Cradlepoint, the global enabler in cloud-delivered LTE and 5G wireless network edge solutions, has announced a series of updates showcasing the ongoing acceleration of Wireless WAN adoption within enterprise fixed location environments.
With its industry-leading cellular intelligence, LTE and 5G technology, Cradlepoint Wireless WAN edge solutions offer the speed, agility and resiliency needed for organisations to transform their branch networks for the cloud and post-pandemic era with ultimate agility, anywhere reach and always-on reliability.
The Era of Wireless WAN
Digital transformation was already a strategic goal for enterprises, and the pandemic has caused enterprises to transform their businesses in terms of how operations run, how new innovations are delivered, and how customers are served. Businesses now require unprecedented levels of secure and reliable connectivity to people, places, and things everywhere.
Whether leveraging IoT, equipping mobile first responders with the latest technology, serving customers outside, delivering new purchases to customer’s homes, networks must be agile and easy to deploy. Medical services have turned to extending care beyond the four walls of hospitals and clinics via virtual doctor visits or temporary indoor and outdoor treatment facilities, or even customer homes to meet global medical requirements.
IDC’s Future of Connectedness Survey found that 40% of enterprises want to improve their competitive position through speed and flexibility with 5G, SD-WAN, and Wi-Fi 6 over the next 12-24 months, while nearly 35% have the goal of investing in technology that helps connect people, things, processes, and applications. This agility mandate equates to a new Wireless WAN ability that provides enterprises with a fast and flexible network that extends coverage to areas wires don’t easily go and to meet the needs of transformed businesses.
“Connectivity is the common denominator in how people, things, applications, and processes interact,” said Paul Hughes, research director of the IDC Future of Connectedness Survey. “Today, the need for connectivity is more important than ever, keeping enterprises and consumers connected, informed, safe, productive, and entertained in what is an extremely uncertain time. Organisations must address unevenness in connectivity across different environments and locations as employees and consumers increasingly look for – and expect – digital experiences supported by ubiquitous, reliable, and robust connectivity. This is why the market is increasingly investing in Wireless WAN solutions to do just that.”
Cradlepoint is Helping Customers Embrace a Wireless WAN Future
Many enterprise environments utilise Cradlepoint Wireless WAN solutions for primary cellular connectivity to locations unreachable by wired connections. With 5G, which is fibre-fast and cellular simple, the use cases for primary wireless are expanding. As a result, Cradlepoint has become an essential part of these enterprises’ infrastructure to facilitate their day-to-day operations as well as propel their digital and business transformation processes.
“The combination of COVID-19 and the resulting flurry of business transformation that has ensued has underscored the adoption of Wireless WAN for more agile, secure and reliable networks,” said Donna Johnson, Cradlepoint VP of product & solutions marketing. “Companies are rapidly shifting to use technology to transform their businesses and to get closer to where their customers live, work, play, and shop. Wireless WAN is a key enabler to making this happen.”
For example, Disney uses a combination of public and private cellular technology and Cradlepoint wireless solutions to “cut-the-cord and securely and reliably connect Point-of-Sale in retail stores and at special events as well as for park entrance bracelet registration, and guest Wi-Fi on buses.
"Our use of cellular broadband and Private LTE for on-site Point-of-Sale and guest service support has paved the way for new and innovative ways to interact with our guests and clients,” according to the guest experience manager for Disney. “Cradlepoint’s solutions expanded the reach of our branch networks, resulting in even more engagement and unique experiences."
With over 40 years' experience ticketing the biggest live events and iconic venues, Ticketek is the leading ticketing provider for sports and live entertainment events in Australia, operating the most advanced multi-channel ticket sales and distribution network. Ticketek is using SDN to manage connectivity at over 30 of its venues, which are running on the National Broadband Network and required a robust 4G redundancy solution.
“Cradlepoint provides a seamless failover to 4G and back to the physical connection without interruption occurring, which was crucial for us, because at any one time, we are processing ticket sales or providing venue connectivity to hundreds of thousands of patrons at large events.
We also wanted to futureproof and implement a connectivity solution that had high bandwidth capability,” said Matthew Coutts, Head of IT, Ticketek (TEG). “Another important element was security, as Ticketek processes hundreds of thousands of customer credit cards every year and we have to comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. Applying a secure VPN to each location on the Cradlepoint devices means that the network is not broadcast, so it can’t be accessed by anyone.
I have been very happy with the Cradlepoints and what they can do. The built-in failover on Cradlepoint means that if hardwire connectivity goes down, we have wireless capability. I have a lot of faith in Cradlepoint being able to deliver the security and reliability I want.”
MobileCorp Solution Architect, Peter Pouw believes Ticketek is an excellent example of how customers can embrace the ever blurring line between wireless and fixed infrastructure to deliver access to both public and private cloud with security and management being centric to the customer’s needs.
“As a Cradlepoint 5G Elite Partner and also a Telstra Platinum Partner, MobileCorp was uniquely placed to envision an integrated wireless and fixed network, and from the ground up build a multi-path secure network that meets Ticketek’s business needs. The Cradlepoint appliances, by design, deliver seamless failover and secure networking and are a cornerstone of that collaboration. The Cradlepoint NetCloud instance provides a single pane of glass and allows Ticketek to find a balance between control and ongoing support of its new agnostic network. Based on a three-year agreement, MobileCorp is providing a fully managed environment that covers the edge device, logging tickets associated with carrier network faults, and interconnection to both staff, client and cloud. As 5G continues to roll out across Australia, Ticketek will be able to utilise the Cradlepoint appliances not only for business continuity, but also for primary connectivity at temporary and semi-permanent event venues.”