BetacomWi-Fi Extenders

OVERVIEW

Betacom, a Bellevue, WA-based provider of 5G wireless solutions for Industry 4.0 customers, approached Mighty Studios with a specific ask: take their third-party-provided, off-the-shelf WAN extender with zero curb appeal and repackage it into a Betacom-branded, aesthetically pleasing unit. Mighty answered with a solution of two futuristic and branded Wi-Fi extender enclosures—for indoor and outdoor environments—that could quickly go into full-volume production at a future date.

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INSIGHT

When Betacom first came to Mighty Studios in 2022, it aimed to explore the potential future of enhancing an already-existing service’s look and production capabilities. Part of Betacom’s current offering was to provide secure, reliable Wi-Fi range extenders to customers in environments such as airports, factories, warehouses, and robotics. This current solution was an off-the-shelf, sheet metal device that, while powerful, lacked an aesthetic that matched Betacom’s brand.  

The assignment was simple: create enclosures for each device, one for indoor and one for outdoor applications. They not only had to look the part—high tech and high performance—but also check off essential must-haves such as ingress protection (IP) rating compliance, weatherproofing, clean signal, and existing as an unobtrusive presence in an airport, warehouse, or factory setting.  

Mighty Studio’s small, three-person team set about designing a durable enclosure for two devices: one small indoor unit about the size of a CD case and a slightly larger outdoor version (larger due to weatherproofing and the need to be more robust for life outdoors), about the size of a hardcover book.  

Regarding design challenges, both the indoor and outdoor versions needed to ensure a clean, uninterrupted signal (aka be radio transparent—the RF signals need to escape), maintain proportions and design themes between the two, and manage thermal buildup inside the units.  

The final Wi-Fi extender enclosures boast simple and clean design language to match Betacom’s vision. They use neutral colors to blend into the environment, like a smoke detector, and strategic surface design to look good, allow users to see operational LEDs, and protect against outside elements.   

Beyond prototyping a vision of what these Betacom-branded units could look like, Mighty Studios also delivered a second component of the project—how to bring it to market. By sourcing manufacturing, pricing, and an integrator to handle the process of buying and receiving the metal and plastic parts, plus unit assembly, Mighty Studios wrapped up the project by presenting Betacom with a turnkey solution that will allow them to launch in the future, whenever they are ready.