RACOM is a traditional sponsor of UTCAL Summit Conference and Exhibition from 2016. After two years of Covid gap, we look forward to meeting our customers and partners again this year in Rio De Janeiro, Windsor Barra Hotel, from March 29 to April 1, 2022.
UTCAL Summit 2022 supports meetings of Utility representatives with regulators, government, research centers, businesses, industry, suppliers and key national and international experts.
RACOM will have two presentations during the conference:
Reliable Communication in SCADA Networks with Next Generation IP Radio Modems
Next generation Radio modems are full-powered IP Routers with plenty of interfaces, Dynamic routing, Backup routes, QoS, Firewall, Encryption and other state-of-the-art features. VHF/UHF, Cellular, Fiber and Ethernet are integrated into just one box and can back up and complement each other. In this talk, we will discuss how these new advanced capabilities improve the reliability and security of modern Smart Grid networks for your mission-critical applications.
March 31st at 2.00 pm, Segovia IV
High Performance Radio networks
Radio networks on private VHF/UHF frequencies have long been considered to have low speed and throughput. Modern technology can achieve previously unheard-of performance over long distances. The key is not just in Gross data rate, Sensitivity or RF power, there are more efficient ways. In this talk, we will show how Radio protocol, advanced digital signal processing techniques and other state-of-the-art features can have profound effect on private radio network performance and its overall throughput.
March 31st at 4.30 pm, Oriente
Our experts will also be ready to discuss all questions regarding wireless data transfer at our booth at the exhibition area.
After two years, the reduced coronavirus measures have allowed us to meet in person with at least part of our sales team deployed in different parts of the world. In the first week of February, we met at our corporate headquarters, the rest of the team joined online, and together we evaluated the results of 2021 and discussed expectations for 2022.
2021 was the best year in RACOM’s history in terms of revenue, we grew almost 20% compared to 2020. We achieved record sales of Radio modems, Cellular routers and Microwave links despite the challenges associated with the Covid pandemic. Compliance with government regulations such as mandatory home offices, mandatory testing, etc. did not pose a major problem for us.
The biggest issue for us was (and still is) the shortage of components and materials of all kinds, their rising prices, extended lead times and the overall shaky economy. We managed to overcome these problems and delivered our products within the standard lead times. We were able to do this thanks to the extreme efforts of our procurement and production staff, for which we are very grateful. We prioritized delivery times over the prices of our inputs, even though we paid many times the usual price for some components compared to before the pandemic.
Also, because we have demonstrated stability in turbulent times, we already have orders for a number of larger and smaller projects for 2022.
We are confident that despite the ongoing challenges in component supply, we will be able to meet all requirements for all of our customers to their satisfaction again this year.
MAY 23-25, 2022 | DALLAS, TX
Please be advised that the newly discovered vulnerability in the Apache Log4j logging framework with identifier CVE-2021-44228 does not affect any of the RACOM products, as we do not use Apache but Lighttpd http server in our products.
JANUARY 26-28, 2022 | DALLAS, TX
RACOM is pleased to announce the release of a new model addition to the RAy3 microwave link platform. After successful sale and installations of thousands of links for 24 and 17 GHz we are now introducing 18 GHz, the first licensed band.
RAy3-18 is suitable for long distances even in the harshest conditions. Featuring a robust 4096 QAM implementation with optimal FEC, channel widths up to 110 MHz, +23 dBm power and exceptional gain and interference immunity. It can build 1 Gb/s high availability links up to 20 km using 60 cm antennas. In addition, the operation of the link is guaranteed by a license from the local spectrum regulator.
Low power consumption (33W at full power) and DC power option allows RAy3-18 to operate with solar panels.
In the picture you can see the performance of the link during a heavy thunderstorm. The test link is installed close to our HQ while the distance is 17.3 km, RF power is +23 dBm, antennas are 60 cm and RSS is -45 dBm. The link was stable and has not broken down even when RSS dropped by 33 dB during the storm.
Full details can be found on the website.
Despite the current shortage of any parts and materials we do everything we can to keep our standard delivery times. However, this is not easy….
RACOM only purchases components directly from manufacturers or from their certified distributors. Unfortunately, these channels have extended delivery dates for some components by many months from one day to the next and are often unable to confirm any deadline.
We therefore have no choice and source components from the open market. Annoyingly we have to pay significantly higher prices for parts from these sources, but it is not the only problem…
The current situation has been exploited by various scammers who try to sell fake components or parts that have probably been discarded by the manufacturer during their output inspection. For these reasons, RACOM has been forced to implement new entry inspection processes. Supplies from unverified sources have to be carefully controlled at a huge additional cost because we have encountered some incredible cases…
Fake components, where a case from another part is used, the original marking is sanded off and replaced with another, can be detected quite easily using a microscope. Harder to detect at first glance is an original part that has been discarded from production. Here we have to use a 3D X-ray and look inside.
In the photo gallery we show you one example for all. Here you can see how someone has invested their efforts and stacked parts from different production batches (the last letter differs in the designation) into the reel. A manufacturer would never do that. The next photo is from a 3D x-ray. Bonds or their inter-connections are missing in the most of the parts, see the markings on the photo. To confuse the buyer, the first hundred or so parts on the reel were perfectly fine.
So, it is not enough to check only samples before receiving delivery of a larger quantity. This again makes the whole process longer and more expensive. In many cases, we have to check every single component, otherwise there is a risk that the whole of the assembled boards will be degraded or, in a worse case, the defect or instability will only become evident after the product has been deployed with the customer.
Thanks to the experience and enormous efforts of our staff, we are able to detect all fraud attempts and our production continues to run smoothly at 100% quality. We apologize in advance for any potential delays, but you can see from the above examples that serious manufacturers have it tough today.
We’re glad to see that big projects are back despite Covid!
In September this year, after a long Covid gap, a big tender which included the supply of radio modems was announced.
The Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) in Mexico decided to add another more than 1000 reclosers to its power distribution system. The supply included radio modems.
RACOM together with our long-term partner in Mexico, Solstand, who are a traditional supplier of radio modems to CFE since 2012, have up to now deployed more than 8,000 RipEX radio modems at CFE.
Thankfully our partners were successful in the last tender also, and we are supplying CFE again. By the way, this confirms that RipEX was undoubtedly designed successfully from a future-proof point of view.
We are proud that despite all the current problems in the market with components and materials, we were able to confirm the delivery of more than 1,100 pcs of RipEX modems to our partners by the end of November, fulfilling a difficult requirement from CFE for short delivery times. We even managed to ship the first 500 units within four weeks from the signing of the contract.
We are sure that CFE will be happy with our delivery this time as well and that our success in Mexico will continue for years to come. We will celebrate 10,000 pcs of RipEX units in CFE network soon.
We are proud that we still are delivering our products within usual delivery dates and without any interruptions, even if shortages of parts and materials persist.
We also take maximum care to smooth out deliveries of key accessories like antennas for our microwave links. That’s why we added another supplier to our existing antenna supplier, Jirous, to make this commodity more stable and give customers more choices.
RACOM has made a partnership agreement with Shenglu, one of the leading antenna manufactures. They were founded in 1998 and have more than 2,000 employees. They produce 250,000 pcs of antennas annually while their capacity is up to 300k. Their antennas are used by main microwave manufactures like Aviat, Nera, Ceragon, Siklu, NEC, Huawei, SIAE and others, some of them under OEM branding.
Shenglu customized their antennas for direct mounting of our RAy full outdoor units. So the installation is easy and straightforward. Antennas are available in all sizes from 30, 60, 90 to 120 cm, all of them in Class 3 category.
As shipping costs are rising, unstable and unpredictable, we have agreed with Shenglu that larger customers and distributors can purchase Shenglu-RAy antennas directly from Shenglu, subject to RACOM’s approval, to skip shipping to RACOM’s warehouse and thus minimize shipping costs.
Feel free to read details about Shenglu-RAy antennas here.
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