RAD Group
TheRAD Groupconsists of a number of independent companies that develop, manufacture and market solutions for diverse segments of thenetworkingandtelecommunicationsindustry. Each company operates independently, without aholding company,but is guided by the group founders under a collective strategic umbrella. Companies sharetechnology,engage in jointmarketingactivities and benefit from a commonmanagementstructure.[1]
Four RAD Group companies are traded onNASDAQin the U.S.: Ceragon Networks,Radware,RADCOM,andSilicom.The others are privately held by the Group's founders and severalventure capitalfirms.
History
[edit]
The RAD Group was founded by brothers Yehuda (1942-2024) andZohar(1949-2023) Zisapel, inTel Aviv,Israel.Both brothers studiedelectrical engineeringat theTechnion – Israel Institute of Technology.Yehuda started his career in the 1960s working forMotorola Israelbut in 1973 decided to start his own business importing and distributingcomputer networkingequipment, a company called Bitcom. Later Yehuda parted company with his initial business partner and started a new company, Bynet. The company's main business was distributingCodex Corporationproducts, and the company soon became a market leader in Israel. In 1977Codex Corporationwas acquired byMotorola,but due to its successBynetmaintain the distribution rights for its products; however in 1981Motoroladecided not to renew the distribution agreement with Bynet, and Codex Corporation began to sell in Israel directly.[2]
The experience of losing the distribution rights of Codex made Yehuda realize that his business should never rely on one product line, and in 1981 he asked his brother, Zohar, to join him at Bynet to start working on the development of their products. They started a new company in a corner of the Bynet offices and gave it the nameRAD Data Communications,RAD being theacronymof Research And Development.[2]
RAD's first successful product was a miniature (by 1980s standards)computer modem.By 1985, RAD's annual revenues reached $5.5 million USD. RAD Data Communications is now the largest company in the RAD Group.[2]
In 1985, RAD provided initial funding and support to entrepreneur Benny Hanigal to start LANNET Data Communications, which developed a pioneeringEthernetswitch, one of the first to offerEthernetswitching over simpletwisted pairtelephone cables rather than expensivecoaxial cables.In 1991 LANNET had aninitial public offeringon NASDAQ, but in 1995, as their market was consolidating, it was decided to merge withMadge Networks,in a deal valuing LANNET at $300 millionUSD.[3]
By the end of 1995, the merged Madge-LANNET had 1,400 employees and achieved revenues of more than $400 million, but throughout 1996-1997 there were disagreements about strategy. Benny Hanigal left the company and joined the IsraeliVenture Capitalfund Star Ventures. In late 1997Madge Networksspun off itsEthernetdivision into a separate subsidiary, once again named LANNET, and then sold it toLucent Technologiesfor $117 million in July 1998.[4]
During the 1990s the RAD Group was involved in establishing 12 different technology companies. Some became publicly listed companies onNASDAQand some were later sold to other companies. The group typically has a similar approach for starting new ventures: a business idea of an entrepreneur (an existing company employee or an outsider) or from the company's management team forms the basis of astart-up.Initial funding is provided by the company together with other venture capital funds. In this way companies such as:RADCOMwas established in 1990 and received funding from Star Venture andPitango Venture Capitalfunds[5]andRadvisionin 1992, which was founded by Ami Amir and Eli Doron and received external funding from Evergreen and Clal venture capital funds, as well as fromSiemens.
Importance
[edit]According to research conducted by Prof. Shmuel Ellis, Chair of the Management Department atTel Aviv University's Faculty of Management, together with Prof. Israel Drori of the School of Business Administration at theCollege of Management Academic Studiesand Prof. Zur Shapira, Chair of the Management and Organizations Department atNew York University,the RAD Group has been "the most fertile ground" for creating Israeli entrepreneurs, having produced 56 "serial entrepreneurs" who established more than one start-up each. RAD Group "graduates" were responsible for the establishment of a total of 111 significant hi-tech initiatives.[6]
Awards and recognition
[edit]RAD Group companies have won many awards including fromBusiness Red Herring,the Fierce Innovation Cybersecurity Award, the Internet Telephony Conference Best-in-Show Award, the Network Virtualization Industry Award, Telecom Asia's Reader's Choice Award, multipleCarrier EthernetAwards, and Editor's Choice Awards from industry magazines such as Network Computing.[7]The RAD Group also sponsors Protocols.com, a leading site for network and computer science information and reference materials.
Zohar Zisapelhas been called the "Bill Gates"of Israel.[8][9]
In 2005, RAD Group was ranked 14 on the list of "The 29 Best Business Ideas in the World" byBusiness 2.0magazine in August 2005.[10]
RAD Group Companies
[edit]The RAD Group currently consists of 10 companies, four of which are traded on theNasdaqstock market. The group's total revenue in 2016 was $1.328 billion.
- Bynet- system integrator, established 1973
- RAD Data Communications- access solutions for carriers and corporate networks, established 1981
- Silicom Connectivity Solutions- hi-end adapters for servers and security appliances, established 1987
- RADCOM- providers of monitoring, analysis and troubleshooting systems for Next Generation networks, established 1991
- Ceragon Networks-wireless broadband,established 1996 (as Giganet)
- Radware- intelligent application switching, established 1997
- Radwin- broadband wireless solutions, established 1997
- PacketLight Networks- DWDM/OTN solutions for fiber optic networks and data center interconnect, transporting high rate data, storage, video, and voice applications, with optional Layer-1 encryption, established 2000
- Radiflow- cyber-security solutions for ICS/SCADA, established 2009
- SecurityDAM- detection and mitigation of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, established 2012
Former members
[edit]Former members of the RAD Group include:
- LANNET- sold toMadge Networksin 1995 and then toLucentin 1998
- RADLINX- sold toVocalTecin 1998
- Armon Networking- sold toBay Networksin 1996[11]
- RADNET- sold toSiemens AGandNewbridge Networksin 1997
- RADLAN- sold toMarvellin 2003[12]
- RND- sold to USR Electronics in 2003
- RiT Technologies- sold to Stis Coman Corporation in 2008[13]
- SANRAD- sold toOCZ Technologyin 2012
- Radvision- sold toAvayain 2012
- RadView Software
See also
[edit]- List of Israeli companies quoted on the Nasdaq
- Science and technology in Israel
- Silicon Wadi
- Economy of Israel
References
[edit]- ^"The Startup Factory" How a little-known Israeli telecom became the world's most successful incubator,Michael Myser, August 1, 2005, Business 2.0ArchivedMarch 29, 2012, at theWayback Machine
- ^abcLevav, Amos (1998),"Shevavim shel tiḳṿah" - The Story of the Birth of Israel's High-Tech Industry,Tel-Aviv: Zemorah-Bitan, pp. 143–170,OL18623011M
- ^"Madge Announces Arrangement to Acquire Switching Innovator LANNET",Business Wire,June 18, 1995,retrieved2009-11-15
- ^Junnarkar, Sandeep (July 9, 1998),"Lucent to acquire LANNET",CNET News,archived fromthe originalon 2012-10-25
- ^Pitango Venture Capital Portfolio - RADCOM (public),archived fromthe originalon 2014-04-10,retrieved2009-11-16
- ^"The Mother of the Start-Ups: The RAD Group Gave Birth to 110 Companies".The Marker.January 18, 2012.
- ^"Telecommunications Industry Awards".RetrievedApril 26,2015.
- ^"CNN Money article".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-03-29.
- ^"Innovations Publishing".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-09-29.
- ^"The 29 Best Business Ideas in the World",Business 2.0,August 2005
- ^"Bay Networks acquires RAD-BYnet's Armon.(Armon Networking)",Israel Business Today,March 24, 1996, archived fromthe originalon 2012-11-02
- ^"Marvell Acquires RADLAN Computer Communications Ltd., A Leading Provider of Embedded Networking Software.",Business Wire,February 6, 2003[dead link]
- ^"Network control co RIT borrows from new Russian owner".Globes.16 June 2008.Retrieved4 October2011.
Altogether, Stims Coman bought 6.5 million shares, or 41.8% of the company.