Cradlepoint’s new high end wireless router enters the market at a time when Cradlepoint continues to bolster its strength in Canada, and when the 5G market here is strengthening, with a very strong spectrum auction taking place a month ago.
Boise-based WAN wireless edge networking specialist Cradlepoint has launched their Cradlepoint E3000 Series 5G Enterprise Router. It is the first enterprise-class router available that provides native 5G connectivity for primary, failover, or SD-WAN use cases.
“The E3000 Series enabling this with a wireless device for the enterprise for the first time,” said Jason Falovo, area vice president and general manager of the Canadian region, Cradlepoint. “Our message to partners is that this is something customers are asking for today.”
The new wireless router becomes the highest end model in Cradlepoint’s highest-end line.
Donna Johnson, Vice President of Product and Solution Marketing at Cradlepoint
“When we introduced the E3000 series, it was our fastest,” said Donna Johnson, Vice President of Product and Solution Marketing at Cradlepoint. “We designed it to support 5G speeds and this is top of the line, with 2.5 GB internet ports, broad choice of LTE and 5G connectivity options, and a very fast internet bus. Its Bluetooth and other sensors make it ideal for doing proximity marketing and tracking. We wanted to make sure we had a platform that was ideally optimized for 5G, and for customers in fixed locations, this is the router we would expect them to use.” We’ve really positioned this as a high-end, high-performance router for fixed locations to support a variety of use cases.
While 5G public networks are still in their relative infancy, the same cannot be said about private cellular networks, where Cradlepoint is already seeing great momentum.
In the last year we weren’t talking about private cellular networks,” Falovo said. “We were talking about branch, IoT, and mobility. But we are really seeing private cellular networks starting to take off.”
“Even in advance of widescale deployment of 5G for public use. we were seeing these private deployments,” Johnson added. “It’s part of why we are now part of Ericcson, and aligned with their radio network around these private cellular networks. We can become a strong access method for Ericcson. Over time we can expand both the infrastructures, and bring the channel to Ericcson.”
“The channel can take this in a lot of directions,” Johnson added. “They can integrate it with Azure or AWS, or use our Palo Alto Networks integration to give SASE capability. It lets VARs build an overall solution. It’s a multi-vendor solution but not a multi-box solution. But it’s interesting for the channel because it has a lot of moving parts, with multiple vendors. The VARs connect them and manage the network. Something like a private cellular network isn’t something that you order from CDW. This is an opportunity to enter a new market early with a lot of value.
“We think partners need to have this conversation with their 5G customers,” Johnson continued. “They may not be ready to buy, but they should have a strategy. For channel partners that aren’t just fulfilment, this is where they customer is going.”
Falovo, who joined Cradlepoint as Canadian country manager at the beginning of 2020, said that Cradlepoint’s growing presence in Canada will equip them well to leverage the E3000 Series 5G Enterprise Router in building up 5G in Canada.
Jason Falovo, area vice president and general manager of the Canadian region, Cradlepoint
“We now have 21 people covering Canada, with 14 of them physically based in Canada, in 6 different provinces,” he said. “We now have a team in Quebec that reports into a French-speaking regional sales manager. We also now have a field marketing resource in country as well, Melissa Marr. In addition, we added two channel resources, so are not just enhancing our own sales but the complete team.”
Falovo noted that a 3500 Mhz spectrum auction in Canada a month ago, which is critical for 5G, was a major success, raising almost $9 billion CDN, showing strong market momentum.
“The new spectrum auction will encourage more 5G rollouts,” he said. “I came to CradlePoint because I saw organizations looking to cut the cord with 5G. Larger organizations are coming to us about it. We have a marketing slogan – ‘find your 5G.’ Customers are now coming to us and asking how they can be enabled with 5G.”
