There is a brewing battle for wireless connectivity coming. While one basically has options today of WiFi for local wireless and 4G/ 5G for greater range, the future will be different. Private 5G wireless connectivity is set to start blurring the lines offering speeds competitive with WiFi but a range that greatly exceeds current WiFi solutions. On the other hand, having a private 5G network is not as simple as going down to Best Buy and plugging in a $199 router/ WiFi box. That is why HPE Private 5G is being launched at MWC to help companies, governments, and other organizations launch private 5G networks.
HPE Private 5G Solutions from 5G In-a-Box to Cloud Launched for MWC
In terms of 5G versus WiFi, here is the chart that HPE shows. HPE Aruba also sells WiFi so the company is pitching the idea that both solutions should be integrated.
On that front, HPE is using GreenLake to deliver its new offering via consumption model. What HP is effectively offering here is the entire control stack to get customers up and running. This includes the hardware, but also all of the software and control plane offerings.
Here are HPE’s target industries, but this was not the most interesting use case slide that HPE had.
When it came to 5G-in-a-Box, HPE has a number of offerings. For example, there is the HPE EdgeLine EL8000 and EL8000-MCS that can go into an overhead bin. One day we need to deploy a 5G network for STH maybe for a video, but take a close look at the applications.
HPE is tactical forces aas well as oil. This was presented after a recent annexation and invasion event that has oil and military at the center of the story. It just so happened that these slides were presented the day before this article is being published so we are not sure if that is a nod to current events, or just a coincidence.
HPE also offers a model where one can have centralized and managed control plane stacks, but then have edge boxes that deploy certain components that are highly latency sensitive at the edge.
Here is HPE’s core stack both in a box, but then also distributed with this edge machine plus cloud control model.
As part of this, HPE also has a simple tool to help its configuration. The basic idea is that many customers will not have the technical knowledge to build and operate the stack, so HPE is putting that together in a tool that makes it easy to deploy a slice.
Continuing on its tactical theme, likely since it is targeting military with its offering, we get a 5G-in-a-Box tactical solution with features like push-to-talk.
We also get an oil and gas related solution. This is an interesting one since it has a 5G Core Stack “Cell on Wheels” and then can use WiFi for the local devices/ sensors.
Overall, HPE seems to have a solution, for its customers that is built on several of HPE’s foundational technology platforms.
Final Words
HPE needs this because Amazon AWS has its own Private 5G offering. By utilizing GreenLake, HPE can offer a consumption model as well. These types of offerings we are going to see announced with greater frequency. There is an upcoming shift where we are going to see 5G used for many applcations that were formerly WiFi-only, and HPE is getting ahead of that shift.
Not sure I understand this – is there “open spectrum” 5G? I thought the spectrum was all licensed by wireless companies? I mean there must be for this product to make sense, but just trying to wrap my head around how it might work.
You have to file for common home cell boosters in the US so companies may have to file to host these devices with the 5G enabled