Founded in Taiwan in 1986, Edimax Technology Co. Ltd. is a manufacturer and designer of networking solutions. With over 1,100 employees, the firm has expanded and built a global networking equipment brand. Its coverage spans the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, UAE, Hong Kong, and other countries across Asia, Europe, and North America.
Its latest focus is to create products for SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) and SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) markets. With its mission of “networking people together,” Edimax has a comprehensive product line and service offers. Its offers include print servers, wireless, and home entertainment integration solutions. In 2015, it even ranked among the top 35 most valuable worldwide Taiwanese brands.
Origins of Edimax
Edimax was founded in 1986 in the Neihu District of Taipei City, Taiwan. Despite being in the industry for over 30 years, the details around the company’s foundation had been quite ordinary. You won’t find much about it because there’s no astounding tale behind its creation. Edimax’s beginning is also mysterious since very few details about its origins are available online.
The brand didn’t boast any flagship products that made a thunderous entry into the tech trade. Its earlier notable wireless router lineup was the BR series. These routers also came with many other networking gadgets under the Edimax legacy list. The company’s success came mainly from its focus on founding a positive corporate image and expanding its partner channel networks.
The firm also found success when it stayed true to its core values of providing quality services, professional R&D, and innovation. Over the years and as it expanded its area coverage, the brand’s R&D departments also stretched out into various arms. This focus has led the company to man an R&D team of over 200 staff members across Taiwan and China.
Going Public to Maximize the Business
In 2001, Edimax applied for an IPO, and just a year after, in September 2002, the firm sold a volume of 1,148,378 stocks. In December 2021, Edimax’s stock sales jumped to over 222.86 million, showing how much the organization has succeeded and grown far beyond the Taiwanese market and borders.
The company received the ISO 9001 and ISO 14000 certifications in 2003. The former proves that the company has reached the international QMS or quality management systems standard. The latter is a marker of the firm’s environmentally-conscious QMS.
Another heavy credential Edimax carries is its active membership in the Wi-Fi and the Gigabit Ethernet Alliances. The Wi-Fi Alliance promotes wireless technologies and interoperability, certifying only products with specifications made for Wi-Fi interoperability, application-specific products, and security. Meanwhile, the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance pushes its members to follow a high standard. Without these memberships, Edimax is less likely to reach the same success that it has now.
Edimax’s Notable Acquisitions
In 2018, Edimax acquired shares of Status Internet Co. Ltd., Ecobear Technology Corp., and Onward Security Corp. for various medium and long-term strategies. Status Internet Co., Ltd. is a Taiwanese software designer specializing in EIP or enterprise integration patterns. Considering Edimax’s continuous expansion into network solutions for the SME market, Status Internet’s technology is vital for its purposes.
Ecobear Technology is another Taiwanese tech company that provides and designs IoT products and services. Their IoT engineering services include integration for mass production, industrial design, and more. Like Status Internet, Ecobear can vastly improve Edimax’s functionality and operations for SMEs and SOHOs.
The last company in which Edimax invested is Onward Security, a cybersecurity compliance solutions brand for the IoT. It uses both automated security with AI and machine learning, which Edimax can use to mechanize its services or processes.
Edimax’s Accessible Camera Passwords
Privacy Affairs found vulnerabilities in Edimax network cameras. These cameras had firmware with a hard-coded default password that allowed hackers to access and control the cameras remotely when discovered. The biggest problem with this issue was that the user couldn’t change the hard-coded firmware password.
Plus, Edimax has a list of default passwords anybody could discover with enough research. Hackers could also gain access to the cameras by finding the port or IP address they operated on, even if they didn’t know the password. The brand addressed the situation by providing a firmware update that fixed the issue. It also updated its newer models and ensured they didn’t pose the same exposure to the users.
Edimax During the Pandemic
During the pandemic, Edimax remained quiet in its operation and adaptation strategy. It released products as usual, but none made it to reach the media or international headlines. Like most businesses at the start of the pandemic, in Q1 2020, Edimax’s stock fell.
Yet, as a fairly successful brand operating in the networking industry, it quickly recovered from its losses. At the end of 2022, the firm hit its best year, where its stock doubled compared to two years prior.
What Edimax Technology Co. Covers Today
Edimax has risen to the top of the networking communications industry thanks to its advanced engineering, design, and manufacturing processes. Its services and products cover everything from SMEs to home use. Many businesses know the firm for its PowerLine adapter solutions, network cameras, VoIP solutions, print servers, PoE solutions, professional surveillance cameras, and more.
Consumers use the brand’s media converters, xDSL routers, Ethernet switches, and home entertainment integration products at home. Its other personal-use products include access points, Wi-Fi extenders, Wi-Fi antennas, and wireless adapters. The firm also offers several Smart Home products, including a Smart Plug Switch and Smart Wi-Fi outdoor/indoor plug.
With branches in France, Germany, India, Ukraine, Singapore, and more, Edimax serves over 70 countries worldwide. It has gone beyond simply developing networking communications products. Today, Edimax also offers IT services and IT consulting.
In 2021, the brand released one of the world’s first made for the Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF) Profile Q, the GS-5424PLX. This network switch boasted several features, including a smart network management interface, long-range data transmission, long-range optical or copper connections, and more. ONVIF is a global corporate forum created to standardize the IP-based surveillance camera industry. The GS-5424PLX model conforms to ONVIF’s Profile Q or Quick Installation standards, one of the first in the networking industry.
Its latest enterprise solution is Edimax Pro, a business Wi-Fi network solution. This Wi-Fi solution provides roaming Wi-Fi for the office. Its focus is providing a connection with high bandwidth for data, voice, or video transmission for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) environments.
