Dedicating resources to focus on specific targets and opportunities allowed us to see the true market potential and resource it correctly.
Nick Kovacic
Senior Director of Sales and Channel Development, Multisorb
Segment To Expand Into New Markets
Universal Air Filter (UAF) designs and manufactures custom air filters and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding products to protect commercial equipment and electronics enclosures.
$21 Million
The total addressable market for 5G cabinet filtration is $18M in North America, and it’s likely to increase to $21M.
For more information on this story, contact
Senior Director of Sales and Channel Development, Multisorb: [email protected]
Goal
UAF provides replacement filters for OEM’s telecommunications network equipment and that of their service provider partners (T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T). The company already dominated the network equipment filter OEM market and aftermarket. Now they were ready for new growth opportunities within telecommunications.
Process
UAF had two segments: telecommunications (OEM network equipment and service providers via central offices) and “other,” which included end-markets such as medical devices, transportation (EV charging
stations and motorcoaches), and industrial (power generation/renewables).
Company leadership assigned teams to seek new market or market expansion opportunities. Each group included commercial and engineering leads. They sought answers to the following questions about the “other” segment: Why do these current customers buy UAF products? Are there similar customers in “other” markets UAF should target? What is the market potential for “other” markets?
UAF discovered either market dynamics with existing blue-chip OEMs or converting service providers to the change-out service program would drive telecommunications growth. So, UAF wanted a new high-growth opportunity in their most profitable segment to offset market unknowns.
UAF’s core business involved protecting indoor routers and switches in older central office buildings. But telecommunications was evolving, and all major cell phone carriers were deploying 5G technology. As a result, traditional networking equipment was leaving central offices for deployment at the network’s edge. UAF assigned
Nick Kovacic to discover what opportunities lay in protecting exterior networking equipment.
Nick looked at T-Mobile’s outdoor needs. He found that some enclosures purchased for newer 5G equipment didn’t provide adequate protection. Similarly, he found some replacement filters were costly and hard to get from the OEM. The result was poor preventative maintenance. UAF addressed both pain points by designing add-on protection solutions to existing enclosures and supplying reverse-engineered filter replacements.
Results
After four months of product design and testing, UAF received their first orders for the newly designed 5G cabinets in April 2022. The total addressable market for 5G cabinet filtration was $18M in North America and would likely swell to $21M as the technology was adopted and infrastructure installed.
Key Learnings
- Becoming more deliberate about what we work on or where we hunt leads to fewer overall opportunities but a larger chance of conversion with a greater size per win.
- Dedicating resources to focus on specific targets/opportunities allowed us to see the true market potential and resource it correctly.
- Increased customer intimacy with your 80s can lead to opportunities you may not have known existed.