Why We’re Launching a National Education Series to Launch Thousands of Private LTE Networks
by Iain Gillott and Tim Downs
We’ve been involved in the wireless industry for longer than we both care to admit; one of us in research and industry analysis, the other in the development of industry conferences and trade shows.
Today, we approach the formal embarking point of one of the most disruptive trends since, well, since the launch of digital PCS networks in the 1990s. The next few weeks will see the initial commercial deployment of OnGo solutions in the CBRS spectrum bands (3.5GHz) in the U.S. While several applications are made possible by the unique CBRS spectrum sharing scheme, we expect that the enterprise deployment of Private LTE Networks is the most disruptive, and exciting.
A Private LTE network is a local network that utilizes dedicated radio equipment to service facilities in the enterprise with specific business and IoT applications and services. The use of dedicated equipment allows the enterprise to be independent of traffic fluctuation in the wide area macro network. In addition, the enterprise can control the quality of service on the network, authenticate users and traffic on the network and control security. In short, enterprises control their own destiny with Private LTE networks.
The need for mobile coverage in large building and campus environments is pushing the service limits of traditional Wi-Fi, cellular signal boosters and micro cell solutions – Private LTE is even more crucial. Private LTE can address a variety of indoor enterprise challenges and can replace higher priced legacy solutions.
Private LTE Networks will free enterprise IT teams from the restrictions of conventional connectivity technologies such as Ethernet, which is secure and reliable but costly and inflexible; and Wi-Fi, which is low cost but also delivers lower reliability.
“There’s no particularly good reason why, say, a large manufacturer such as Caterpillar or Boeing would want Verizon or AT&T in their manufacturing plants, messing around with their radio equipment. They would want their own technicians to run the cables, install it, operator it, and integrate it into their network.” Dr. Henning Schulzrinne, professor of computer science at Columbia University, former CTO for FCC.
LTE offers numerous advantages over traditional networks, from wide bandwidth to enhanced security and manageability, but it has only ever been controlled by the mobile operators — until now.
The challenge now is how does the wireless industry educate, inform and encourage enterprises, governments and other organizations (schools, commercial developers) to understand the opportunity that exists today? In a crowded and noisy media environment that often sacrifices in-depth information for hype, our challenge is to deliver meaningful opportunities for in-depth business and technology information exchange.
That’s why we created a unique roadshow. The Private LTE for Enterprise event series is designed to bring together the vendor community, integrators, infrastructure partners and professional services firms, with leading enterprises.
Our goal is to facilitate education and interaction; our mission is to see the launch of thousands of new Private LTE networks. We hope you’ll contribute to, and participate in, this brave new world in the mobile and wireless industry.
