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Wavelink Corporation is a leading provider of terminal emulators, mobile device and wireless infrastructure management and mobile application development software solutions that keep mobile businesses moving. Wavelink's technology solves the unique challenges involved in deploying, managing and controlling auto-ID data collection (AIDC) systems and RFID, and facilitates peak performance from frontline staff. Over 5,000 companies rely on Wavelink to accelerate application delivery, reduce device management and support costs, and tighten network security. We chatted with Lamar Van Wagenen, CEO of Wavelink, about his company.

Silicon Slopes: What is Wavelink, and what do you do?

Lamar Van Wagenen: At Wavelink, we provide technology solutions that help companies reduce costs through managing their wireless ecosystem and increasing end-user productivity. The device management products we offer enable companies to remotely update the software, configurations, and security on their wireless devices without the need for IT managers to travel to each location. Our application products enable the mobile devices to connect to a corporate server to send and receive real-time data, such as available inventory.

Silicon Slopes:  How long has the company been in business?

Lamar Van Wagenen: Wavelink was founded in Seattle in 1992 with the mission of providing vendor independent software solutions that would allow customers to get the most value from the emerging wireless networks and devices. At that time, we were really a pioneer in terminal emulation. Since then, we have merged with another company—ROI Systems in Midvale, Utah—which has helped us extend our management capabilities.

 Silicon Slopes:  Who are your customers and how do you help them?

Lamar Van Wagenen: We work primarily with organizations in retail, manufacturing, logistics and government to improve the productivity and efficiency of their mobile workers. While Wavelink technology can manage any wireless device in the enterprise, the company has focused its efforts on managing "ruggedized" mobile devices that are commonly found throughout warehouses and other mobile environments. For example, rugged devices are common used in retail establishments for inventory control by delivery drivers for the tracking of shipments, and by rental car companies for the tracking of cars.

We have four main solution areas in which we help our customers: mobile management for managing wireless devices and infrastructure; terminal emulation for connecting devices to host systems; application development tools for helping developers write applications for their mobile devices; and voice capabilities that allow applications on the devices to be voice enabled.

Silicon Slopes:  How widely adopted are Wavelink’s products?

Lamar Van Wagenen: We have more than 10,000 customers in 85 countries with our software on more than 4 million devices worldwide. Wavelink software is used by 90 percent of the largest retailers, both in North America and globally. We also have, by far, the most extensive partnerships with the device manufacturers, such as Motorola and Datalogic. Wavelink is currently pre-loaded and/or pre-licensed on devices from 16 manufacturers, which include most of the world’s largest rugged mobile device manufacturers. That represents more manufacturers than all of our competitors combined.

Silicon Slopes:  What are some examples of the devices you manage, and where they would be used?

Lamar Van Wagenen: Wavelink software can manage most devices that are wireless, but we really focus on ruggedized industrial devices such as vehicle mount computers, barcode scanners, wireless printers and RFID readers. These are the types of devices you would commonly see used for inventory in a retail store, when you return a car rental or when you sign for a package. We have also started to manage some fixed devices in those same environments, such as the flatbed scanner in a grocery store.

Another common use for these types of devices is in warehouse environments. For example, 3M uses Wavelink software to manage its hundreds of devices across all of its warehouses, manufacturing plants and distribution centers. In order to maintain a high level of functionality and security, the company regularly changes the encryption keys on the devices, updates the firmware and pushes out security updates. Prior to using Wavelink, each mobile device was manually configured in different locations by different people, and over a period of time, there were almost as many different configurations as there were devices. With Wavelink, 3M can remotely and centrally manage each device. This has allowed them to get what was previously a week’s worth of work done in 30 minutes while also ensuring a standard configuration on each of its devices.

Silicon Slopes:  What makes you unique in your industry?

Lamar Van Wagenen: No other company in our industry can come close to matching our reach when it comes to our relationships with all of the device manufacturers. By partnering with all of the leading mobile device manufacturers, our software is the only comprehensive management solution that works in a multi-vendor environment. By providing one device management platform for all devices, our customers have a much simpler solution and more flexibility when purchasing additional devices. 

We continue to offer unique, innovative features to simplify management. This includes things such as voice capabilities or our scan-to-configure feature that allows administrators to create a profile as a barcode that is then simply scanned by the device that needs to be configured.

We also feel we have the best customer service in the industry.

Silicon Slopes:  What is the value of Wavelink’s newer voice-enabled offerings?

Lamar Van Wagenen: Wavelink’s voice enabled products allow companies to leverage the benefits of voice capabilities without requiring expensive hardware or modification to existing business systems. This is because the speech-to-text and text-to-speech translation all takes place on the devices. With voice, organizations can deliver higher productivity, accuracy and safety by voice-enabling data collection and application commands, functions and navigation. Our Communicator software release earlier this year adds push-to-talk functionality to existing devices, so companies don’t need to purchase new devices with costly monthly service plans and usage charges.

Silicon Slopes:  How have you been able to make the transition from a direct-selling model to selling through channel partners? Any advice to share with others?

Lamar Van Wagenen: Wavelink has always had a strong channel presence, even when we also sold direct. Leveraging those partnerships helped make the transition smooth and easy. We provided them with leads and helped to close deals when necessary. Internally, the key was to construct compensation packages to reward sales directors for the success of their partners. Also it is a great idea to motivate internal sales directors to get their partners trained and/or certified on the various solutions in order to scale the sales model. We now have a diverse network of channel partners that sell to an equally diverse range of companies in the retail, education, government, healthcare, transportation and manufacturing industries all over the world.

Silicon Slopes:  To what do you attribute your company's success?

Lamar Van Wagenen: Our success is a combination of a number of factors that work together, and some of those key components are our great employees and management team who work every day with a common vision and have developed a unique product offering. Other key components include our strong relationships with channel partners and device manufacturers, and our ability to continually innovate to keep our offerings ahead of the competition and of value to our customers.

Silicon Slopes:  What are your future plans to continue your growth and success?

Lamar Van Wagenen: We will continue to work hard to stay on top of the needs and developments in the industry. We are aggressively pursuing additional markets and developing innovative solutions, such as our expanded offering of voice products—an area that I believe is a real opportunity for growth. Our goal at Wavelink is to continue offering innovative solutions that provide a tangible ROI so we can continue growing and serving our customers.