- Fierce tracked down several analysts to comment on Ericsson's special event last week in Boston
- Recon’s Daryl Schoolar said that the vendor revealed that 90% of their private network deployments had moved to the production phase
- The vendor also gave an update on its Aduna joint venture, which is announced last year at the same event
Ericsson held an exclusive analyst day in Boston last week, which was largely focused on the enterprise efforts that the Swedish telecom vendor has been undertaking.
The vendor didn’t announce any major new deals in Boston — and Ericsson’s North American thought leader Peter Linder described the event as “more of a strategy meeting” in a call with Fierce last week.
However, Recon Analytics Analyst Daryl Schoolar, who attended, said that the vendor discussed technologies such as 5G mobile core, mission-critical communications, network automation and AI, private networks and wireless WAN, as well as talking about its Aduna and Vonage operations.
Schoolar also noted that Ericsson told the group that their private network deployments are moving out of the kick-the-tires phase.
“They said 90% of their private network deployments have moved from the trial phase to actual production network,” the analyst said.
This includes the work that Ericsson is doing with Lufthansa for handling cargo, as well as the efforts the vendor is undertaking with the roadside assistance company, The AA in the U.K., “where they are putting connectivity into the association’s vehicles,” the analyst said.
Removing barriers to private networks
One of Ericsson's goals is to remove barriers that organization have when it comes to deploying private networks, Schoolar said. "Providing a virtual hosted mobile core is one way they are making it easier for businesses to use private wireless networks." He added that, “Ericsson is also taking a role in doing RF planning for enterprises as they lack the resources to do it themselves.”
One interesting approach to private networks that was discussed at the event was a hybrid approach, such as, "building a wireless network at a stadium that can both handle private network requirements while simultaneously giving the public network access as well,” Schoolar said.
The long-lauded 5G laptop
Scholar’s colleague, Recon Director Jake Hawkridge, who was also at the show, highlighted another telecom operator and vendor enterprise favorite, the 5G-enabled laptop. One panel on 5G offices and laptops featured guests from T-Mobile, HP and Capgemini, Hawkridge said.
“There was a lot of excitement from the panel about connected laptops being a natural evolution, but reading between the lines it sounds like progress [is] slow on adoption at enterprises and [with a] very limited down market,” the analyst commented in an email to Fierce.
SASE and ZTNA get attention
AvidThink Principal Roy Chua, who had been pre-briefed on the meeting, noted that Ericsson is unifying the management controls for its Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions (EEWS) under the NetCloud Manager, which is their secure access service edge (SASE)/zero trust network access (ZTNA) cloud-based management system.
“The use of the EEWS platform as the go-to-market is a good move given that the formerly Cradlepoint team had strong enterprise penetration across critical industries, transportation, manufacturing, state and local governments which need the security and distributed management that SASE/ZTNA provides, but are also strong candidates for private enterprise wireless,” Chua noted in an email to Fierce.
An Aduna aurora
Beyond the purely enterprise focus of the event, Recon’s Hawkridge also said that Ericsson gave an update on Aduna, the API-focused 50:50 joint venture with 12 communications service providers. Announced last year at the same event, Ericsson told analysts that the platform is live in nine countries in North America, Europe and Asia, and the number of partners in the ecosystem growing, according to Hawkridge.
“They gave examples of network APIs being developed for improved authentication and fraud detection, with speakers from Verizon, Nuggets, and Lyft there to give specific use cases,” he concluded.