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The message coming out ofRACOM, a technologically-leadingmanufacturer of radio modems, 3Grouters and microwave links, isquite clear – don’t underestimatethe quality of technology coming out of countries such as the CzechRepublic. “We distribute globallybut we would be able to penetratemore markets if some countriesoutside of Europe knew where the Czech Republic was!” smiledDeputy CEO Martin Lácha, almostruefully. Daniel Barnes reports.

Having come a long way since thecompany was set up just before thefall of communism in the former

Czechoslovakia, RACOM is now one of theindustry’s leading manufacturers of top ofthe range radio modems, cellular routersand microwave links.

In the years following the VelvetRevolution, RACOM evolved from a pro-ducer of radio-ham products for radio ama-teurs in its homeland, first by expandinginto the wireless data transmission marketin 1990 with radio modems, then in 2005,responding to the significant developmentsseen in the GPRS networking market andestablishing a cellular routers product line,to finally entering the microwave linksmarket in 2009.

Today, the company has more than 100employees spread across three locations.RACOM’s headquarters in Nové Mesto naMorave and its technological centre forSMT and hybrid assembly in Blansko areboth a relatively short drive north of theCzech Republic’s second largest city, Brno,while the third RACOM location is situatedacross the border in the western Slovakiantown of Partizánske.

Reaching a Ton-Up of ExportsTo date, the company is steadily headingtowards another big milestone; achievinginstallations in 100 countries. “We startedexporting to Slovakia, Austria andGermany,” recalled Mr Lácha. “Very soonwe started exporting to Norway and otherEuropian countries. But nowadays, we areexporting globally with a presence in 85countries, with the main markets beingLatin America, South East Asia and Gulfcountries, due to the saturated nature ofthe European market.”

RACOM’s equipment is typically partof complex supervisory control and dataacquisition (SCADA) networks, resultingin the company’s traditional customersnot being end users but system integra-tors. And the company has an extensive

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network of international sales representa-tives, exclusive distributors and authoriseddealers, all responsible for increasing salesand geographic coverage. The end users forthis type of technology are extremely wide-spread, as the company’s reference list onits website testifies. From supplying RipEXradio modems to Russia’s oil and gas giantLUKOIL and Mexican electricity distributorCFE, to installing microwave links forVodafone, and providing radio data net-works to ship fleets (Telenor Norway), trainnetworks (Metro do Porto, Portugal) andeven the Czech police force, the company’sproducts can be found in governments, bigglobal companies, local corporate compa-nies and utility distributors in all four cor-ners of the globe.

“We can say that we are one of theleaders in the radio modem market, one ofthe top four or five in the world,” stated MrLácha proudly; who has just cause to be

proud, considering he is in fact one of thefounders and owners of the company. “We started from nothing in 1989 andhave developed the same and even betterproducts than much older and bigger com-panies. We have been able to keep thisposition for many years and are developingnew products every one or two years in allour market segments.”

Keeping Matters In-HouseAs a primary producer, RACOM isresponsible for its own research anddevelopment, for both the hardware andsoftware of all its products, relying onthe best quality, heavy duty industrialcomponents from some of the world’sbiggest technology powerhouses. MrLácha said his company has very strin-gent procedures to ensure RACOM buysdirectly from the big technology con-glomerates or from certified dealers to

prevent buying copycat products, whichis becoming a huge industry in itself incountries such as China. “This market isvery difficult,” he said. “Some copiedcomponents may have all the marks ofan original but may create problems aftera few years, so we have very strictquality controls in place.”

With regards to production, RACOM alsoplaces the maximum possible emphasisand focus on quality. All elements of aproduct undergo several levels of inspec-tion and testing and every assembled unitpasses a full-scale functionality test in a cli-matic chamber before undergoing detailedoutput quality checking.

To keep up with production demand,over the past 12 months, RACOM hasinvested more than €1 million. This outlayhas been split between research anddevelopment and production expansion,and includes the extension of the com-

pany’s SMT assembly centre, acquiringnew mechanical production technologyand building a new mechanical workshopat the Nové Mesto na Morave HQ.

“Our policy is to do maximum in-house capabilities so we have every-thing under our control,” stated MrLácha. “We assemble the PCB boardswith the components ourselves and wehave almost doubled our production inthis segment with these investments.We are currently capable of providing onshort delivery times even if the requiredquantities for our products are continu-ously growing.”

For a company that is expanding pro-duction and selling its products into anincreasing number of countries, it is nosurprise to see the company’s end ofyear figures constantly improve yearafter year. “Our turnover is growing 10per cent a year. We are entering more

markets, our equipment is very good,and we see some companies move fromour competitors to RACOM products.”

Quality First, Quantity Second But Mr Lácha declared there are stillmany challenges to overcome. “We aresure that our equipment, especially our radio modems, is at the top from atechnical point of view, but it is difficultto convince all users that your equip-ment is the best on the market. Forexample, if a company is using equip-ment it is fairly happy with, our chal-lenge is to inform the company that itcould get a better one from RACOM forthe same price.

“It is also difficult to compete with USproducers for the US market. To penetratethe US market is one of the challenges wehave now. From my point of view, the US isa closed market, preferring local producers.

A lot of people in America wouldn’t knowwhere the Czech Republic is, so don’t trustproducts from there.

“Our main challenge now is to be atthe top in the quantity of units which aresold worldwide. First we developed theproducts, and when you have the high-end products, you can occupy or pene-trate the market and get a bigger andbigger portion of the market.” This iswhere RACOM currently finds itself.n

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