1. Copper Mountain Technologies (CMT) is rapidly approaching a milestone anniversary of 15 years next year. What inspired the founding of your company in 2011?
Our company was founded by engineers who were frustrated by the limitations of existing vector network analyzers. VNAs at that time had built-in computer hardware that made them dependent on internal OS, and they were large, heavy and expensive. The expectation was (and for many companies still is) that everyone buying a VNA was an expert user, so product support was limited to explaining how to access a specific feature or function on a given VNA model. The VNA users were expected to figure out how to apply a VNA to their application on their own.
When RF took off in the 2000s, the need for RF test instruments expanded tremendously. More and more engineers needed the VNA; not the luxury model available to a few, but a workhorse, everyday tool for all engineers. Life demanded a more accessible vector network analyzer and additional support for engineers using it.
From the beginning, the focus of Copper Mountain Technologies has been the experience of engineers using our CMT VNAs, so that we could provide more than just a high-quality piece of test equipment. That is why the company's motto from the beginning has been “Extend Your Reach.” We don’t just provide compact USB VNAs and support for the instrument. We support the engineer making the measurements by providing expertise in vector network analysis, coding, automation, integration of the VNA into a broader test system and many other areas beyond the box.
2. Can you share some other notable achievements in the history of your company?
One of our proudest achievements was democratizing vector network analysis: CMT pioneered metrology-grade USB VNAs, offering engineers an affordable, accurate analyzer with outstanding engineering support. We were the first to bring to market a small form-factor VNA that enabled engineers to make measurements that could not be made using large lab instruments with a built-in computer and screen. As a result, a whole new area of applications has become possible. Engineers use our VNAs to find people under rubble after an earthquake, measure moisture in crops, check the results of airplane repairs, measure the amount of fuel in a spacecraft fuel tank, detect cancer, check the integrity of pipes, measure fruit sugar content, as well as make accurate S-parameter measurements of RF components and systems.
3. Copper Mountain Technologies has seen several changes, challenges and successes throughout its history. Can you share a defining moment in the history of your company?
We optimized the global process of designing and delivering cost-effective VNAs with the best engineering talent and cost structure available when the company was started, which led us to locate our design team and contract manufacturing in Russia. What we learned is that geography does matter, and political/global events can affect any business. Copper Mountain Technologies’ business and team have been profoundly affected by the current war of Russia on Ukraine. We knew that we could not continue working like we had prior to 2022, so in the first days of the war, we made the decision to move both our engineering team and our production out of Russia. Like many companies, we needed to restructure in response to the changed global situation.
In 2022, we established CMT Europe in Paphos, Cyprus, which employs expert engineers and houses our EMEA calibration and service center. We then rebuilt our supply chain, including new suppliers in the US, Israel, South Korea, Cyprus and elsewhere. All our VNAs are assembled at our US headquarters or our European location. It has been a challenging journey, but we are happy that through this difficulty, we continued to take care of our customers and employees. Copper Mountain Technologies is grateful to the State of Indiana and its manufacturing initiative, Conexus, which provided grants and tax credits that continue to help the company expand its Indianapolis headquarters, capabilities and staffing to meet this challenge.
4. What was the hardest thing you had to deal with during this transformation?
The hardest challenge was posed by an online smear campaign: anonymous articles, resulting from activities by hacktivists and distributed via several websites of unknown origin, and weaving a false narrative citing publicly available information without specifics or factual evidence. A lot of information from various points in the company’s history was thrown together to create the appearance of impropriety, which didn’t exist. Following a thorough investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security Office of Export Enforcement and the FBI, allegations of Copper Mountain Technologies' continued involvement with Russia have been verified as false by the U.S. government.
While the restructuring was under our control, the public relations side was out of our control. The consequence of these false articles was difficulties for our customers in getting the solutions that they needed. Luckily, many of our loyal customers reached out to us for the facts. We should all remember that information found online needs to be verified before acting on it.
5. How does Copper Mountain Technologies stay motivated and continue innovating in the face of industry challenges?
Our customers are the biggest motivation for the CMT team. We are inspired by the technology they are creating, and we love being a part of enabling those innovations. The pandemic and the struggle of sourcing components and onshoring our manufacturing were challenging, but our team took it on to support our customers and provide them with high-quality, affordable, accurate vector network analyzers that have become integral to their innovations.
6. With so many other manufacturers of VNAs, how does CMT connect with engineers and demonstrate the value of your VNAs?
We make working with CMT as seamless as possible. Our VNA software is readily available to download from the website at any time and can be used in demonstration mode without a measurement module connected. There is a toggle in the software that allows for emulating measurements and allows a user to learn functionality of the VNA software and develop automation scripts.
New users can conduct free instrument trials where they spend a couple of weeks with a CMT VNA in their own testing environment and see how it works for their application. Our applications engineers work closely with the engineers who are conducting trials to answer any questions they may have and help them use the instrument in an efficient and effective way. This is a great first-person illustration of the support customers can expect in the long term when purchasing a VNA from CMT.
We have a vast library of measurement videos and on-demand webinars on our website. Our team of VNA experts often travels to seminars and events to present information about using our equipment for different measurement types and applications. We are always open to conversations about how our team can support educational needs for students and professional organizations in addition to our customer base. As always, our expert sales team and engineers are available to answer questions about the products and software capabilities.
Our applications engineers work together with customers, making measurements for their projects, so they are part of the innovation and integration process in multiple industries and applications, from radar systems to NEXT (Near-End Crosstalk) testing, to digital twins research, to wearable tech, automotive paint RF specifications, etc.
7. What do you see as the greatest opportunities for innovation and growth in vector network analysis?
Copper Mountain Technologies goes beyond standard VNAs to offer tailored, compact embeddable RF test modules that enable users to solve complex S-parameter measurement challenges for government, military, medical and commercial applications. These RF test modules have made VNA capabilities available in an incredibly small, and much less expensive, package without sacrificing performance. Their scale and accessibility, combined with our internal engineering support, allow our customers to tailor an embeddable VNA to perform only the functions they need for their application. With VNA capabilities no longer confined to a lab environment, we’ve already seen customers begin incorporating the technology into previously unrealized industrial and field applications.
8. What are some of the unique ways you’ve seen VNAs integrated into existing RF measurement systems, and how have you addressed the challenges of adapting VNAs to such diverse environments?
CMT VNAs extend far beyond the traditional lab-based RF measurement use cases and are used extensively in a broad range of applications and industries. These successes are a result of our flexibility in adapting to our customers’ needs. We have adapted our devices by modifying hardware to fit specific spatial constraints, ensuring compliance with relevant standards, and customizing software and drivers for secure use in military applications. This adaptability has enabled our customers to bring their products to market faster and scale their volume seamlessly. Copper Mountain Technologies’ VNAs have been integrated into a variety of innovative systems.
9. What does CMT bring to the industry today?
In a way, we bring the same value we brought to the industry back in 2011: customer-focused innovation, metrological support and transparent pricing. This was our focus in 2011 and continues to be the focus today. We are focused on understanding the new use cases and applications where engineers use vector network analysis and creating solutions that support them.