna designed for one application can be modified to be used for other applications.
The company’s Industrial IoT device portfolio includes access points, radio modules, sensor communication modules, and wireless communication sensors. The market applications for the company’s Industrial IoT devices include utilities and smart grid, oil and gas, manufacturing, logistics, industrial automation, smart metering, and asset tracking.
The company’s strategy is to provide a ‘toolbox’ of hardware solutions to the company’s existing OEMs and distributors for Industrial IoT systems. The company provides all of the field hardware required for wireless Industrial IoT systems - antennas, ruggedized Wi-Fi access points, radio modules, and integrated cellular sensors for Industrial IoT. The company’s go-to-market strategy for this growing sector is to sell more RF hardware components to the company’s customers that traditionally purchase antennas from PCTEL.
PCTEL maintains expertise in the following areas: radio frequency engineering, wireless network engineering, mechanical engineering, mobile antenna design, manufacturing, and product quality and testing. Competitors include Airgain, Amphenol, Panorama, Taoglas, and TE Connectivity.
Test & Measurement Products
PCTEL provides RF test & measurement products that improve the performance of wireless networks globally, with a focus on LTE, public safety, and 5G technologies. Revenue growth in this market is driven by the implementation and roll out of new wireless technology standards (i.e., 3G to 4G, 4G to 5G) and new market applications for public safety and government. The market applications for the company’s test & measurement equipment includes cellular testing, public safety and private radio network testing, federal government communications testing, and indoor building network testing. The company’s portfolio includes scanning receivers, scanning receiver software, public safety solutions, automated spectrum monitoring solutions, interference location systems, mmwave transmitters, and a cloud-based reporting platform.
The company’s scanning receivers are software defined radios used to confirm adequate RF coverage during deployment, identify interfering signals which decrease capacity, troubleshoot system performance issues as networks expand, and benchmark competing networks because the company’s scanning receivers can scan all technologies across all frequencies during one test. They are necessary for initial network deployment and throughout the entire life cycle of the mobile network. Most of the company’s 4G scanners can be upgraded to 5G via firmware. The company’s new Gflex scanning receiver includes advanced features to address 5G and broader critical communication and government applications, such as signal intelligence.
The company provides test & measurement equipment to test in-building communication capability which is important for first responders, to certify buildings meet certain in-building wireless communication standards, and to test public safety networks, including P25, Tetra and digital mobile radio (‘DMR’).
The company’s cloud-based reporting platform for public safety is a subscription-based service for test management, storage and analytics that allows stakeholders, including engineering service companies, building owners and government jurisdictions, to easily manage the data collection process and access final reports through an online map-based interface.
PCTEL maintains expertise in the following areas: radio frequency engineering, digital signal processing (‘DSP’) engineering, wireless network engineering, mechanical engineering, manufacturing, and product quality and testing. Competitors for PCTEL’s test & measurement products include OEMs, such as Anritsu, Berkley Varitronics, Digital Receiver Technology, Rohde and Schwarz, and Viavi.
Strategy
As a global leader for RF hardware that enables wireless connectivity, the company are focused on various key strategies: launching products; expanding distribution channels; and increasing market share.
Customers
The company’s strategy is to leverage leading global OEMs and distributors to expand the reach of the company’s products across multiple market segments and industries.
The company’s antennas and Industrial IoT devices are sold to OEMs where they are designed into their customers’ solutions. The company also sells through distribution channels that promote and sell the company’s products into specialized markets. The company supports its major stocking distributors, and the company sells its antennas directly to customers where integration into larger systems is not required.
The company’s test & measurement solutions for the cellular market are sold directly to wireless carriers, engineering service providers, and rental companies or to OEMs who integrate the company’s products into their solutions, which are then sold to wireless carriers. The company’s test & measurement solutions for public safety markets are sold to distributors and other engineering service providers.
Intellectual Property
The company has approximately 124 patents and over 51 patents pending in the U.S. and other countries.
Sales, Marketing and Support
The company’s Global Marketing group is responsible for promotion and lead generation through managing the company’s website, managing trade shows, social media, webinars and general material generation. PCTEL’s direct sales force is technologically sophisticated, and sales executives have strong industry domain knowledge. The company’s customers include OEMs, wireless equipment distributors and rental companies, public and private carriers, wireless infrastructure providers, and value-added resellers (‘VARs’). The company’s direct sales force supports the sales efforts of the company’s distributors and OEM resellers.
History
PCTEL, Inc. was founded in 1994. The company was incorporated in California in 1994 and reincorporated in Delaware in 1998.
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