Vecima Networks

Any content, any device, any place – Vecima Networks builds the technology that delivers media around the world.

RECIPIENT for:
Technology Company of the Year (50+ employees)

When – and how – was your company born?
Vecima Networks was founded in 1988 in Saskatoon under the name Wavecom Electronics Inc. by Dr. Surinder Kumar, professor and holder of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council’s Industrial Chair in Telecommunications at the University of Saskatchewan. Our first commercial products were a line of modulators for the cable television industry in the emerging Internet and cable markets. At one point, over half of global high-speed internet-over-cable data traffic was transmitted across Wavecom-manufactured devices. In 1998, the corporate offices moved to Victoria, BC. In 2005, VCom listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol VCM, and the following year was renamed Vecima Networks Inc. In 2016 Vecima acquired Contigo, a Telematics company, and in 2018 acquired Concurrent, a leader in the video content delivery and storage space. Since its inception, Vecima has grown to several hundred employees, with offices in Victoria, Burnaby, Atlanta, and Tokyo as well as R&D and manufacturing facilities in Saskatoon.

Who are some of your clients? What projects are you working on right now, and what do they do
Vecima Networks has a blue-chip customer base of cable MSOs (multiple system operators) and networking vendors such as Comcast, Charter/Time Warner, Cox, Shaw and Rogers Cable.

As consumer demand for data and media-rich applications grow, this need strains existing technology, placing cable operators in a challenging position. To address these more complex technological requirements, operators need products that deliver previously unattainable cost, space and power efficiencies. Vecima Networks’ award-winning Entra platform enables a new generation of cable services and helps operators continue to meet consumer demand for high bandwidth connections and sophisticated applications, positioning them to compete more effectively in the telecommunications marketplace.

What was a pivotal moment for your company?
A pivotal moment for Vecima came several years ago as the company shifted its product focus from OEM to creating and selling component parts to selling complete platforms or systems directly to end customers. By adapting to a new way of doing business, this allowed the company to continue to progress over the next several years.

More recently, our industry is undergoing a radical transformation as our customers undertake a “once in a lifetime” spend on upgrading their network. This is a pivotal moment for all stakeholders as they evolve to meet the demand for higher speed access and increased network efficiency. Vecima has spent several years investing in R&D to create a solution to this huge and growing requirement for data consumption and we are looking forward to capitalizing on our initiatives.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned along the way?
As one of the city’s oldest technology companies, there have been many opportunities to learn along the way. For a technology company that has been in business for 30 years, Vecima’s commitment to quality has been a key factor in our success. From quality control testing in the labs and in the field, Vecima continues to ensure it delivers intelligent, leading-edge design to its customers.

Vecima also understands the importance of strategic risks. In the tech world, companies that don’t take risks and innovate find themselves left behind. Vecima’s significant investment of over $20 million annually in R&D reflects our ability to take risks, seek new opportunities, and remain agile in an ever-changing technological landscape.

The most important thing we consider as a company is our contribution to the communities we work and live in. Giving back is at the core of Vecima’s values. From corporate charity events to mentoring, Vecima’s employees have donated their time and energies to local initiatives. Our executives have mentored with New Ventures BC, the University of Victoria’s Business School and their Innovation Centre. In our R&D facilities, Vecima actively recruits and mentors engineering students from local universities.

What does the future 10 years look like for your company?
For Vecima Networks, the last few years were of major development as we moved forward in fulfilling our strategic objectives and implemented significant changes to our business to pave the way for our future. Over the next decade, we will continue to invest in research and development as we position Vecima for industry leadership in the broadband access and IP video content delivery space. We are excited at the prospect of leveraging our award-winning technology solutions to help our customers solve their network problems, allowing them to survive and thrive in the highly competitive telecommunications industry.

Why Victoria?
Aside from the obvious perks of living in one of the most temperate and visually stunning cities in Canada, Victoria was chosen to be the setting for Vecima’s corporate office because of the enviable quality of life afforded to its citizens. From mountains to beaches and everything in between, Victoria offered many opportunities to achieve a healthy work-life balance. As well, Victoria’s thriving technology sector gave rise to a considerable pool of talent in which to develop a world class engineering team.

“We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished here and privileged to have been one of the long-standing technology companies here in Victoria, our home for the last twenty years, said Sumit Kumar, President and CEO of Vecima Networks.