You might have seen our posts, or heard about dual band / dual network routers and networking solutions for your home office or company from SMOAD, but who are we? What do we actually do? What does SMOAD even stand for? To answer all these questions and more, we sat down with our co-founder and CEO, Mr.Srinivasan Sampathkumar. In his own words SMOAD is

“Software-defined Mobile Aggregated Data (SMOAD) Networks is a very young, agile, innovative company focusing on solving everyday problems faced by enterprises and businesses across the world. We specialise in aggregating multiple networks using software-defined tech to provide a resilient network. We focus on providing solutions in the areas of IoT, mobile, and fixed sites.”

We had the opportunity to talk with Sri at length about the company

What was the inspiration behind SMOAD?

We are born in Chennai, a place known for floods/cyclones that uproot trees and Overhead fiber networks catering to enterprises. We live with this every year and have accepted the deficiency or lack of facilities. We created an edge solution that provides uninterrupted internet and applications unlocking the power of 4g/5g, thereafter combining wired & wireless for seamless, resilient connectivity, so that we no longer have to sacrifice our connectivity.

How is SMOAD different from other networking companies?

While other networking companies focus on WAN or LAN networking, we started thinking a step before and that’s connectivity. We want to ensure that we provide stable connectivity, that’s software-driven and adaptable to any networking environment creation (WAN or LAN). We did extend our solution to accommodate edge applications that run on the network. In short, we filled the gap that existed before and after the traditional networking devices.

Why do you think more companies are not adopting this tech?

Companies are adopting this tech now, and will eventually become an interesting area to work. Edge networking is the future since it’s going to control the entire edge location using software-defined solutions.

SD-WAN solutions are usually plagued by questions around its security. How does SMOAD address that?

Any software-defined solution is risky without proper security architecture. However, we have built this system with security features inbuilt and also adopted containerized architecture for accommodating advanced firewall/security in the edge solution. This will provide enhanced security with zero trust** features.

**Zero Trust is a strategic initiative that helps prevent successful data breaches by eliminating the concept of trust from an organization’s network architecture. Rooted in the principle of “never trust, always verify,” every access request is fully authenticated, authorized, and encrypted before granting access.

What role has the pandemic played in your plans?

In fact, the pandemic has created a huge opportunity for us in multiple ways.

We are addressing them in a focused manner.

WFH
We are able to provide solutions that address all the important issues of WFH.

A. Uninterrupted Connectivity

B. Security : Zero Trust Network Access

C.. Customer Experience using traffic prioritization

Enterprise:

A.Huge adoption of digital tech like IoT, mobility, remote locations and SOHO helping us provide seamless edge solutions as a managed service.

B.The pandemic has created a huge urgency in the creation of remote networks and offices requiring quick implementation of edge solutions.

What impact do you think 5G will have in India given the hype around it?

5G will create a complete wireless infrastructure that will reduce the dependency of fiber networks. It will provide fast connectivity as fiber and flexibility of wireless connections. 5G will change the way we work and the enterprises/ business will create huge edge solutions on a private network to make it more self-sustainable,low latency, and resilient through 5G while having a failover to 4G.

With the emergence of 5G and its capabilities, what do you think will happen to Wired broadband networks?

5G will replace unsecured and risky last-mile fiber networks. It will complement most of the fiber networks as a redundant network. It helps in the creation of large private WAN networks in the shortest possible time. Wired broadband will stay however and 5G will be the secondary network as connectivity becomes an important utility with the advent of Smart homes or offices, adoption of IoT etc.

Given the kind of technology in SMOAD products, how expensive is it?

We created this product from a service provider perspective; hence we understand the price vs utility value proposition. We are very competitive in our pricing, delivering more value for the money spent. We don’t solve a single pain point, but many of them, with space for accommodating many more if it arises in the future. Tech space is evolving, today’s pain points may not exist tomorrow so is our commitment.

Who is the ideal SMOAD user?

Anyone working from home, or in a remote location, large enterprises with multiple locations, Retail chains with remote popup stores. Public enterprise with huge utility deployments eg. Ration shops, Power Utility Companies, Mines, Factories, and Ships just to name a few. Just anyone who needs great connectivity, even you, reading this!

What are SMOADs plans in the next 3-5 years?

We want to be present globally catering to Telcos, enterprise, and small businesses providing edge solutions and connectivity using 4G/5G architecture. We want to be a 100mn USD Company in the next 5years catering to at least 100,000 endpoints or customer locations.

In fact, we have crossed 500 endpoints moving swiftly towards 1000 by the end of March 2021 in the enterprise segment and will fulfill 1000 endpoints in the WFH segment. We will achieve 1.5% of our plans by March 2021. Still a long way to go but we will march ahead with focus until we win.

Now that you’ve heard about us, we hope you have an idea of what we do, and the passion behind our work. We’d love to hear from you too! Check out our website and let us know what you think, and how we can make your life easier!

Srini Sampath
CEO
SMOAD NETWORKS