Webb Industries has appointed MultiBand Antennas.com as its export partners in the UK. Webb and MultiBand have had a very close working relationship for the last four years.
According to Webb sales and marketing manager, Paul Richards, MultiBand brings to the relationship an extensive expertise in the antenna industry and he looks forward to an accelerated marketing effort in the UK. MultiBand's primary business is GPS-based antennas for asset tracking and remote monitoring using mainly the GSM terrestrial and Orbcomm satellite networks. But, according to Multiband MD Michael Kenny, the deal with Webb will mean a broadening of his company's offering.
"As a result of our appointment by Webb Industries we have employed Martin Jarvis who has worked in RF since 1990 and has a very strong knowledge of RF products and RF customers. We did this in order to expand our reach to include base station antennas and filters for the professional mobile radio (PMR) market," said Kenny.
Kenny said that this expansion is very positive for the Webb/MultiBand relationship as it leverages the business model that MultiBand currently has, places someone with excellent knowledge and experience in Europe's strongest market and allows the new organisation to expand the product range without having to develop any new products. He says that MultiBand's focus in the UK will be the GSM GPS tracking market, the PMR base station and filter markets, and the public transport sector - specifically the bus companies. Globally, MultiBand will focus mainly on GSM GPS tracking and Orbcomm tracking and data monitoring.
In order to service the UK market effectively, Multiband will become consignment stocking distributors. Currently, the physical distance and time frame from moving product from RSA to the UK via its logistics point in Ireland, takes up to 10 days from start to finish. "So, if we are to become competitive a leap of faith will have to be taken and a stocking range placed either in Dublin or the UK," says Kenny.
In terms of product, Webb Industries accounts for about 80% of the antennas that MultiBand sells. "It is not just a pricing issue. Webb has shown that they are quick to adapt, modify or design and create new antenna models to suit evolving wireless systems. Besides their excellent range of GSM GPS antennas for the tracking market, more recently, they have produced possibly the ultimate range of antennas for the Orbcomm satellite network," says Kenny.
Orbcomm uses VHF and as such it is a much more difficult proposition to design and build small size antennas. Webb has excelled by thinking beyond convention and the antennas it has developed, the VHF frequency and technology used, create an automatic barrier to entry for many standard antenna companies. Orbcomm, being a satellite network, operates in every country around the world meaning that the same antenna would work globally.
MultiBand, which has been in operation since 2000, has its head office in Dublin, Ireland and three sales centres - Poland, UK and in Vancouver. Established in 1973, Webb Industries has become one of the leading innovators in ancillary products for telecommunications infrastructure.
| Tel: | +27 11 719 0000 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.webb.co.za |
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