As a European player, Lancom wants to compete with established (American) values in the networking industry. Those who value their digital sovereignty are better off buying “engineered in Europe” networking equipment.
Like many IT sectors, the networking industry is primarily dominated by vendors originating in the United States and Asia. Names such as HPE Aruba and Cisco probably ring a bell immediately, while European parties such as Lancom Systems enjoy less name recognition. The company urgently wants to change that.
We speak with Michaël Muller, VP Wired & Wireless LAN Lancom Systems, about the company’s international ambitions. Lancom is big in its homeland of Germany, and is now fully conquering the European market, without denying its origins. On the contrary, Müller is convinced that Deutsche Gründlichkeit can just be a selling point. “We want to support digital sovereignty in Europe.”
Mandatory loopholes
With network equipment of American or Asian manufacture comes a warning that many companies are unaware of, because providers do not advertise it. Müller explains: “American suppliers are required by the government to build backdoors into their network equipment. With Chinese equipment, you can assume the same. Europe has no such laws.”
Müller is not alone in claiming this. In fact, we have already heard Cisco admit in black and white that it cannot possibly offer sovereign services. Any provider of network and communications services headquartered in the U.S. is bound by U.S. laws that require them to keep the network ajar for the government.
Promises about “local” services from these same parties are therefore best viewed with a critical eye, warns Müller. “Other providers sell you a local cloud, but the backup servers are often not located in Europe. So you still have to upload your data to servers that are outside the scope and protection of European legislation.”
American suppliers are required by the government to build backdoors into their network equipment. Even with Chinese suppliers, you can assume that.
Michaël Muller, VP Wired & Wireless LAN Lancom Systems
European by design
Lancom wants to assure its customers that they can sleep on both ears. The network portfolio is one hundred percent developed in Europe. Müller explains: “Lancom is an engineering company that still makes its products itself. Moreover, the majority of production is done in Germany. Even our cloud from which we manage the managed network services is completely in Europe and is therefore fully compliant with GDPR legislation.”
Digital sovereignty is not taken lightly by Lancom. The network specialist sees it as an aspect in which it can differentiate itself from the dominant non-European network players. Companies can take a “digital sovereignty test” with Lancom’s help.
Lancom recently did a study in cooperation with the German newspaper Handelsblatt and there the demand for more digital sovereignty clearly emerged. In practice, however, there are still big steps to be taken to that end. A trend that Müller observes all over Europe, and which, with NIS2 lurking around the corner, will also only increase.
“In Germany, security has always been an important criterion. The importance is now increasing across Europe. It is becoming increasingly difficult for European companies to protect their digital identity. Companies are realizing that not everyone is their friend,” said Müller.
There are multiple paths leading to digital sovereignty. Given the crucial role the network plays in security, having 100 percent European components is a good starting point, Lancom is convinced. The digital identity of European companies is under pressure. Companies realize that not everyone is their friend
License perils
A major obstacle in the path toward digital sovereignty, also painfully exposed by the study, is (too) much dependence on a single vendor. Being stuck in an ecosystem can be an obstacle when, as a customer, you want to take more control over the infrastructure.
“Some of our competitors let licenses on products expire after three years or earlier. Renewing the license then costs almost as much as the original purchase. There are also products that are exclusively managed locally, which means that a later transition to cloud management is not possible,” Müller outlines.
“You won’t encounter this at Lancom,” he assures. “With us, you don’t have to extend anything or change hardware. All products are designed to work in the cloud as well as on-prem. So we offer customers complete flexibility for where and how they want to install and manage the network. A license is only required if they decide to move to cloud management.”
“With the recent addition of core switches to the portfolio, we are gradually becoming the only European player with a ‘one stop shop’ for network solutions. We see that certainly SMEs dare to move away from the traditional players and look for European alternatives,” says Müller. Lancom is now also fully preparing for the Wi-Fi 7 era.
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The right time
For Müller, now is the time for Lancom to strengthen its international presence. “We see interesting dynamics in the market. Replacing the established values is of course a big challenge. Not only to end customers, but also to partners.”
“We entered the switches market later. You have to be able to convince partners to replace their regular vendors with a party they may have less experience with. But we do see a willingness to try alternative ones. Digital sovereignty is becoming an important selling point. Therefore, we are convinced that we are at a good time in our business to strengthen,” Müller sounds combative.
The ambitions are international, but the heart and soul of Lancom remain in Germany. That is the company’s strength, Müller concludes. “Everything we do is in Germany. If a customer has a problem, that enables us to respond immediately. But it is not that we are in the hunt to become the biggest player. Our core focus remains on further developing a full portfolio for SMEs.”
This is an editorial in collaboration with Lancom Systems. See here more for more information on their offerings.