Dan Klaeren, Senior Director, Product Management at telecom technology services provider Syniverse argues that with security a top concern for many large enterprises, more and more businesses are looking at private networks as a potential solution to drive efficiencies in connectivity while keeping sensitive data private.
Widespread IoT devicesOpens a new window and applications are becoming more important than ever to the operation of equipment and resources for business applications. In fact, to support this large network of devices, many businesses with large campuses or facilities are increasingly looking for drastic improvements in their wireless connectivityOpens a new window options. Such businesses often look at private networks as a potential solution.
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Private Networks vs Wi-Fi: Which is it for Your Business?
To quickly explain: private networks are a miniaturized version of large-scale mobile networks that most people are familiar with. Thanks to advancements in mobile network technology and infrastructure, it is now possible for businesses to operate advanced on-site mobile networks that are referred to as private networks. The technology works quite similarly to Wi-FiOpens a new window but has key differences.
Wi-Fi is often a very flexible and effective one-size-fits-all solution for a businesses’ internet needs and is suited for environments where the “tolerance†is high and low performance or network security isn’t a huge concern. Most hospitality, dining and retail locations are great examples of this – where the value-add of having a network service for customers is high, but the need for high-speed, security and network partitions is low. But once you get to environments where the network Opens a new window is mission critical or there are data sensitivities, Wi-Fi is no longer a reliable option.
While Wi-Fi Opens a new window is susceptible to congestion, spectrum noise and interference, private networks have higher reliability, improved performance, wider reach with fewer access points, and are inherently more secure. Though private networks are more expensive due to the specialized equipment required, for many businesses they are the best solution. For instance, healthcare organizationsOpens a new window are held to some of the highest standards for ensuring the security and privacy of patient data. A hospital needs all of the equipment and computers to be connected to an absolutely trustworthy network. The consequences for a network failureOpens a new window are drastically high for such organizations where seconds of downtime could cost lives.
Companies that need to connect a huge array of IoT devicesOpens a new window conveying huge amounts of data also benefit greatly from a private network. Taking warehouse video surveillance as an example, which is often the most important tool for deterring and responding to criminal activity. For a larger building that would need dozens or hundreds of high-resolution video cameras, Wi-Fi would simply lack the stability and performance needed for the data traffic of so many connected devices. However, a private network would allow hundreds of devices to connect to an on-site database with reliability and security.
Assuming your business is one of these and would greatly benefit from a private network, you now have a complicated task ahead of you: figuring out how to deploy one.
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Deploying a Private Network
The design of any private network will need to be tailored to the needs and environment of each business. In some instances, low latency may be the most important condition, and in others, ironclad security may be the priority. In any case, the first consideration is the baseline requirement for the business’ IoT and mobile edge computingOpens a new window applications. Regardless, the following tips are important questions for network and IT teams to review when planning a private network deployment.
The major steps in implementing a private network involve two core components that need to be set up and connected: small cells (eNodeB) and the core network, or Evolved Packet Core (EPC).
Small calls are one of the most important and delicate parts of a private network, which function similarly to Wi-Fi access points. But a key difference is that they require immediate synchronization on a business network between these small cells. One simple step toward this goal is confirming that all devices support Precision Time Protocol (PTP) to allow for accurate synchronization. Equally important, IT teams should plan the placement of eNodeB small cells in advance. This is to maximize the effectiveness of each individual small cell, avoid the need to potentially relocate and reinstall the hardware in the future. To minimize latency, jitter and other complications, the IT team needs to ensure high performance across its internal network architecture.
Once the small cells are set up, the next step is to establish the core network – the Evolved Packet Core (EPC). This core is the essential infrastructure the network needs to function properly. The EPC provides the IP connectivity for both data and voice service, allows mobility management for the location of the user’s equipment, determines the level of service access for a subscriber, quality of service and access to the internet. Since it is highly dependent on each business’s specific network and needs, this is also the most complicated part of implementing a private network.
The EPC core is composed of dozens of different, equally vital components, including the Mobility Management Entity, Home Subscriber Server, Policy and Charging Rules Function, Charging Enforcement Function, Serving Gateway, and PDN Gateway. There are countless permutations of various configurations and architectures for any particular network. But that doesn’t mean we can’t examine some examples as a guide.
Taking a look at a manufacturing business focused on automation: the key goal is simply to ensure a robust network with true redundancy to ensure the facility’s hardware and robotics continue to operate reliably at top speed. The priority is to eliminate any and all single point failures from the network operations to achieve this requirement. Additionally, such an enterprise will ensure that their mission critical systems aren’t reliable on a single point of access to the internet. They’ll cement several avenues of connection to the Spectrum Access Systems and look into Evolved Packet Core providers with geo-redundancy and high availability.
For such reasons, it’s imperative that a business finds vendors and partners suited for their particular goals to ensure a successful launch of a private network.
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Private Networks and You
The intricacies of setting up a small-cell infrastructure can be quite complicated. It requires detailed knowledge of the location, core network design, and other external circumstances. IT teams should thoroughly prepare and evaluate their objectives for the network and business, whether partnering with a vendor or not.
Ultimately an enterprise has to fully understand its specific network and application needs to ensure it ends up with a private network deployment that benefits their business goals. Otherwise, it is difficult to take full advantage of this technology and establish a private network as the incredibly powerful business tool it can be. The value of seamless network solutionsOpens a new window will only grow as IoT networksOpens a new window and edge technologies become more capable and commonplace.
If a current Wi-Fi network isn’t cutting it, a private network may be the answer for your business.
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