Core network provider Athonet has expanded its fledgling private 5G vendor club to include a broader cross-set of companies to promote and deliver new cellular systems for enterprises. The new joiners are Airspan, Ambra, Imagine Wireless, Integra Network Solutions, Itatel, RippleLink, Teal Communications, and X4000 Communications. They take the total membership to 23 companies. The group is focused, mainly, on deployments in the CBRS band in the US.
The eight new companies join the initial wave of 12 firms, which joined together as a 5G Consortium in Athonet’s name, back in June, and three that have joined in a second wave. Existing members are: AWS, Bearcom, BEC Technologies, BLINQ Networks, Digi, Federated Wireless, Fortress Solutions, Google Cloud, Imagine Wireless, KVM, MultiTech, SuperMicro, Syniverse, and VMWare, plus Athonet itself.
Athonet has ushered them in, in a press statement, ahead of Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas next week. As reported previously, Athonet has positioned each as a go-to provider of “end-to-end” private LTE/5G network solutions, with Athonet positioned invariably as the default choice for core networking components. Airspan Networks, not in the original intake, works closely with Athonet, notably, in a core-and-RAN one-two in a number of projects.
Other companies in the mix are specified for other tasks, which map the private 5G design, installation, and management process, as follows: ‘radio’ network; gateways, or ‘edge appliances’; end ‘devices’; network operating systems, or ‘hypervisors’; network ‘orchestration’; system integration, or ‘deployment’; and network management, or ‘post delivery support’.
Athonet said the expansion brings in “consultants, spectrum holders and value-added specialists”. The group’s expertise expands, also, “globally and into verticals such as mining, manufacturing, and retail”, it said.
Simon O’Donnell, president of Athonet in the US, commented: “When we launched the 5G Consortium earlier this year, the response was incredible with end users telling us this was needed to bring it all together and partners asking to join and help amplify the benefits of private networks. We expanded the ecosystem to include consultants, spectrum holders and value-added specialists that can help organizations match the business need with radios, devices and appliances that are interoperable with the Athonet mobile core.”
Quotes from all parties are included in the press note. Among them, Airspan said: “These initiatives are well-timed to drive private networks forward across an ecosystem that values interoperability, accessibility, and reliability.” Ambra said its membership is about “mission critical applications.” Integra Network Solutions said the group will “enable enterprises to further benefit from industry leading capabilities, cost leadership, and market leading solutions uniquely tailored to enterprise needs.”
