Redpine Signals: Innovation Juggernaut in the Wireless Industry Date:   Wednesday , February 27, 2013 Venkat Mattela resisted the momentum of the great recession of 2001; tough competition to the tune of 100 companies during the wireless Wi-Fi boom. Today the company has emerged as a dauntless adversary in the wireless chipset space to giants such as Qualcomm and Broadcom. The most important weapon in the arsenal of Redpine Signals has not been a singular solution or a product range, but its bold adherence to innovation, experimentation, and Mattela’s hard work at single handedly engaging partnerships with global technology companies in many countries across the world. Though today there are no rough slides in comparison to early days of 2001, the 48 year old entrepreneur wakes up every day with the same level of passion and confidence to conquer and compete with the giants in the wireless space. San Jose headquartered Redpine Signals, today is a provider of wireless chipsets, modules and devices to over 1500 clients worldwide. With over 150 patents and last ten years spent dedicatedly in research and development of M2M and ultra low powered wireless SoC's for mobile phones, research and innovation has manifested into the soul of the company. Now Redpine is all set to unleash its avant-garde ingeniousness into the M2M industry. Venkat Mattela, CEO, Redpine Signals, who himself holds a total of 11 U.S. patents, embarked on a well laid out aggressive approach in 2008 to tap into the current emerging wireless M2M market. Mattela and his team are now armed with enough artillery to address multibillion dollar TAM in M2M space (Industrial and Multi-Markets) with highly differentiated products. But the question to address is how Redpine emerged victorious during the great recession over such tough oppositions. Unlike the IT/ITeS space, the wireless industry was under constant stress to create new technologies. The downturn of the period gave the company the parameter of time to develop new technologies with a small yet efficient workforce. But despite the inconsistency and the precariousness of the period, Mattela along with a few wireless warhorses, noticed a prominent opportunity in wireless technologies, especially in the emerging OFDM/MIMO wireless segment and subsequently created a company with high value product portfolio. Redpine functions today with a mission to create ultra low powered converged SoC for mobile phones. It's A-team of 160 strong R&D talent pool has leveraged the technology developed for mobile phones to create differentiated products for the M2M space from 2008. The company is on course to stamp its authority in the "Internet of Things" by 2014. Today its offerings include an exhaustive range of OFDM, MIMO, multithreaded processors and CMOS RF & PA. Building Accolades and Acumen The company holds the acumen of bringing out the industry's first simultaneous, dual band 3x3 802.11n chipset in 2010 and the first 3x3 802.11ac chipsets which were aimed to allow everyday entertainment devices to connect to Wi-Fi and help gain access to demanding video applications in a congested wireless entourage. Since 2008 the company has been leveraging its technology developed for mobile phones to create differentiated products for M2M space. With the traditional 2.4 GHz only providing 3 channels which are already proving congestive with high electronic interferences, the 5 GHz, with its 14 channel space is sure to take over the less effective 2.4 GHz as it is capable of carrying more data for faster and easier access at low power consumption levels. This 5 GHz invention landed Redpine Signals the prestigious Frost & Sullivan Global Technology Innovation in Wireless Solutions and RTLS in 2012. The company has made it a habit with accolades by winning on an average of one award on a quarterly basis. The firm then grabbed the Red Herring award for a place in the Global hundred Companies and the 100 companies from the Americas and Global for its dedication and successes in the field of innovation. Over the course of ten years the team has provided good customer value with software certified modules with FCC, IC, CE and TELEC compliances to name a few. Redpine Signal's portfolio is renowned in the industry for its self containment and ease of usage. Along with its worldwide channel distribution partners in the form of Arrow Electronics, Future Electronics, Mouser Electronics, Macnica and Rutronik, Redpine has created a dexterous cornerstone in support infrastructure. The latest innovation within its walls is its scalable SoC architecture that integrates multiple wireless technologies on a single die with unique re-use techniques. Redpine’s strategy to support customers with fully certified modules and making them available in a Kit form along with MCU platforms resonated well in the M2M market place. The Three Focal Points of a Unique Business Approach At Redpine Signals, the importance is basically on three main focal points - Innovation, Innovation and Innovation. While the company is making steady dividends in the emerging Wi-Fi markets, it has not taken its sight off from the mainstream Wi-Fi research. Redpine today has the technology and roadmap on par with the top two Wi-Fi players. The company goes the extra mile while empowering its workforce by providing opportunities to the tune of sponsoring their MS degrees from Stanford University. Unlike its competitors, the commitment towards turning employees into professional wireless experts is so pronounced that Redpine Signals spends more than the annual CTC of an individual on training and coaching programs. Moreover this dedication is not just in its employees but also is extended to its customers. Some of the prominent users who swear by Redpine Signal's wireless technologies are Ascom, Barco, Bang & Olufsen, Honeywell, SMA, and GE research to name a few. The plans for Redpine Signals in the immediate future are to scale through multiple verticals of chipsets, modules and systems, including global partnerships. The company promises to be a bigger formidable force as it plans to increase its Indian R&D team to 300 by end 2013. With the M2M scenario set to grow to 89 billion by end 2017, it is most probably going to mark the era of companies like Redpine Signals providing leading edge products to address the multi-billion dollar TAM in the wireless space today. "There's a way to do it better—find It." so said Thomas Alva Edison. Redpine has simply being applying the same technique all through its existence. Finding better ways and creating better chips for a better world.