Supermicro is a company that produces server hardware for large-scale data centers. The company has found diverse success in this sector due to its ability to leverage its experience and technical expertise. Supermicro is known for the quality of its servers, but these servers come with a price tag that may be too high for many buyers. Supermicro has established itself as one of the top 20 vendors in this competitive market through its innovative solutions and targeted strategies.
5G RAN [being born] will be the next generation of wireless communication technology, in which 5G will offer a much more robust signal with increased speeds. ITU-T created the 5G standard, but the main industry participants are the United States and Japan. The demand for these devices is growing throughout 2019, with an estimated 3.6 billion Wi-Fi routers expected to be sold globally by 2022.
This market is expected to experience increased competition as major companies develop their wireless router solutions, such as Intel’s MXM 7060. Intel plans to release a wireless router that uses MXM 7060 chips in the second half of 2018. The company has revealed that the router could operate using 2.5G and 5G wireless connections while supporting Intel’s 802.11ac wireless technology.
Supermicro’s acquisition of Q-Nova is another example of its plan to expand into the wireless router sector. The company has been slowly transitioning away from traditional server sales and is hoping to triple its firmware sales in 2019. An analyst commented that Supermicro’s strategy to diversify its operations beyond traditional servers by tapping into new sectors is an innovative move for a company that traditionally relies on standard server sales.
Private 5G RANs [being prepared] will be the current hot topic in Q4 2018. In December 2018, Qualcomm was granted a 5G network architecture patent; in early 2019, we will see the first public release of smartphones capable of using the Qualcomm 600-series mobile X50 platform.
The Qualcomm 600-series chipset is designed to support both 2.5G and 5G networks. These devices will also support a new IoT standard known as M2M, developed by another US semiconductor company, Ericsson. The standard is considered more scalable than other IoT standards and is expected to be adopted throughout 2019.
5G Core [being born] is a new wave of infrastructure that will drive the adoption of 5G wireless in future smartphones. Qualcomm has been released to support its efforts by creating a next-generation mobile platform for this new market, but the company does not plan to reach out to other vendors for support.
Qualcomm also plans to rely on software solutions for 5G connectivity, reducing the time it takes to build intelligent connections and increasing flexibility. The company has already developed a reference framework supporting its vision of 5G, and the platform is currently being used in private tests by several telecommunication companies (TECs).
Enterprise 5G [being tested] will also be a primary focus in the coming years. Qualcomm has been named as one of the top enterprise 5G suppliers, but it is competing against other industry giants, such as Huawei and Nokia. According to an analyst from Strategy Analytics, one of these companies will have to make some sacrifices to compete in the current market.
The analyst believes that the company with the most sacrifices will have a minor market share in 2019. The company will have to choose between being a leader in features or focusing on cost efficiency, and it is possible that only one of them can be achieved.
Supermicro has established itself as one of the top 20 vendors in this competitive market through its innovative solutions and targeted strategies. Supermicro has been expanding into other industries and industries beyond server sales, which is a clever move for a company that has traditionally relied on standard server sales. This diversification will help to better position the company against competitors.
