Trango offers both licensed and unlicensed point-to-point and point-to-multipoint wireless solutions.

by Jeff Goldman [September 10, 2008]

Trango Broadband Wireless was founded in 1996 as a division of Trango Systems, Inc. The company, based in Poway, California—20 miles northeast of San Diego—now boasts deployments in more than 70 countries worldwide, covering everything from wireless broadband Internet access to IP video surveillance.

Shane Kindt, the company's manager of support services, says Trango's manufacturing process is a key strength: the company's factory is literally next door to its headquarters. "Having our own manufacturing facility in house gives us a lot of flexibility… if an issue comes up, we can halt production, we can make corrections, we can change the product types, and we can build what's in demand, as opposed to warehousing a bunch of stuff," he says.

Trango Broadband 4118 Stowe Drive Suite B Poway, San Diego, CA 92064 USA Tel: (858) 391-0010 Fax: (858) 391-0020 U.S. Sales: sales@trangobroadband.com

In addition to providing flexibility, Kindt says, that also allows Trango to keep its prices as low as possible. "We're at or well below our competitors," he says. "By allowing us to produce the quantities that we need, we can certainly keep the costs low. We've kind of gone against the grain: everyone else is outsourcing their production and manufacturing to lower their costs, and then they're sitting on inventory—whereas we're able to build what we need."

And Kindt says Trango's IP-centric approach also serves as a strong differentiator. "A lot of the market is coming off of a TDM or analog-based history, and we're coming into the market with an all IP-centric system," he says. "That allows us to have a lot of flexibility and gives us a rich feature set—as well as keep the price down."

The product portfolio
The company's WISP product catalog, Kindt says, covers an unusual range. "We are, I'd venture to say, one of the only manufacturers that are manufacturing both licensed and unlicensed products as well as point-to-point and point-to-multipoint," he says.

Trango's licensed products include the TrangoLINK Apex and TrangoLINK Giga point-to-point solutions, both of which are available at 6 GHz, 11 GHz, 18 GHz, and 23 GHz. "The Giga is a split architecture system—so there's an indoor unit and an outdoor unit—and the Apex is an all-outdoor unit," Kindt says. "So with that, you're going to stay at a very competitive price point, as well as enhance some of the features that were found on the Giga—there's really a marketplace for both platforms."

The company's unlicensed products include the point-to-multipoint Access5830, M2400S and M900S solutions at 5.8 GHz, 2.4Ghz and 900 MHz, respectively. "The focus is on the licensed point-to-point systems, but we're still maintaining our unlicensed platforms—and we have an unlicensed point-to-point system, the TrangoLink 45, which is a very successful product," Kindt says.

Finally, the company's HD Mesh solution, Kindt says, is a node designed to connect Trango's unlicensed radios in a self-healing mesh. "It's the hub that connects your cells or your clusters together," he says. "It still requires the use of our unlicensed radios… it supports the self-healing portions and all the features that everybody looks for in a mesh environment."

A focused offering
Trango's product portfolio, Kindt says, is intentionally tightly focused. "We are strictly a radio manufacturer," he says. "We don't manufacture hubs, switches, routers… If we wanted to make a Swiss Army Knife, we'd be like most of the other people out there, and we'd have a bunch of tools that don't really give you a lot of help. We focus on building a handful of products to do the job very well."

And Kindt says the company's support department is unusually proactive. "We maintain a close relationship with all of our customers," he says. "Many of them we know on a first-name basis. For the multitudes of customers we have out there, we're very in tune with the situations and issues as they arise. We don't have a multi-tiered system, so usually the technician that answers the phone or the e-mail with be the technician that resolves the issue."

That relationship, Kindt says, is often a lasting one. "We try and keep certain people designated to certain customers, so when they call up they have a familiar name and voice and contact information," he says. "But at the same time, behind the scenes, the rest of the company is aware of what's going on, so if your normal support person or salesperson is out on vacation or what have you, the rest of the company is able to pick up and take care of the needs of the customer."

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