CEO Letter - January, 2017

Hi,

We finished strongly last year! During December, we could communicate a number of big wins here in Sweden. Together with our partner NetNordic, we won three deals in December totalling 8-10 million SEK. We see that our customers are buying our product not only to expand their networks but there is also a lot of interest and demand to upgrade existing networks to gigabit speeds.

Increasing capacity and speed is a natural consequence of the digitalisation in society. The rollout speed in Sweden is fast but there is more that can be done. Our products and solutions are a good fit for the market and various customer segments, and our flagship product MPC480, that is partially targeting new groups of customers, is being included in almost all of the proposals which is gratifying.

As you surely have noted, we informed earlier this week that I will be leaving Waystream at the beginning of the summer. As a founder, this was not an easy decision to take and I have been considering the timing for a while. I have spent the eleven years with the company and been the CEO for the last five years. This is a long time. During this time, we have achieved a great deal that I am proud of. Notwithstanding the introduction of the company on First North over a year ago, we have launched several products that are among the best on the market. We have also developed a new licensing model, “pay-as-you-grow” that has been well received by our customers. The model means that our customers not only get our cost efficient hardware but also can purchase licences for advanced software on-demand which helps both existing and new customers to grow their broadband networks with improved profitabilty.

At Waystream, we have been a strong factor in making Sweden one of the most connected countries in the world. For me, this has been a fun and developmental journey and now that the company is standing on solid ground, I feel that it is possible for me to leave my operational role in the company.

So what happens next? As stated, I will still be working for the company during my notice period. During the next six months, I will, in addition to helping to find a successor and ensure a good and efficient handover, put a lot of effort into sales and growth. Currently we are working with many interesting cases and opportunities and my goal is to win as many of them as possible.  Even though I am leaving the position of CEO, I will, as a board member and shareholder, still be supporting the company with the knowledge and skills that I have acquired to ensure the future success of the company.

On a personal level, I will also reflect on my next step. Building Waystream has been a fantastic journey. Throughout my entire career, I have had the privilege to work with talented people. With a lot of energy and willpower, we have together created products and services that challenge and push the limits for how the market works. I see a natural path for me to continue to help innovative and creative companies and individuals to turn their ideas into practical business. Time will tell whether this happens within the framework of a small company or within a big corporation.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to reveal some of our future marketing efforts. Within Waystream, there is a huge amount of knowhow that we would really like to share. Yesterday’s webinar is an example of this, but we will also be sharing our knowledge in the future, for example, via white papers, success stories as well as with more webinars.  This will be performed with the framework of the Waystream Academy that we intend to launch during the spring. Keep an eye on our home page for more details about this.

Johnny Hedlund, CEO Waystream

For more information, contact: 
Johnny Hedlund, CEO Waystream 
Mobile: +46 (0) 734 – 38 23 29 
Email: johnny.hedlund@waystream.com 

About Waystream 
Waystream sells and designs advanced digital infrastructure including switches and routers. With our products and expertise, we help telecom operators and service providers to offer reliable and usercentric network services with a high level of functionality. Our products are smart, easy to use and manage, and designed to create the best possible experience for the end user.