HPE looks to simplify deployment of private enterprise 5G

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has unveiled a new product, Aruba Networking Private 5G, designed to help customers accelerate and simplify the deployment and management of private 5G networks.

With this expansion of its secure edge-to-cloud portfolio, HPE said the offering has been designed to help customers in industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, public venues and education solve complex connectivity challenges across large and remote sites.

Setting out the challenges companies are facing with such complexity, Tom Rebbeck, partner at research firm Analysys Mason, said: “Many private network solutions are too complex, even for large enterprises with internal network expertise. We expect customers to embrace solutions that can make private networks easier to deploy and manage.”

HPE said Aruba Networking Private 5G can not only provide the high levels of reliable wireless coverage required across large campus and industrial environments, but also open up new, untapped use cases for private cellular.

It also assured that it will help customers make productivity and innovation gains alongside the cost-effective, high-capacity connectivity provided by Wi-Fi, in addition to expanding artificial intelligence (AI) data capture and delivery capabilities for building AI data lakes and activating inference services.

With the debut of Aruba Networking Enterprise Private 5G, HPE said enterprises can now increase reliable, secure, high-performance connectivity with a fully integrated private 5G network that features an end-to-end offering that includes a 4G/5G core, HPE ProLiant Gen11 servers, SIM/eSIM cards, 4G/5G small cells and dashboard. The company said it now has the ability to deploy services in under 30 minutes with zero-touch provisioning and configuration wizards that mask the 3GPP cellular complexity.

HPE 4G/5G small cell radios are intended to provide indoor and outdoor coverage, eliminating the need to integrate and use a separate management tool from a third-party supplier. The service also boasts simplified cloud-native management and automation for subscriber management, deployment management, core monitoring and radio monitoring, with future plans for integration with HPE Aruba Networking Central. There is also expanded AI data capture and delivery for building AI data lakes and activating inference offerings.

The service also offers interoperability with shared spectrum for private enterprise users such as CBRS spectrum in the US, and globally, where regulatory frameworks allow, beginning in 2025.

“Enterprise and industrial customers are increasingly seeking to deliver wireless coverage in demanding environments, including large outdoor areas, serving fast-moving clients and providing deterministic access in dedicated spectrum,” said Stuart Strickland, wireless chief technology officer at HPE Aruba Networking.

“The complexity of conventional approaches to private cellular networks has held them back,” he said. “Building on HPE Aruba Networking’s history of wireless innovation and leadership, we have uniquely positioned ourselves to enable new applications for private cellular by integrating Athonet core cellular solutions with our traditional strengths in enterprise networking.”