Latest from Next TV in Ruckus-networks

Ruckus Announces Immediate Availability of CBRS Portfolio

daniel.frankel@futurenet.com (Daniel Frankel) — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 22:39:36 +0000

Ruckus Networks has announced the immediate availability of its CBRS portfolio, which includes CBRS-band LTE access points and varioius cloud-based services.

Ruckus, which was acquired last month when CommScope closed on its $7.4 billion acquisition of parent company Arris, has participated in nearly 50 trials of networks based on the Citizens Broadband Radio Services (CBRS) spectrum band, the 3550 - 3700 MHz-frequency swath the FCC had previously set aside for a narrow collection of government services. Ruckus is also a founding member of the CBRS Alliance.

The is FCC currently looking to finalizes commercial CBRS spectrum availability, and organizations across a wide variety of verticals will be able deploy their own private LTE networks.

Comcast and Charter Communications are among the telecom companies looking to provide CBRS network services.

“The market needs cloud-based, easy-to-deploy CBRS solutions to enable the growing opportunities of private LTE networks in the mobile, cable and enterprise segments,” said Kyung Mun, principal analyst for Mobile Experts, delivering a statement in CommScope’s announcement today. “LTE solutions similar to Ruckus’—that are simple to deploy like Wi-Fi—will help drive rapid adoption of private LTE networks across numerous market segments. Our forecast is that nearly one million CBRS small cells will be shipped by 2023.”

Added Ian Whiting, senior VP and segment lead for Ruckus Networks: “Now that commercial availability of CBRS is a reality, we’re excited to support organizations across a variety of industries to harness the mobility, security, and quality of service that this shared spectrum provides.”

MWC: Ruckus Partners with Federated Wireless and Syniverse for Commercial CBRS Networks

daniel.frankel@futurenet.com (Daniel Frankel) — Tue, 26 Feb 2019 14:21:59 +0000

Arris-owned wireless tech company Ruckus Networks has partnered with fellow technology vendors Federated Wireless and Syniverse to set up private LTE networks using CBRS spectrum for enterprise applications.

The announcement was made today by Syniverse at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Tuesday.

The companies have established a private LTE network managed through the Syniverse Innovation Lab and powered by LTE access points (aka small cells) from Ruckus and a Federated Wireless spectrum controller. Syniverse provided an evolved packet core.

“With Syniverse’s secure network capabilities, Ruckus’ connectivity expertise, and Federated Wireless’s spectrum-sharing proficiency, we’ve launched a CBRS-based LTE network in Syniverse’s Innovation Lab,” said Michael O’Brien, group VP of corporate development and strategy for Syniverse, in a statement. “The network offers service to companies that need to take advantage of an LTE network with in-building and outdoor coverage and capacity expansion on a massive scale. The network offers an alternative to unsecured Wi-Fi connectivity that is easy to deploy and offers cost-efficient local network capabilities.”

Back in September, Ruckus was given FCC certification for its entire portfolio of “OpenG”-branded access points designed to work in the 3.5 Ghz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum.

Cable and wireless operators are exploring opportunities for the Citizens Broadband Radio Service Device band, a 150 MHz-wide portion of largely underused spectrum existing between 3.55 GHz and 3.7 GHz. CBRS will ultimately be used for private LTE networks such as airports and industrial campuses.

“A private LTE network enables secure applications, including tablets and handhelds in healthcare environments, transmission of user data in smart meters, and IoT-connected devices in remote areas. Together, we’re opening up compelling new use cases that only private LTE networks can effectively address,” said Joel Lindholm, VP of LTE business for Ruckus Networks.

Amazon Makes Bold Entry Into CBRS with Ruckus, Federated, Athonet Partnership

daniel.frankel@futurenet.com (Daniel Frankel) — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 18:23:02 +0000

Amazon is leading a quartet of partners, which also include Arris’ Ruckus Networks division, Federated Wireless and Athonet, in announcing a partnership to deliver a cloud-based private LTE network solution based on CBRS.

As detailed this week by technology org IEEE, this could be only the first emergence of Amazon’s expansive plans for CBRS spectrum use, with speculation that the technology giant has set up perhaps the largest testing apparatus yet to test CBRS-enabled devices and solutions. More on that further down.

The companies behind the just-announced solution are targeting developers, independent software vendors, telecom operators, the public sector and enterprises—any entity that needs quick deployment of industrial IoT applications such as real-time surveillance, smart meters and worker safety monitoring.

The quorum is billing their solution as a cheaper, more efficient way to build private mobile CBRS networks, as opposed to expensive buildups that require a lot of network hardware, as well as staff acquisition and training.

The solution was announced Tuesday from AWS re:Invent, an event produced by Amazon Web Services being held in Las Vegas. Federated Wireless CEO Iyad Tarazi trumpeted the partnership via his company’s corporate blog.

The partners are using AWS re:Invent to demonstrate the solution using Amazon DeepLens devices, which Amazon is billing as the world’s first deep-learning-enabled video camera for developers.

Major components to the solution include the Ruckus Q710, which is the first CBRS 3.5 GHz indoor LTE access point to achieve FCC certification; the Athonet BubbleCloud, a mobile core designed for private mobile networks; and the Federated Wireless Spectrum Controller, which enables access to massive CBRS shared spectrum for private 4G and 5G networks.

The solution is fully integrated into AWS’ IoT cloud platform.

“This partnership represents a leap in private mobile networks by combining the leading cloud IoT platform with new wireless connectivity solutions to enable every developer to create that next transformational service,” Tarazi said.

Cable and wireless operators, along with their vendor partners, are exploring opportunities for the Citizens Broadband Radio Service Device band, a 150 MHz-wide portion of largely underused spectrum existing between 3.55 GHz and 3.7 GHz, previously confined to a limited number of military applications.

CBRS will ultimately be used for private LTE networks such as airports and industrial campuses. The FCC is still reviewing the rules for CBRS deployment, but the CBRS Alliance expects that the General Authorized Access portion of the band will begin being used for commercial applications by the end of 2018.

Comcast, Charter Communications and Altice USA are each currently testing various CBRS applications. So are tech companies like Nokia.

But entry of Amazon could be a major disrupter of the telecom giants’ CBRS plans. According to IEEE, a mysterious company called Chrome Enterprises last week filed an application with the FCC to begin testing CBRS-related technology at three Silicon Valley-adjacent locations.

IEEE speculates that Amazon is actually behind this filing, and plans to use three of its facilities to conduct the test of up to 450 prototype devices.

Ruckus Gets CBRS Certification for Access Points

daniel.frankel@futurenet.com (Daniel Frankel) — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 19:55:11 +0000

Ruckus Networks said today that it has been given FCC certification for its entire portfolio of “OpenG”-branded access points designed to work in the 3.5 Ghz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum.

Having one of the telecom industry’s major vendors certified is a major step in the broader plan to have CBRS commercial deployments achieved by the end of the year. Earlier today, Federated Wireless said that it has asked the FCC for permission to move forward with commercial CBRS deployments as soon as October, the company announced.

“This major milestone is one of the final stages before CBRS commercial deployments are made possible,” said Ian Whiting, president of Ruckus Networks, in a statement. “As a leading network provider, we are enabling organizations to deploy and manage a private LTE network, as easily as deploying a Wi-Fi network. Our OpenG LTE portfolio enables customers across a variety of different verticals to take advantage of this spectrum.”

Arris-owned Ruckus also announced that it has partnered with multi-family broadband provider Pavlov Media to trial CBRS 3.5 GHz LTE access points in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.

Overall, Ruckus said it has conduced more than 20 CBRS trials with operators and enterprises, and it has another 30-plus trials pending.

New Ruckus Networks Chief Plans to Stay the Course

Jeff Baumgartner — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 21:11:47 +0000

Ian Whiting doesn’t expect to rock the boat when he officially takes the helm of Ruckus Networks on July 1.

Whiting is stepping in then as president of Arris’s Enterprise Networks unit, which includes the wireless/mobile-focused Ruckus, said he intends to move ahead with a strategy that he forged with Dan Rabinovitsj, the person he is succeeding in that role.

Ian Whiting

“I don’t anticipate needing to make any changes to strategy,” he said, noting that he, who has been serving as Ruckus’s chief strategy officer, worked closely with Rabinovitsj, on the integration following Arris’s acquisition of Ruckus late last year.

“I think we share the same view of where we fit into the industry,” Whiting said. “That’s the plan – to stick with it.”

He said the general focus is for Ruckus to continue to focus on its key verticals, expand on the service provider market, and broaden the international scope of its business.

Whiting will be taking over as the relatively new Enterprise unit of Arris is performing well in the early going.

And part of the plan going forward is to have Ruckus Networks play a more prominent role in the growing Internet of Things market, edge computing, and the opportunities ahead for CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service), an emerging shared swath of spectrum that will play a big role in new private LTE networks and factor into cable’s mobile and wireless tech and service strategies.

IoT presents the nearer-term opportunity, as Ruckus has already begun to ship IoT gateway products.

The CBRS sector is in the early adopter phase as the FCC and other agencies iron out rules for the spectrum, but it’s also “building quite a head of steam,” he said.

Arris, he added, has been required to put more resources into that as it responds to demand from customers that are pushing ahead on trials and proof-on-concept deployments, including some early, paid opportunities. CBRS is also enabling Ruckus to enter new markets, Whiting said.

Whiting said Ruckus is also poised to jump on the market for 802.11ax WiFi, adding that upgrades to a new WiFi standard historically given the company a significant lift as customers deploy new access points and switching gear (in addition to Ruckus, Arris also acquired an ICX Switch business via its deal with Broadcom) to handle denser, higher-capacity networks.

Although much of the mobile and wireless discussion tends to focus on the U.S. and Western Europe, Whiting said Ruckus is also keeping tabs on opportunities in emerging markets, such as India, the Philippines, and Africa, where investments are being made in basic infrastructure.

Ian Whiting Tapped to Head Up Ruckus Networks

Jeff Baumgartner — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 18:03:07 +0000

Ian Whiting

There’s a big move at the top of Ruckus Networks arriving roughly six months after Arris sealed its acquisition of the wireless-focused company.

Arris announced Thursday (June 14) that Ian Whiting, the chief commercial officer of Ruckus Networks, has been named president of Arris’s Enterprise Networks unit, which includes Ruckus Networks.

Whiting, who reports to Arris CEO Bruce McClelland, will succeed Dan Rabinovitsj, who is leaving to pursue a new opportunity in the technology arena, Arris said.

Whiting’s new role at Ruckus Networks takes effect on July 1, 2018.

Rabinovitsj, who joined Arris following the acquisition, is departing after the successful integration” of Ruckus Networks and will work with Whiting to ensure a smooth transition, the company said.

In his previous role at Ruckus, Whiting has been playing a leading role in vertical markets such as education, hospitality, MDUs, government, large public venues, retail and service providers.

Arris closed its acquisition of the Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch business from Broadcom in December 2017.

The acquisition has been a positive one so far for Arris. Its new Enterprise business generated a higher than expected $170 million in Q1 2018.

The deal is also positioning Arris to become a big player in the emerging market for shared CBRS spectrum, which is expected to play a key role in the cable industry’s future mobile and wireless strategies.

Arris M&A Strategy to Focus on ‘Near-Adjacencies’

Jeff Baumgartner — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 18:01:00 +0000

Bruce McClelland

Following its recent acquisition of Ruckus Wireless, a move that enhanced Arris's focus on the wireless and enterprise sectors, Arris will continue to seek out deals that can broaden its addressable market.

That means it won’t be going off on any wild tangents but rather stick to its new knitting, which is all about providing connectivity – wired and wireless – to consumers and businesses.

With regard to future M&A, “We’re looking for opportunities that are near-adjacencies to what we’ve in today, things that logically build on top of the businesses that we’re in, so it’s easier to get synergies,” Arris CEO Bruce McClelland said Wednesday on the company’s investor day, held in New York. “One-plus-one equals more than two…We’re looking at things that are accretive to the business going forward.”

“I really believe that M&A is a core part of what we need to do,” Dave Potts, Arris’s EVP and CTO, added later. “I think it is a place that we will want to continue to try to put dollars to work.”

McClelland didn’t identify any specific companies on Arris’s M&A radar, but did spell out some areas that would qualify to be on it, including the enterprise sector, security, as well as opportunities to bolster its traditional infrastructure business, including wireless, transport and optical transmission.

But a primary focus of Arris’s capital strategy will be in R&D, which will grow to $700 million this year, thanks in part to the Ruckus acquisition. R&D is “really the fuel for the business…that’s the best possible use of cash in the business,” McClelland said.

Arris’s investor day spanned the scope of its business. Here’s a snapshot of some specific areas that were covered:

Waxing Wireless

Starting with what Arris has with the new Ruckus Networks unit on board, the company plans to take advantage of a wireless LAN arena with a total addressable market of $15 to $17 billion and one that is growing at 8% to 10% a year.

Of note, the company is anticipating a transition to 802.11ax that will that will also create push to new edge campus switching technologies, and drive “secular upgrades” into product areas that Ruckus has covered, Dan Rabinovitsj, president of Arris Enterprise Networks, said.

Arris, through Ruckus Networks, is also getting positioned for the needs of the enterprise Internet of Things market, as well as opportunities that will come way of CBRS, a swath of shared spectrum in the 3.5GHz band that will be used by incumbents as well as for unlicensed and lightly licensed use by others, including cable operators.

For enterprise IoT, Ruckus plan centers on consolidating the physical layer access networks into a unified IoT network using access points with IoT modules that can support a fragmented group of standards and technologies, including Bluetooth Low Energy, Zigbee and LoRA.

“This fragmentation has been a huge problem,” Rabinovitsj said. “We’re PHY-agnostic…we have zero religion about this.”

He said Apple and others are remedying this issue in the consumer sphere by building their own technology silos. But that approach won’t fly with enterprise customers, he said.

Steve Martin, Ruckus’s CTO, expanded on the CBRS initiative at the company, noting that the shared spectrum approach in the 3.5GHz band represents a “breakthrough,” and a significant opportunity.

“Spectrum is like beachfront property…they’re not making any more of it,” he said.

The CBRS opportunity, which will use spectrum allocation servers to keep users in that band from interfering with each other, has drawn interest from a wide range of segments, including cable operators that view it as a way to augment mobile service that are leaning on MVNO agreements.

“The trials are getting bigger and more sophisticated,” he added, noting the largest one spans some 90 nodes covering both indoor and outdoor locations across multiple city blocks.

“This stuff is real,” he said. “Frankly our pipeline is limited by our ability to handle the trial requests at this point, so we're being very opportunistic about it.”

The Drive Toward Distributed Access

A portion of Arris’s discussion about what’s going on in the wired part of the network centered on cable’s push toward distributed access architectures (DAA), which push functions and electronics further out on the network and into the node.

As a sign of momentum there, Arris announced today that Danish service provider Stofa has launched what’s being billed as Europe’s first Gigabit internet service based on the remote PHY spec. To enable it Stofa is using Arris’s flagship CCAP, the E6000, with a software upgrade that pairs with the vendor’s NC2000 R-PHY optical nodes.

The move to DAA also gets cable operators into the world of digital optics, which opens to door to new competitors that want to jump into the investment cycle to come.

“Who knew that HFC was cool again?” McClelland joked. “It will be competitive. There are lots of people who would like a piece of that, and it’s going to grow over time. I would rather be where we are than where everybody else is."

On Arris’s consumer premises equipment (CPE) side of the house, share has been gradually shifting more heavily toward broadband devices – the currently mix is still dominated by video (60%) as broadband (40%) continues to close the gap.

Larry Robinson, president of Arris's CPE business, reiterated that, for set-tops, the company will try to grow share selectively with an emphasis on margin and a continued pursuit of cost-reduction programs as rising memory costs remain an issue.

There’s a “maniacal focus on streamlining business operations,” Robinson said.

As for trends, Robinson said integration of 4K and HDR technologies are part of the evolution, as well as voice-based navigation, and whole-home WiFi capabilities. There’s also an opportunity emerging to build far-field microphones into traditional CPE products as ambient voice capabilities become a more important component of smart home solutions.

“There’s even talk of 8K,” driving a number of new use cases for video, Robinson said. However, 8K currently is “off the charts in terms of price.”

On the broadband side, about 10% of Arris’s CPE for cable operators re DOCSIS 3.1, and Arris sees that rising to the 75% to 80% range in 2021.

Memory Pricing Continues to Put Pressure on Arris’s Set-Top Business

Jeff Baumgartner — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 21:39:00 +0000

Rising prices on memory will continue to have an adverse effect on Arris’s set-top box business this year, though perhaps not quite as much as they did in 2017.

“Increased DRAM prices have clearly affected ARRIS, degrading EBITDA by over $100 million in 2017,” Simon Leopold, analyst at Raymond James, pointed out in a research note based in part on his discussion yesterday with Arris CFO Dave Potts at the firm’s 39th Annual Institutional Investors Conference. “Although the rate of increasing costs has slowed, ARRIS is not anticipating a reversal in 2018.”

He noted that much of the DRAM used by Arris goes into set-tops, which contribute about 45% of sales.

Arris has already started to outline how it will address the memory cost issue and drive more efficiencies into its CPE business, noting last month that it will be “more selective” with set-top deals, with an emphasis on profitability more so than sales growth.

Likewise, Arris is “in extensive discussions with customers to adjust pricing to reflect increased memory costs, and are being increasingly more selective on the projects that we pursue,” Bruce McClelland, Arris’s CEO, said on the company’s Q4 call last month.

Though set-tops are a big part of Arris’s business today, the company has been branching out to adjacent areas, like mobile and wireless and enterprise, via its acquisition of the Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch businesses from Brocade soon after Brocade’s merger with Broadcom.

Such moves give Arris “exposure to an adjacent market and helping it drive growth and provide diversification,” Leopold noted, adding that the company reiterated a growth expectation of 20% year-on-year in that segment as wireless marks a “natural progression” for Arris.

He added that Arris also expects the mix of sales to cable operators to shift to network investments and transmission products and away from set-tops and other CPE, with an expected benefit going to sales of Arris’s converged cable access platform (CCAP) gear and software and as MSOs start to move to distributed access architectures.

And Potts reiterated Arris’s stance that M&A will continue to be consideration in Arris’s growth strategy, though plans for capital allocation will be balanced to include buybacks, Leopold said.

"Yes, I think M&A will continue to be part of what we do," Potts said, according toLight Reading. "What I worry about in five years from now if we aren't continuing to add, what is it that we will have? Who will we be as a business?"

Ruckus Gears Up for CBRS Band

Jeff Baumgartner — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 13:06:00 +0000

Ruckus Networks, the wireless-focused tech company acquired late last year by Arris, has introduced a new lineup of LTE-based products, including access points and a spectrum allocation server, aimed at the emerging market for the 3.5 GHz Citizens Band Radio Service (CBRS) band.

That portfolio, introduced ahead of the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, is entering the fray as the shared-use CBRS band – a 150 MHz chunk of spectrum in the 3.55 Gigahertz to 3.7 GHz range -- becomes a focal point for traditional mobile carriers, cable operators and neutral-host service providers.

Ruckus’s CBRS band LTE portfolio includes the Ruckus Q710, a 3.5 GHz indoor access point/small cell with 10,000 square feet of coverage, the Q910, a 3.5 GHz outdoor AP/small cell that can cover a 660-foot city block, and a cloud-based element management system. ts CBRS product suite also includes pro services from Arris (for network planning and deployment, the cEPC (a cloud-based evolved packet core), and the cSAS, a cloud-based spectrum allocation server that is being marketed as an optional subscription service.

The spectrum allocation server is a key product component for the CBRS band's shared spectrum environment, as it ensures that new use cases for licensed and unlicensed capacity in that band do not interfere with incumbent users such as the U.S. Navy. Notably, Arris and one of its top customers, Charter Communications, are investors in Federated Wireless, a startup that specializes in spectrum allocation servers and systems and recently introduced a product interoperability program.

Ruckus said the new CBRS-focused portfolio is in trials today, with availability to come following anticipated FCC certification in the shared-use band.

Ruckus didn’t identify trial partners. In the cable world, Comcast and Charter have either started CBRS trials or have plans underway to test small cells that, for example, might be used to offset some of the network costs for mobile services that lean on MVNO agreements.

The CBRS/LTE access points being announced today are the first two of a larger, more comprehensive product line, as some will be capable of snapping onto existing Ruckus-made access points, according to Mark Davis, Ruckus’s senior director of product marketing.

When combined with the subscription services and other elements, the product suite is shaping up as a “CBRS in a box” solution, he said, estimating that Ruckus has more than 20 trials underway with operators of various shapes and sizes.

Ruckus also introduced a suite of Internet of Things products focused on enterprises and to address the complexities that some IoT solution vendors have created using vertically-integrated systems.

“IoT is an extraordinarily complex beast” as many of today's IoT solutions don’t talk to each other, Davis said.

The idea behind Ruckus’s approach is to consolidate the physical layer access networks into a unified IoT network. Those components include IoT-ready access points, IoT modules (based on standards such as Bluetooth Low Energy, Zigbee and LoRA, and IoT controller that works with the company’s existing SmartZone wireless LAN controller.

The result aims to create a common infrastructure between the wireless local area network and the IoT access network.

Ruckus also announced ecosystem partnerships with several IoT companies, including Assa Abloy Hospitality (smart security), LoRaWAN network specialist Actility, IBM (for its Watson IoT platform), Kontakt.io, TrackR, and Tile, a company that has developed an electronic beacon system that tracks a person’s belongings.

Arris to Be ‘More Selective’ With Its Set-Top Box Business

Jeff Baumgartner — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 14:13:00 +0000

Arris turned in a generally solid Q4, but pressures being applied to its set-top business, driven in part by rising memory costs, is causing the company to adjust its strategy in a way that could have the company steering clear of less profitable opportunities.

“As we enter 2018, the team continues to sharpen the focus on enhancing economics within the CPE [consumer premises equipment] business, and we are taking a number of steps to improve efficiency,” Bruce McClelland, Arris’s CEO, said Wednesday on the company’s Q4 2017 earnings call.

One of those steps is to sell its set-top manufacturing facility in Taiwan to Pegatron. Once completed, Arris will be able to tap into Pegatron’s scale and supply chain, and yield an annual benefit of $20 million or more and lowering product costs, McClelland explained.

Arris is “in extensive discussions with customers to adjust pricing to reflect increased memory costs, and are being increasingly more selective on the projects that we pursue,” McClelland added, noting later that the adjusted selectivity will have Arris focus more on profitability than on sales growth.

That adjustment comes as video set-top sales in Q4 2017 declined 13% year-over-year amid lower volumes and the shift toward lighter-weight clients, trends that are emerging due to new gateway-client architectures and the expanding use of cloud DVR services.

McClelland said Arris expects the cost of memory to continue to be an issue for its CPE business, and is currently projecting another 10% increase in costs in 2018 relative to the fourth quarter of 2017.

“It’s a situation where we think we have to have these discussions with customers and find a path forward,” McClelland said. “It’s an extremely active dialogue across the board, and I think we'll be successful in finding a middle ground that works for everyone. If we can't on some pieces of business that just don’t look like they are long term the right place for us to be, I think you'll find us trim those out."

Arris’s strategy to be more selective and focus on more profitable opportunities for its set-top box business is not out of the ordinary. Cisco Systems, which sold its CPE business to Technicolor in 2015, opted a couple of years earlier not to pursue business for low-margin set-top boxes, particularly in Europe.

On the positive side, McClelland said the upgrade cycle for boxes that support 4K video gained momentum in 2017 and is expected to accelerate this year, citing Arris’s recently announced deal to provide 4K-ready boxes to Bell Canada.

But generally speaking, Arris expects sales from its CPE segment to shift toward a higher mix of broadband devices (the company anticipates CPE sales to be down 4% this year as it adjusts its operational efficiencies and focuses on profitability and price adjustments).

McClelland said Arris will likely provide more perspective on that evolving mix during its investor conference, set for March 28 at The Westin New York at Times Square.

That shifting mix was reflected in Q4, as sales of broadband CPE in the period jumped 7% amid growing demand of advanced DOCSIS-based gateways. Of note, Arris shipped 1.6 million DOCSIS 3.1 units in 2017, representing a bit under 10% of total volume, McClelland said, adding later that D3.1 has begun to progress from trials to full-scale commercial deployments.

The challenge faced by Arris’s video set-top business was a relative blip when compared to just about every other aspect of its business.

Overall Q4 sales came in at $1.73 billion, on the high end of Arris’s guidance range, and close to expectations of about $1.74 billion.

Arris expects 2018 sales of $7.1 billion to $7.35 billion, and earnings per share of $2.80 and to $3.05. That compares with consensus of $7.26 billion and $2.92 EPS, according to Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold, who maintained a “Strong Buy” on the stock and a target of $36.

Q4 numbers included a month of enterprise sales coming way of Arris’s acquisition of the Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch business from Broadcom, a deal that, for example, will help Arris chase down new opportunities in the emerging CBRS market.

For that CBRS LTE portfolio, Arris has an active pipeline with traditional wireless service providers, wireline providers expanding into wireless, enterprise customers what are looking to deploy private, secure LTE networks, as well as wireless ISPs. Use of 3.5GHz CBRS spectrum for initial commercial trials are expected to start later this year, McClelland said.

That business [Ruckus] “hit the ground running,” McClelland said.

Arris’s projected increase of 9% in sales this year includes expectations that the company’s new enterprise business represents an opportunity in the $650 million to $700 million range.

Arris’s Network and Cloud business, meanwhile, saw profitability rise in part due to continued sales of DOCSIS capacity licenses for its flagship converged cable access platform, the E6000. Shipment of “Gen2” modules for the E6000 also accelerated in the second half of the year.

He also noted that a portion of revenue projected for 2018 includes projects involving the use of Remote PHY, an emerging architecture that distributes certain electronics further toward the edge of the network.

Arris Touts Deployments of ‘Gen 2’ Modules for Flagship CCAP

Jeff Baumgartner — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:57:00 +0000

Ahead of announcing its Q4 financial results later today, Arris said several of its MSO customers in North America and Europe are part of a first wave of operators that are deploying Gen 2 modules for the E6000, its flagship Converged Cable Access Platform.

The Gen 2 modules, announced last fall, enable MSOs to upgrade existing chassis with up to a 70% increase in headend service group density without eating up more rack space, Arris said. MSOs are also looking to those modules as they move ahead with gigabit services and move to distributed access architectures and remote PHY implementations.

The Gen 2 modules consists of the Downstream Cable Access Module 2 (DCAM-2), the Upstream Cable Access Module 2 (UCAM-2), and the Router System Module 2 (RSM-2).

Customers that have started to roll out Gen 2 modules include Comcast, Grande Communications, TDS Telecom, WideOpenWest, Liwest (Austria), NOS Comunicações (Portugal), and Toya (Poland).

Arris also announced that Ruckus Networks, the wireless-focused company acquired late last year, has signed a global OEM deal with Dell EMC. That deal includes access points, controllers, and Ruckus’s Cloudpath secure network access software, which can support access for bring-your-own-device, guest user and IT-owned device scenarios.

The deal also includes access to Ruckus-made IoT and CBRS LTE products.

"The Dell EMC brand and market reach is complementary to our own and represents a significant path for growth for both companies across a range of vertical markets, including education, public infrastructure, the federal government and service providers,” Dan Rabinovitsj, president, Ruckus Networks, said in a statement.