Your Network Hardware is a Capital Expense and It Doesn't Have to Be
Manufacturing leaders are quietly replacing one of their most stubborn CapEx cycles — and saving 20–30% in the process. Here's the shift they're making, and why early movers will have a structural advantage.
Think about the last time your facility replaced its network hardware. Chances are it was a significant line item — six figures of Cisco or Meraki switches, access points, and firewalls, negotiated, installed, and then largely forgotten until five to seven years later when the cycle started again. It's one of the most predictable and painful capital expenses in your operation, and most leaders have simply accepted it as a cost of doing business.
That model is now obsolete.
Why would any building not come with a network already built in? We are at the same inflection point the telephone and power utility industries crossed a century ago. — ANIL VARANASI, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, METER
What Meter Is Building
Founded in San Francisco in 2015 by brothers Anil and Sunil Varanasi, Meter has spent a decade building what most networking companies have never attempted: a fully vertically integrated Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform where one company designs the hardware, writes the firmware, deploys the network, monitors it 24/7, and replaces equipment at end-of-life — all for a single flat monthly fee priced per square foot of your facility.
No upfront capital. No surprise refresh cycles. No vendor finger pointing when something goes wrong. Just a network that works — and gets better over time through Meter's AI-driven management platform, called Command.
This isn't a niche startup play. Meter is now a unicorn, crossing the $1 billion valuation mark in 2025 after closing a $170 million Series C round. It currently covers tens of millions of square feet across more than 125 cities, and it is growing rapidly into warehouses, manufacturing facilities, campuses, and multi-site enterprise operations — exactly the environments you manage.
The CapEx Problem, Quantified
Here's the cycle most manufacturers know intimately: every five to seven years, your network gear reaches end-of-life. You go back to your VAR or reseller, spend significant capital on new Cisco Catalyst or Meraki gear, pay an integrator to install and configure it, train your IT team on the new platform, and then carry the ongoing burden of monitoring, patching, and support contracts yourself.
Meter eliminates all of it. The company prices per square foot per month — so a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility knows exactly what its network will cost for the life of the contract. When the hardware reaches end-of-life, Meter replaces it. When a new Wi-Fi standard emerges, Meter upgrades it. When something breaks at 2 a.m., Meter's 24/7 operations team handles it.
Who Is Already Doing This?
This isn't theoretical. Some of the world's most operationally demanding organizations have already made the switch — and the results are measurable.
Lyft
Reddit
GoBolt Logistics
MrBeast
Brex
Tishman Speyer
Bridgewater Associates
Higher Ground Education
J.P. Morgan (Investor)
Microsoft (Investor)
GoBolt, a fulfillment and logistics company operating 14 warehouse locations, reduced their total networking costs across all facilities by 25% after moving to Meter. Other customers have reported an 80% reduction in IT support tickets — time and money that goes back into the business. The investor list alone — J.P. Morgan, Microsoft, Sequoia Capital, and General Catalyst — signals institutional conviction that this model is not a trend. It is the new standard.
Why This Matters for Manufacturers, Specifically
Your facility's network is no longer just for email. It is the backbone of your IoT sensors, your industrial automation systems, your inventory management platforms, your OT/IT integration, your security cameras, your ERP connections. Network downtime is production downtime. Network lag is operational lag.
The traditional model asks your IT team — or your overwhelmed ops manager — to maintain enterprise-grade infrastructure as a side responsibility. Meter treats your network as a mission-critical utility that deserves a dedicated, full-time, expert operator. And because Meter owns the hardware, the software, and the operations layer, there is no more finger-pointing between your hardware vendor, your software platform, and your integrator when something goes wrong at 3 a.m. during a production run.
The capital you're currently spending on network refresh cycles — and the IT labor maintaining it — can be redirected toward the revenue-generating investments that actually move your business forward: automation, new equipment, workforce development, facility expansion.
The Window Is Open. For Now.
The NaaS market is widely cited as a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity — the full re-plumbing of enterprise connectivity infrastructure globally. Meter is positioned as the defining company in that shift. The institutions backing them — from Sequoia to J.P. Morgan — are not speculating. They are making directional bets on where enterprise infrastructure is going.
The question for manufacturing leaders is not whether this model will win. It is whether your facility will be on the front end of the cost advantage or still paying Cisco's refresh cycle while your competitors redeploy that capital into growth.
Ready to See What This Could Save Your Facility?
Advanced Interface Solutions works directly with Meter's team. We can introduce you to a dedicated representative who will walk through your specific square footage, current infrastructure, and what an optimized transition looks like — at no cost to you, and with zero obligation.
This is exactly the kind of vendor-neutral conversation we have with industrial and manufacturing leaders across the country every week.
Want to see the real numbers? Take our 59-Second Tech Expense Challenge. Send us a message on LinkedIn or connect with an independent advisor directly at aifsllc.com to uncover the hidden savings in your current tech stack.
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