A Conversation with Michael Weening of Calix

Broadcom is connecting everything. Our technology — both semiconductor and infrastructure software—powers the most complex IT environments in the world and touches everyday life — from the latest mobile and home devices to the Cloud, to service provider networks, to software and critical infrastructure. The Connected by Broadcom interview series features discussions with leaders who partner with Broadcom to take their business to the next level.

Michael Weening is a self-described transformation kind of guy. Throughout his career, he has spearheaded internal transformation projects while lending his expertise to customers as they retooled their own businesses. Joining Calix in 2016, he was tapped to lead Calix as President and CEO in 2022 just as the company was ready to move beyond its roots as a traditional hardware provider that sold networking equipment. 

Under Michael’s leadership, Calix has shifted its focus to cloud-based services while making a big investment in software-defined networking. The objective: help broadband service providers to automate and simplify their network operations. The work paid off and Calix now works with over 1,800 broadband service providers in more than 60 countries, selling cloud and software platforms, helping broadband service providers of all sizes transform their businesses with next generation networks and optimized subscriber experiences.

A big part of the company’s success is tied to the very special relationship it has with Broadcom. In a wide-ranging conversation for our Connected by Broadcom series, Michael explained what that special nexus has meant as well as the pillars of a close collaboration with Broadcom, built around technology innovation and partnership.

Partnership with Broadband

For Michael, “Connected by Broadcom '' speaks to the shared experience of a rewarding 23-year partnership that has yielded value for both companies. As Calix became a leading provider of cloud, software, and services for the broadband industry, Broadcom’s massive investments were critical factors in helping Calix remain ahead of the technology curve, according to Michael. “You have 18,000 engineers, some of the smartest people in the world, building all this technology into all of your chipsets,” he said. That makes it easy for Calix to remain on the leading edge by quickly integrating Broadcom’s technology into its own products. “You give us that flexibility to move really fast. We, in turn, give our customers the ability to move really fast.”

As a leading innovator, Broadcom’s work on everything from chipsets to WiFi has translated into big benefits for Calix. In practice, Michael noted that having “an incredible partner like Broadcom'' means that Calix has great flexibility when it comes to making product decisions. Thanks to an ongoing stream of new technology from Broadcom, Calix can deliver consistently greater value to the market. For example, Calix can put out a new network product every nine to twelve months whereas before, the innovation cycle used to stretch out as long as five years.  

The partnership also involves continuous brainstorming where the companies share ideas with each other with Calix getting an early understanding of Broadcom's technology directions. That valuable interaction enriches an intellectual cross-fertilization process that helps inform Calix’s own future product decisions.  

Innovation Beyond Speed

Looking back on the last 25 years in the broadband business, “it's been one speed, then another speed, then another speed,” according to Michael. “Speed, speed, speed. That's not what the industry needs. The industry needs to transform into a very different business model.” 

It’s not that speed isn't important, he adds. But it's not a long-term strategy. If a company’s only go-to market offering is speed, then Michael says there’s only so much market share they will capture. More importantly, broadband service providers with no differentiation inevitably face commoditization. That is why Calix has made substantial investments over the last several years to allow service providers to play larger roles in businesses and homes with a scalable platform that goes from the edge of the data center all the way into the prem and automates everything end to end.   

That makes a difference with customer integrations that used to take months. Adding one of Calix’s new WiFi systems into their broadband business, “most customers are getting it up and running in 7 to 14 days because we've done the hard work,” according to Michael. “That's the value of a platform. We integrate it, and once the customer has deployed it, every time we have a new function, a new capability, a new service – all they have to do is turn it on, test it a little bit…and they're up and running in days.”

Building the Right Culture

Michael has no hesitation when asked about the role of business culture.

“I don't believe in culture. I believe in people. Culture is actually how we treat each other inside our organization. Not only how we treat each other as teammates, but it's also how we treat our customers, how we treat our partners, all those different elements. That's culture.” 

So how does a company reach that point?  First on his list: culture has to be about accountability. Replace the notion that the company has a culture and employees must adapt to a mindset where the team member is the culture. 

Second, set clear goals. Some cultures work better in office settings, others as remote working arrangements. Calix provides employees with an incredible level of flexibility. Even before Covid, it functioned as a virtual organization, which is why the pandemic didn’t disrupt operations.

Lastly, care about the whole person. Help them grow and learn to be successful. Especially, in a virtual environment, it’s important to look beyond whether they’re getting the job done. Do they look stressed or fatigued? Managers must try to understand what's going on in the whole person's life. The leaders who Michael admires and still thanks decades later are the ones who cared about him as a person and took the time when he was having trouble. 

Broadcom products have been designed and optimized for end-to-end integration and deliver the best-possible performance. That’s Connected by Broadcom.

Watch the full interview here