From 1 August 2025, the European Union’s updated Radio Equipment Directive (RED) introduces mandatory cybersecurity requirements for internet connected devices sold in the EU. These rules – covering network protection, data security, and fraud prevention – are now essential for obtaining the CE mark.

At RACOM, we are proud to confirm that our entire product portfolio – RAy3 microwave links, M!DGE3 cellular routers, and RipEX2 radio routers – already meets these new requirements. Even better, this compliance is delivered to our customers through free, regular, incremental firmware upgrades, ensuring your deployed devices stay secure and up to date without extra cost or disruption.

The updated RED focuses on three areas, with the first one being the most relevant for our type of devices:

• Network protection (Art. 3.3 d) – Devices must not harm networks or misuse resources in ways that degrade service quality.
• Data and privacy safeguards (Art. 3.3 e) – Strong encryption, secure authentication, and privacy-by-design measures must protect personal data at every stage.
• Fraud prevention (Art. 3.3 f) – Features like cryptographic FW signing, and anti-tampering mechanisms must prevent device cloning or misuse.

To help manufacturers demonstrate compliance, the EU published the EN 18031 series of harmonized standards in January 2025, giving a clear framework for building security into wireless products from the ground up.

Our engineering teams have ensured that RAy, M!DGE, and RipEX devices meet – and in many areas exceed – RED’s cybersecurity requirements. Network integrity is protected through secure firmware, various traffic encryption technologies and in the case of RipEX2 radio interface through our unique automatic AES key rotation.

We also make security effortless for users. Our new first-login procedure – featured in the short video below – guides every new owner through creating a custom username and password. A built-in visual password strength meter helps ensure that passwords are not just unique, but strong enough to withstand real-world threats.

When you choose RACOM, you get more than just hardware. You gain:

• Full EU RED cybersecurity compliance across RAy, M!DGE, and RipEX
• Free, incremental firmware feature and security updates that keep devices secure over time and even expand their capabilities
• Future-proof technology ready for evolving regulations and security challenges
• User-friendly setup that reduces support calls and speeds onboarding
• Long-term reliability and trust from a company with decades of industrial networking expertise

Watch our quick video to see how easy it is to set up your RACOM device securely from the very first login. With real-time password strength feedback, you can be confident your connection is protected from day one.

If you’d like to know which RACOM solution is the best fit for your IoT, SCADA, or telecom project, get in touch with our team today. We’ll help you deploy connectivity that’s secure, reliable, and ready for the future.

Securing essential human needs is at the heart of what we do. Delivering drinking water and keeping wastewater treatment plants running belong among the most fundamental requirements of every society. For over 30 years, RACOM equipment has been trusted in these critical infrastructures, providing reliable communication that keeps water networks safe, connected, and under control.

The very first RACOM radio modems were deployed in Czech and Slovak water networks back in 1994. Since then, our solutions have grown to power nearly all of the fifty largest water utilities in Czechia and they are now widely adopted abroad. In Austria and Norway, RACOM holds more than 80% market share. In Norway alone, where radio communication is indispensable due to harsh terrain and sparse population, our devices are in use across more than 100 locations.

Many of these radios have been running 24/7 for nearly three decades. While their reliability is unquestioned, the time has come to look ahead and prepare networks for new challenges.

Several key drivers make modernization essential:

• Cybersecurity & RED compliance – From 1 August 2025, all wireless devices sold in the EU must comply with the updated Radio Equipment Directive (RED). Its enhanced cybersecurity requirements go beyond what older radios including MR series and the original RipEX can support.
• Ease of operation – Modern SCADA teams expect user-friendly interfaces. Older radios often rely on command-line access only, which is no longer practical.
• Component availability – While RACOM continues to repair older products (and can even deliver new units in some cases), sourcing discontinued components is becoming increasingly difficult.
• Data capacity – Legacy radios cannot keep pace with the growing bandwidth needs of today’s SCADA systems.
• Hybrid networks – Modern water utilities often require combinations of private radio channels with public 4G/5G networks. Older radios were not built for this flexibility.

These challenges affect not only RACOM MR radios and the first-generation RipEX, but also third-party radios from Motorola, Kenwood, SATEL, CONEL, and others.

Utilities across Europe are already upgrading to RipEX2 and M!DGE:

• Vodovody a kanalizace Havlíčkův Brod (CZ) replaced 17-year-old MR400 modems with RipEX2.“RipEX2 solved our network capacity issue. It’s also the first step towards migrating the whole system to modern IP communications fully aligned with current SCADA requirements.”
• Vodovody a kanalizace Hradec Králové (CZ) moved from Conel radios to a hybrid RipEX2 + M!DGE3 solution, using mobile networks as backup channels.
• Liptovská vodárenská spoločnosť (SK) is migrating from Motorola and Kenwood radios to RipEX2 in the Low Tatras.“RipEX2 brought us the security upgrade we needed, without losing performance,” says the LVS network manager.
• Trenčianske vodárne a kanalizácie (SK) replaced 112 RipEX units with RipEX2, complemented by M!DGE routers for secure remote access.“We wanted a smooth transition. RipEX2’s compatibility with our existing setup made the migration straightforward,” explains the operations manager.
• Brněnské vodárny a kanalizace (CZ) are deploying M!DGE3 alongside RipEX2, creating an independent, cybersecure channel for sensitive systems.
• In Austria and Norway, utilities are replacing legacy networks with RipEX2 to achieve RED compliance without reducing availability during migration.

Even in networks where RAy microwave links provide high-capacity backbone connectivity (e.g. VaK Hodonín or JVS), RipEX2 plays a crucial role by delivering secure and reliable last-mile radio communication.

Moving to RipEX2 brings far more than RED compliance:

• Future-proof performance with high throughput and low latency
• Compatibility with existing devices for phased migrations
• Enhanced network capability with modern, more powerful radios
• Downtime-free deployment thanks to RACOM’s Migration Solution
• Long-term security with free, regular, incremental firmware updates

For operators, this means extending the life of their infrastructure while gaining confidence that their network is ready for the next decades.

Whether you are replacing a handful of radios or planning a full network upgrade, RipEX2 offers a secure, reliable, and fully RED-compliant solution for your water distribution system.

When combined with M!DGE cellular routers for hybrid access and RAy microwave links for backbone connectivity, RACOM delivers an integrated communication platform for critical infrastructure,  serving rural communities, cities, and national networks alike.

Contact our team to explore your upgrade options and see how RipEX2, M!DGE3 and RAy3 can bring your network into the future — securely, smoothly, and without disruption.

Our colleagues Petr Šefara and Adam Svoboda visited the Technical High School in Žďár nad Sázavou to give final-year students of electrical engineering and IT a firsthand insight into the world of RACOM.

They didn’t just introduce the company — they also offered students a behind-the-scenes look at our production engineering department. A key focus was on the modern trend of data analysis using AI, a topic that Petr actively works on. Our extensive database of product information provides a unique opportunity for this — we store over 20,000 rows of data for each RipEX radio modem!

We hope we didn’t just inspire the students, but also encouraged them to continue their studies in electrical engineering and radio communication. Who knows — some of them might become our future colleagues!

Collaborating with local schools is one way we aim to retain young talent in our region. We want to show students that meaningful careers in modern technology are not limited to big cities. While RACOM products are used in over 130 countries worldwide, our roots remain firmly in Vysočina — and we are committed to making it a great place to both live and work.

Marek Bobula (Technical Director) and Vít Koutenský (Executive Director) represented RACOM as part of the Czech delegation at DefenceTech 2025, which took place on February 18–19 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The event was organized by the Ukrainian government platform Brave1 with the support of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.

RACOM has been supplying its products to Ukraine since 2005, and deliveries have continued even after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Our Radio modems and Cellular routers are primarily used to ensure communication for the control systems of the power distribution network.

Our products are designed to enhance security in many aspects. In addition to ensuring the smooth operation of critical infrastructure, they also support the control of unmanned vehicles, which are used for measuring chemical contamination, explosive ordnance disposal, and other specialized tasks.

During the two-day event, our representatives held numerous individual meetings, not only with Ukrainian partners but also with other members of the Czech delegation representing companies in the defense sector.

For security reasons, Vít and Marek traveled by train, with the journey taking more than 42 hours. Due to frequent air raid alerts, they spent over 20 hours in shelters, both during the day and at night. Thanks to strict adherence to safety protocols and excelent information support from the Czech embassy, they returned home safely.

Our participation in the conference reaffirmed that our commitment to making the world a safer place through RACOM’s products is not just an aspirational goal, but a real and essential necessity.

We firmly believe that the war in Ukraine will soon come to an end and that our products will contribute to the post-war reconstruction of the country.