Serving mostly as a 'distributor's distributor,' Microcom sells a wide range of wireless equipment including unbranded gear from Taiwan and China.

by Jeff Goldman [November 15, 2006]

David Golob founded the California-based distributor Microcom Technologies in 1999 primarily as an export company. "We were a trading company, really," Golob says. "We sold communications products to Latin America, mostly to the carriers and other big telecom groups. We added an office in Mexico City and a few years later in Bogotà, Colombia."

In 2004, Golob says, a friend of his who owned a wireless ISP suggested that he take a look at the U.S. WISP market. "He was looking for products that he couldn't find in the U.S. at an affordable price, and we had vendors overseas that were selling us similar types of products," he says. "We realized that there was an opportunity for us to jump in and stock some of this product for sale in the United States."

The result is Microcom's online wireless store, where the company sells a complete range of equipment for wireless ISPs.

Microcom Technologies 26635 Agoura Road, Suite 109 Calabasas, CA 91302 Voice: (818) 880-8008 mailto: general@microcomtec.com

Golob says most of Microcom's business today is focused on high-power 802.11-based radios and processor boards, the key advantage being that 802.11 doesn't lock you into a single vendor's solution. "If you want to upgrade the radio to one with better receive sensitivity, or change the frequency from 2.4 GHz to 900 MHz, you just change one piece without wasting your initial investment," he says.

A distributor's distributor
Golob says Microcom's wireless distribution business started out by importing products like pigtails and antennas from Taiwan and China. "Turns out that a lot of the antennas used in the WISP marketplace are all built at the same OEM factories in Asia—they're just marketed here by different U.S. companies," he says.

As a result, Golob says, Microcom often serves as a "distributor's distributor"—more than 95 percent of its sales are to other resellers and to OEMs. And when the company sells those Taiwanese and Chinese antennas and pigtails, they don't brand them with Microcom labels. "We leave the branding decision up to our customer, which gives them more control over the process," he says.

The main lines of equipment that Microcom carries are Ubiquiti Networks, EnGenius/Senao, ZyXEL, AirEpoch, Wistron NeWeb, and Zinwell. For processor boards, the company carries Gateworks, MikroTik, and PC Engines. "We've also got Power over Ethernet products from Phihong, mesh antennas from Comet, and a whole range of generic antennas, pigtails, and RF connectors," Golob says.

The key, Golob says, is to leverage economies of scale to save customers money. "We like to focus on a few brands where we can really get some buying power that we can pass on to our customer," he says. "So we'll buy, say, 5,000 radios at a time, put them in stock, and then sell them out in smaller orders—this lets us offer great prices."

In addition, because many of Microcom's products are from overseas, Golob says there's a real value in eliminating the hassles of the import process. "There's no 'payment with order for delivery four weeks later,' no 'import freight and duties extra expense,' no 'I can't get my product because U.S. Customs put the cargo on x-ray hold,' no 'how do I RMA one antenna back to China,' and so forth," he says.

Pricing and returns
Golob sees price as a key differentiator for Microcom. "CPE costs have come down a lot in the past couple of years, and WISPs really need that to compete with the free installation offers from the big carriers," he says. "So, yes, I think we attract customers because our prices are great—better than they can get if they buy factory-direct in most cases—but I do think they stay because they know they can count on us."

And counting on Microcom, Golob says, can extend to warranty issues. "A lot of our lines have US offices, but many don't," he says. "It's even more important when they're, say, Taiwan-based, because the expense and time is amplified. We aggregate all of the RMAs from all our customers and deal with the manufacturer on their behalf."

Golob says it's been exciting over the past few years to watch the wireless industry grow and mature. "It's fun to work with other entrepreneurs and watch them change the landscape of voice and data out there," he says. "The WISP community is filled with brilliant, innovative folks who do some pretty cool stuff with some pretty inexpensive gear."

—End