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It’s Time to Cut the Cord and Launch Your Own Private Mobile Network

It’s Time to Cut the Cord and Launch Your Own Private Mobile Network Image Credit: Bashutskyy/Bigstockphoto.com

5G networks have become synonymous with the large wireless carriers. We’ve been inundated with advertising related to 5G being faster than ever from the likes of Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, but in truth 5G has not penetrated the marketplace because of the hefty costs and time it takes to deploy.

Enterprises across the globe are currently experiencing massive technological advancements on all fronts, but the inclusion of mobility as an enterprise platform is still marred by the complexity of the mobile network operators (MNO) operating model. Despite what you might see advertised, the real 5G disruption will come via an enterprise centric mobility operating model where enterprises own their own private mobile network – enabling their ecosystem to innovate at the speed of their business.

Businesses demand the control and efficiencies that private networks deliver. The legacy wireless carriers have an operating model that simply cannot relinquish control of mobility to the enterprise and are woefully equipped to meet the cost and operational requirements of today's enterprise. While it can take an MNO twelve to eighteen months to complete a quisi-enterprise network setup, today's unlicensed mobile private network can be turned up very quickly by enterprises themselves, avoiding the headache of dealing with the mobile telephone company. The time has come where mobility is an accessible and affordable tool for enterprise IT to launch new mobility-oriented capabilities. One of the most important bi-products of cutting the cord with the MNO's is the enterprises’ ability to implement mobile edge-based applications in conjunction with their private mobile network.

The growth and massive need for enterprise connected devices requires a private edge cloud, which is defined as the convergence of mobile, enterprise, and cloud infrastructures at the edge. These capabilities are needed to effectively operate private mobile network applications, and to be controlled and managed by enterprise IT. Private mobile networks plus edge cloud capabilities provide enterprises with the greatest benefits including operational efficiency, cost reduction, higher levels of automation, control, and low latency, to name a few. What’s exciting is enterprises can launch their own private mobile network at a fraction of cost and effort it takes with carriers such as Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. However, when an enterprise starts making plans for mobility by contacting an MNO, they often don’t realize what they’re looking for is something that the mobile network operators simply cannot offer.  

With private mobile networks and the mobile edge, enterprises are able to own their networks and control their data with IT partners that know their business. Enterprise and partner enabled applications can take advantage of mobile edge enabled low latency networks, which will deliver mobility-based innovation across businesses. Private networks are cheaper, more secure, and more integrated into the enterprise than anything the Mobile Network Operators will ever be in a position to provide enterprise IT.

For example, in the healthcare industry, a private mobile network enabled from the edge can protect and store sensitive patient data, share and transfer large amounts of secure data, such as large CAT scan files, across multiple buildings and functions, and support on-campus mobility for staff and sophisticated connected medical equipment. Healthcare systems need edge cloud capabilities and private mobile networks platforms to secure and control their enterprise domain. A new enterprise requirement has emerged - one that decentralizes control to the enterprise and cuts the cord with mobile network operators.

The dollars and cents of the mobile economy will be driven by tens of thousands of interconnected private mobile networks in the coming years. Edge infrastructure and private mobile networks at the enterprise level will be the main event for 5G, setting the stage for the wholesale adoption of 5G usage across the enterprise's operating model.

Author

Mike Mulica has been at the nexus of mobile communications, the internet and globally scaled industry solutions for the past three decades and was named CEO of Alef in October 2021. A mobile and internet industry veteran, Mulica has played a foundational role in pioneering the mobile internet and overseen the release of game-changing products and technologies to global markets. His leadership at both public and private companies spans the likes of Motorola, Synchronoss, Openwave, Phone.com, Unwired Planet, FusionOne, RealNetworks and Actility. Prior to being named Alef’s CEO, Mike was the Executive Chairman at Alef and has served as a board member and global advisor to other private companies and venture capital funds. Mike holds a BS in Finance from Marquette University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

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