Prose Technologies, the antenna OEM that was spun off from Rosenberger Group in January, has named Jim Nevelle as president, North America. Previously, Nevelle ran the North American Operations for Kathrein from 2015 until it was bought by Ericsson in 2019. He then ran Ericsson’s Americas antenna division until being hired by Prose.
A leader in cable harnessing cable housings, selling mostly to the auto industry, the Rosenberger Group announced earlier this year the spinoff of its antenna manufacturing division, known as Rosenberger Technologies. According to Nevelle, “They spun off the division, which produced base station antennas, microwave, and in-building systems, to unlock its value.”
Prose located its logistics, manufacturing and R&D Hub for North America in Mount Olive, NJ, while many of its 3,500 employees are in manufacturing locations located in India and China and three more R&D centers worldwide. The New Jersey Prose manufacturing facility supports the production of its 4G and 5G antennas, base station antennas, microwave antennas, indoor and outdoor coverage solutions, Open RAN sub-systems and related services business. Expansion plans are already being considered due to the high interest of domestic manufacturing and logistical support, Nevelle said.
“With our manufacturing in the U.S., we will be able to assist our customers as they rapidly deploy their 5G networks,” said Nevelle. Further, Prose will increase its focus on North America and the addition of Nevelle will drive its penetration into this market. Industries are reassessing onshore manufacturing in a more favorable light, he added.
“We’re putting a lot of emphasis within the North American sector and the manufacturing location. We have added New Jersey. We’re trying to focus on activities bringing items back on shore,” he said. “Our partners are now starting to realize, okay, there’s always a cost savings for offshore, but now everyone’s realizing that if things can be built locally, having a shorter turnaround time has a value that has a dollar amount associated with it.” Recent supply chain woes have also been a catalyst.
In terms of product demand, Prose is seeing a migration from base station antennas into integrated antenna work, Nevelle said. “We’re doing a lot of work right now with massive MIMO antenna configurations and in the Open RAN environment. We are also looking at in-building systems, and accessories, which are in high demand across the globe,” he added.
Being a separate entity allows Prose to partner agnostically with multiple radio manufacturers, increasing its supply chain options. “That allows us to essentially walk into any radio vendor, any partner in that space, unhindered to deal with the supply chain,” Nevelle said.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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