Celona Unveils First 5G LAN Device Certification Program to Simplify Deployment and Adoption of Private LTE/5G Networks

New 5G LAN certification accelerates enterprise private cellular adoption by taking the guess work out of the interoperability of user equipment with 5G LANs

Celona, the industry’s innovator of 5G LAN solutions, launched the first private cellular capable device certification program purposely designed to ensure seamless interoperation of 4G/5G end user equipment (UE) on Celona enterprise 5G LANs. Celona’s 5G LAN certification program helps organizations identify the devices best suited for their environments and specific use cases with the assurance on knowing these cellular-native private wireless devices have passed rigorous real-world testing.

Celona’s 5G LAN certification program, for the first time, gives organizations an easy way to tap into a large, open ecosystem of compatible devices given their use cases unique to their environment, and get a “plug-and-play” experience on certified devices.

More than a dozen different third-party products, including industrial handhelds, tablets, smartphones, IoT gateways and CPE devices have already been certified by Celona under the program from leading device manufacturers including Zebra Technologies, Apple, Samsung, Sierra Wireless, Inseego, MultiTech, Cradlepoint and Getac. See full list of 5G LAN certified devices here.

“Fully integrated private cellular solutions that are truly turnkey must be based on an open ecosystem that addresses the interoperability of end user equipment with private 5G infrastructure,” said Dariush Afshar, VP of Business Development and Strategic Operations for Celona. “This has been a big barrier for enterprise adoption of private cellular wireless – and we’ve now effectively eliminated it.”

While other certification programs have focused on regulatory compliance and device specifications for traditional macro cellular networks, Celona’s 5G LAN device certification program targets the enterprise. The program validates compatible devices with Celona 5G LAN access points, Celona Edge software and SIM/eSIM credentials using a variety of test suites and procedures for different enterprise applications and use cases.

Celona’s 5G LAN device certification program comes at no cost, allowing customers and device manufacturers to simply request specific devices to be certified.

WHAT’S BEING TESTED?
Evaluation criteria and validation test suites for devices within the certification program go beyond basic compatibility testing to include key performance metrics (such as throughput, packet error rates, latency, handover times), and support for differentiated features like advanced QoS and enterprise 5G LAN routing using Celona MicroSlicing™.

As enterprises deploy private cellular networks to support diverse applications with specific QoS requirements, Celona’s 5G LAN device certification program validates and provides a reference configuration for organizations to easily determine what end devices are best suited for their specific use cases without spending time and money characterizing these devices and applications.

The program uniquely validates enterprise requirements for connectivity, characterize user experienced data rates at near-, mid- and far cell locations as well as verify data rates, roaming and QoS performance behavior within small cell environments.

“New private LTE/5G spectrum like CBRS brings enterprises additional flexibility and options for wireless connectivity with or without Wi-Fi for a better overall user experience based on customer requirements,” said Julie Johnson, Vice President & General Manager of Mobile Computing, Zebra Technologies. “5G LANs combines the reliability and security of cellular with the economics of Wi-Fi; however, companies need more assurance that devices will interoperate on private wireless infrastructure with zero issues.”

“Zebra has taken a leading position in support of enterprise LTE/5G and continues to deliver a wide range of enterprise-class devices for a variety of applications. By participating in Celona’s 5G LAN device certification program, we are best positioned to help organizations maximize their investments in private wireless infrastructure by easily solving the critical use cases for which private wireless is ideally suited,” Johnson concluded.

“Sierra Wireless has been at the forefront of cellular evolutions for nearly 30 years. Celona’s certification program is one of the first to accelerate the adoption of enterprise private cellular wireless networks, ensuring the features and performance of our devices and modules on 5G LANs matches or exceeds their capabilities on traditional cellular networks. Sierra Wireless views this as an essential step to realizing the full potential promised by 5G private cellular wireless deployments as new applications and use cases emerge,” said Tom Mueller, Vice President of Product, Sierra Wireless.

Source: Celona media announcement