A portfolio of 5G private wireless solutions for various global regions’ mid-band spectrum has been developed by Celona.
The business got its start in the United States by providing proprietary wireless technology for band n48 of the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum. However, it is now going beyond CBRS to provide support for bands n77 and n78 for personal mobile networks in the United Kingdom, Europe, Japan, and Korea. And later in the year, it intends to support Band n79.
“If you look at the private wireless market it is consolidating through these 3.3 GHz to 3.9 GHz bands,” said Celona CEO Rajeev Shah. By the end of February, Celona will have separate SKUs for CBRS, band 77 and band 78 for both indoor and outdoor. The company will offer about 15 hardware products in total to support these bands. It makes many of its products at factories in Taiwan and Vietnam.
While Celona has previously used 4G technology in its private wireless installations in the United States, its new product line includes 5G NR.
According to Celona’s VP of product management, Puneet Shetty, the private wireless market in the U.S. has largely been focused on 4G up until now. In order to introduce 5G via a “seamless transition path,” Celona intends to carefully collaborate with these clients and provide access points that will combine a 4G radio and a 5G radio in a single unit. Additionally, Celona will provide a converged core that supports both 4G and 5G.
According to Shetty, “We want to give our customers the freedom to choose when they want to transition.” “The multi-mode access point can work with a converged core and either 4G or 5G. We think this is distinctive in the market.”
Outside of the U.S., Celona is going straight for 5G private wireless technology. “This issue in the U.S. — with 4G and the transition path — is not really necessary for the international market,” said Shetty. “We’re launching a 5G-only product portfolio.The analysts at ABI Research claim 5G private wireless is being held back by the availability of next-gen chips, especially chips for all the myriad end-user devices that might be used in a private wireless setting.
Shetty said, “Devices are critical to our success, and we want to make sure we give our customers an open-device ecosystem. We’ve been doing this for 4G – been certifying devices from different vendors as they launch with our network.”
He claimed that a ruggedized Android handheld is the most typical end-user device. Zebra is the most dominant of the manufacturers Celona works with for end-user devices.
According to Shetty, Zebra has made a full line of products that support all of the bands we discussed and both 4G and 5G.
In private wireless environments, Apple devices like tablets and mobile phones are also well-liked. And IoT users like Sierra devices.