Game, set, and match at MWC, and the contest hasn’t even started. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has bought Italian private core network specialist Athonet for an undisclosed fee. For our money (old Enterprise IoT Insights money), this is likely to be the biggest news out of the big telecoms jamboree next week, at least so far as the private 5G adventure goes, which will be the telecom industry’s most compelling narrative in Barcelona.
It is an inevitable outcome for Athonet, which has developed one of the strongest core propositions in the developing private cellular market, consistently turning heads among enterprises and vendors in the field. It claims to have 450 “deployments” in various industries, including with mobile operators themselves, and also enterprises in the healthcare (hospitals), transport and logistics (airports, ports), utilities, and government and public safety sectors.
For HPE, it is a major strategic action – for a firm which sounded 12 months ago very much like it was still formulating a strategy (link missing, but it is somewhere in the archive) to pitch-up to enterprises with a cellular-augmented Industry 4.0 proposition. It shows, very clearly, that the supplier market for 5G-geared industrial IoT is still to settle into a rhythm, even if Nokia is in a groove already as the early front-runner. With the acquisition of Athonet, HPE looks like a real contender, suddenly.
And amid all the pre-show PR antics about private 5G clubs and carrier portals in the run-up to the big Barcelona bun-fight – this period has effectively usurped the weekend curtain-raiser, which usurped the calendar week itself, as the real MWC ‘news’ cycle – this news stands out. It is real news, for one thing; and it is an awesome statement-of-intent from HPE, and recognition of the work Athonet has done to put itself in the shop window.
A statement said HPE will now be able to offer end-to-end private 5G, in addition to Wi-Fi connectivity via its Aruba business. For enterprises, already familiar with its server kit and Wi-Fi products, it looks like a good deal. Importantly, and in line with Athonet’s courting of the carrier set, HPE has positioned the purchase to “help… telco customers drive new revenue streams”, also.
“Athonet will put HPE at the forefront of a growing market”, said HPE, quoting analyst house IDC that private cellular will be worth “more than” $1.6 billion by 2026 – just for the core networking piece. A new forecast from ABI Research, timed for MWC, says the “revenue opportunity” for private cellular will grow from $7 billion to over $96 billion by 2030; ABI bundles system integration into the mix, pegged at a whopping 50 percent of the forecast total.
Athonet, based in Vicenza, has actually been in the game for 15 years; but its profile has raised as the new private cellular market has developed in the last five years, offering robust local-area coverage in privately-licensed spectrum as a critical-grade alternative to enterprise Wi-Fi. HPE said it will integrate the Athonet core proposition into its Aruba portfolio for enterprises, and offer it as an elegant Industry 4.0 vehicle for telcos to target the same crowd.
A statement said: “HPE will integrate Athonet’s technology into its existing CSP and Aruba networking enterprise offerings to create a private networking portfolio that accelerates digital transformation from edge-to-cloud.” It listed five benefits: pre-boxed 5G with Wi-Fi; “accelerated” 5G deployments; a Wi-Fi-too prop for carriers; service subs via its GreenLake cloud platform; plus “zero-touch” orchestration and automation of edge-to-cloud workloads.
HPE claims its comms business already serves “more than” 300 customers across 160 countries, managing more than one billion mobile devices. It has various private 5G initiatives, already – mostly around as-a-service edge hardware bundles and various partnerships for radio network (RAN) provision. It repeated that it will offer “fully integrated Wi-Fi and private 5G networks” following the Athonet acquisition.
It said: “Integration… will enable network managers to administer Wi-Fi and private 5G through a single pane of glass and bring to bear the power of AI insights, workflow automation, and robust security… GreenLake will offer private 5G offerings, combining all costs for Wi-Fi and private 5G into one monthly subscription with no capital expenditure. Flexible consumption options… mean private 5G can be deployed with reduced risk and little upfront investment, and scaled according to demand.”
Tom Craig, general manager of the communications tech group at HPE, said: “Telco customers are looking for simpler ways to deploy private 5G to meet growing customer expectations at the connected edge. Enterprise customers are demanding a customized 5G experience with low-latency, segregated resources, extended range and security across campus and industrial environments… HPE now has one of the most complete private 5G and Wi-Fi portfolios for CSP and enterprise customers – and we will offer it as a service through HPE GreenLake.”
Gianluca Verin, chief executive and co-founder of Athonet, said: “Athonet was founded to provide customers with private 4G and 5G solutions that deliver carrier-grade reliability and performance to suit their increasing and more challenging connectivity needs. We are excited to join HPE and combine our highly skilled teams as we expand our joint service provider offerings for the rapidly growing private 5G market and build on HPE’s strategy to be the leading edge-to-cloud solutions provider.”
