On March 26th & 27th I was joined at the OnGo Alliance spring member meeting in Chicago by industry and government thought leaders, to share advancements in private networking and the CBRS spectrum band. The OnGo Alliance has been instrumental in furthering private networking by making unlicensed or lightly licensed CBRS spectrum available for private networking use in the US, and their critical work continues.
This intimate event was packed with value, not only for opportunities to network with old and new friends and colleagues, but also in the tremendous value of the content that was presented. Here are my key takeaways:
Real-world business-critical use cases are being deployed: We are moving beyond proof-of-concept with valuable applications made possible with private cellular networking and CBRS, which are being deployed today.
- Jason Wallin from John Deere detailed how their 2+ million square feet of factory space rely on CBRS for real-time connectivity to IoT sensors, not subject to interference, latency, or hand-offs they experienced with Wi-Fi. They monitor everything from consistent bolt torque to strength of welds. Ever the innovator, John Deere’s agricultural equipment is cellular-enabled for such applications as agronomics that determine crop health and synchronized autonomous grain collection vehicles.
- Mike Youngs, VP of IT for the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, who I had the pleasure to do a webinar with before, described how CBRS and private networking have been a game-changer for their operations. One use case he described was wire-free connectivity to solar security cameras all around their campus perimeter, which is equivalent to the size of Manhattan. Private networking saves them $400,000/month in public cellular fees alone. Sam Ingalls of Barich, Inc. described pilots at the Las Vegas Airport for a CBRS-based private network to reliably track passenger bags from roadside to terminal, to airside across their 14-miles of baggage conveyors through underground facilities surrounded by steel and concrete, without interference. Check out our webinar with Mike and others who go into fantastic detail about their airport journeys and deployments.
- John Fisher from Itron is actively deploying massive scale CBRS private network infrastructure for utilities and municipalities, such as ComEd in Chicago, for smart street lighting and remote power metering. Their unique solutions combine CBRS networks with mesh networks for comprehensive coverage and capacity without gaps, critical for smart utility and municipal applications.
Adoption growth may come from SMBs: While most of the private networking deployments being showcased are for large organizations and installations, Jason Smith of RippleLink, a system integrator specializing in IoT deployments, described innovative IoT installations for small-medium businesses (SMBs) that were quick to deploy and affordable for these purpose-driven deployments. One local storage facility wanted to connect a Knightscope security robot to patrol the facility, which stretched over a couple of acres. RippleLink provided a CBRS-based private network connecting the robot’s AI-enabled cameras to autonomously detect intruders and send security alerts in real time. The private network installation was completed in a few hours for only $10,000, an affordable price point for small businesses.
With this flexibility and availability, imagine all the new and innovative use cases SMBs are able to adopt. Will this have a ripple effect (pun intended!) that accelerates private networking adoption? Does this stimulate new thinking about your go-to-market (GTM) strategies? If you’d like to discuss ways to expand your GTM efforts to incorporate SMB opportunities, let’s talk! (Contact me on LinkedIn).
Gratitude for OnGo Alliance’s success in advancing spectrum policy: The OnGo Alliance, and in particular, their leadership and Regulatory Working Group, is making big strides in public policy impacting spectrum services and availability. They have achieved unprecedented cooperation from critical organizations such as National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Department of Commerce, and Department of Defense. The OnGo Alliance has secured commitments from these government agencies to collaborate on the development of Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), a National Spectrum Strategy (NSS), and the Emerging Mid-band Radar Spectrum Study (EMBRSS), all designed to further stimulate adoption of CBRS and private networking in industry, while also protecting national security.
With this cooperative mindset, the OnGo Alliance and agency counterparts have embarked on defining features of the next generation of CBRS services, with expanded coverage, reduced interferences, and fewer restrictions. Stay tuned for announcements from these groups over the coming months.
OnGo Awards for Excellence
I am honored to have been invited to be a judge for this year’s awards for excellence, given to organizations who are advancing the adoption of private networks and CBRS. You can find the list of winners and their categories at the OnGo Alliance website. Congratulations to all the winners and others who submitted their deployments! It was very intriguing to see the level of innovation and success stories we received this year. These submissions are the testament to the success of the shared spectrum approach.
Conclusion
My team and I are honored to work with this important industry association, whose mission is to further the adoption of private cellular networking, and to make sure the necessary infrastructure services continue to advance as this valuable marketplace grows ever more rapidly. We hope to see you at future OnGo Alliance meetings!
If you need any assistance in putting together a strategy to penetrate the private network marketplace and tell your story effectively to enterprises and SIs, we can help. Contact Us.
