BOISE, ID — Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-delivered LTE and 5G wireless edge solutions, has announced the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of 5G solutions powered by the company’s NetCloud Service and built exclusively to meet the business imperatives of availability, interoperability, security, and manageability. The new portfolio of “5G for Business” solutions enables customers to deploy fast and reliable wireless business internet and wide-area networks (WANs).
Telstra Selects Cradlepoint for Enterprise Wireless Service
Telstra is the launch partner for the first Cradlepoint 5G solution to be delivered to the market — the W2000-Series 5G Wideband Adapter, which is the 5G wireless edge solution for Telstra’s Enterprise Wireless service. Customer trials are scheduled to begin in April 2020.
“Our pursuit of delivering the best 5G solution available to Australian businesses has led us to Cradlepoint’s NetCloud and the new W2000 Series 5G Wireless Adapters,” commented Telstra Mobility Executive Andrew Stormont.
“We know the networking needs of our business and enterprise customers are very different from consumers,' and this point was a determining factor in our decision to partner with Cradlepoint for our Enterprise Wireless 5G solution. Their comprehensive approach, combined with Telstra network leadership and expertise, makes it easy for business customers to get up and running on 5G while providing full powerful management tools.”
First With the Most Comprehensive 5G Network Solution for Business
By combining its NetCloud platform with a clean-sheet-of-paper design for its new 5G modems and antenna systems, Cradlepoint is the first in the industry to address the critical business imperatives of network availability, security, and manageability and provide business customers with a graceful pathway to 5G. Specific capabilities include: combining LTE, Gigabit-Class LTE and 5G in a single wireless WAN; support for all variants of 5G – low-band and mid-band (Sub-6Ghz) and high-band (millimeter wave) – across major wireless operators; interoperability with existing customer SD-WAN and router infrastructures; and delivering the entire network management lifecycle – from ease of deployment to simplified operations and troubleshooting.
“Our new NetCloud-powered portfolio of 5G wireless edge solutions represents another industry first for Cradlepoint,” explained George Mulhern, Chairman and CEO of Cradlepoint. “We are excited to have Telstra – Australia’s leading mobile operator – as our worldwide launch partner for our new W2000-Series 5G Wideband Adapter. They share our strong belief that business customers are looking to embrace 5G to enable new and disruptive business applications and capabilities, but not at the cost of impaired network availability, security, and manageability.”
The elements of Cradlepoint’s 5G for business solutions include:
5G Wideband Adapters and Modems
The forthcoming W-Series 5G Wideband Adapters are controlled and managed by the Cradlepoint NetCloud Service and are based on the company’s software-defined modem technology. The W-Series is designed to support the wide range of 5G deployments by wireless operators around the world based on low-band, mid-band, and millimeter-wave spectrum, and can be remotely connected to a customer premise router using 1Gbps or 2.5Gbps Ethernet or a fiber connection. Integrated Wi-Fi 6 support enables local configuration and future use cases. A new 5G version of Cradlepoint’s field-upgradable modular router modems is also planned. The specific models include:
- W2000-Series 5G Wideband Adapter for low-band and mid-band (Sub-6Ghz) deployments comes in both an indoor unit (IDU) and a rugged outdoor unit (ODU). Telstra customer trials of this model are scheduled to begin from April 2020 and on other wireless operators starting in mid-2020.
- W4000-Series 5G Wideband Adapter is designed for millimeter-wave cellular networks with a rugged outdoor unit (ODU) design that can be directionally mounted on exterior walls, poles, and rooftops. The W4000-Series is slated for Q3 2020 availability.
- 5G Modular Modem (Sub-6Ghz) provides a field-upgradable pathway to 5G for Cradlepoint 5G Ready dual modem routers. Availability is planned for later in 2020.
Built for Business, Powered by NetCloud
The NetCloud Service powers every Cradlepoint wireless edge solution, including the new 5G offerings. It enables customers to build and manage wireless WANs with complete lifecycle management, true zero-touch deployment, robust security, and SD-WAN traffic management for optimal application performance and reliability. Here are several of the new NetCloud features that support the new Cradlepoint 5G edge solutions:
- Captive Mode: When paired with a Cradlepoint 5G Ready router, the remote W-Series modems appear and function within NetCloud Manager like an integrated modem, simplifying deployment and management while reducing licensing costs for the pair. This feature is available today.
- Cradlepoint Verify Mobile Application: A companion mobile application to help installers find the ideal location and orientation to mount the W-Series IDU or ODU units for maximum 5G signal reception. The mobile app is designed to help an employee or third-party installer quickly and accurately install 5G Wideband Adapters while automatically sending all of the vital installation data to NetCloud Manager, ensuring optimal 5G signal performance and eliminating subsequent truck rolls. Both Android and iPhone are supported with a beta release planned for Q2 2020.
About Telstra
Telstra is a leading telecommunications and information services company. We offer a full range of services and compete in all telecommunications markets in Australia, operating the largest mobile and Wi-Fi networks. Globally, we provide end-to-end solutions, including managed network services, global connectivity, cloud, voice, colocation, conferencing, and satellite solutions. We have licenses in Asia, Europe, and the United States and offer access to more than 2,000 points of presence across the globe. For more information, visit www.telstra.com.
About Cradlepoint
Cradlepoint is a global leader in cloud-delivered LTE and 5G wireless network edge solutions for branch, mobile, and IoT networks. Our Elastic Edge architecture is powered by Cradlepoint NetCloud, a subscription-based service that — together with our purpose-built endpoints — delivers a pervasive, secure, software-defined wireless WAN to connect people, places, and things over LTE and 5G cellular networks. More than 20,000 enterprise and government organizations around the world, including 75 percent of the world’s top retailers, 50 percent of the Fortune 100, and first responder agencies in 25 of the largest U.S. cities, rely on Cradlepoint to keep critical branches, points of commerce, field forces, vehicles, and IoT devices always connected and protected. Major service providers use Cradlepoint wireless edge solutions as the foundation for innovative managed services. Founded in 2006, Cradlepoint is a privately held company headquartered in Boise, Idaho, with a development center in Silicon Valley and international offices in the UK and Australia.