Cisco is backing AT&T’s enterprise-focused push into the 5G fixed-wireless access (FWA) service space with a pair of gateways and a management platform that will also help power an AT&T trial option allowing enterprises test the service before committing. The package is targeted at SD-branch and SD-campus use cases.
The agreement calls for AT&T to begin offering Cisco’s new Meraki MG52 and MG52E cellular gateways that for the first time include support for 5G standalone (SA) technology. This SA addition means the gateways can connect to a true 5G core that can support advanced 5G technologies like carrier aggregation and network slicing.
Those devices can be instantiated and managed remotely using Cisco’s Networking Cloud platform. That platform works through Cisco’s IoT Control Center and Meraki for support of the new devices as well as legacy gateways.
Pratik Desai, product marketing manager for Cisco’s Meraki operations, explained the devices use an eSIM that manages the remote activation and set up of the gateways, which is crucial for remote SD-brand and SD-campus locations.
Desai also noted that the MG52 devices build off of the MG51 gateways Cisco unveiled last year. The big additions include the cloud-managed eSIM capabilities, a move from zero-touch provisioning to “instant-on” provisioning and the 5G SA support.
“This device is essentially future-proof because it’s also backward compatible with 5G NSA [non-standalone] or even 4G LTE,” Desai said. “If they can’t get a 5G SA signal, it’s no problem, the device will still work across multiple generations.”
To goose potential adoption, AT&T is also offering free access to its 5G FWA service for a limited time with activation of the Cisco Meraki service. Desai noted this exclusive 30-day “try-and-buy experience” can be accessed through self-service purchasing of AT&T data plans directly from the Cisco Meraki dashboard and reduce deployment times.
“That’s also something where if you’re an IT manager and you just want to get started, you don’t want to have to worry about anything else, this really alleviates the pain of trying to figure out where to go,” Desai said. “This alleviates the burden of trying to procure WAN service, you can take it for a spin yourself. And we think that that’s going to be a huge load off customers’ shoulders.”
Cisco backing AT&T’s enterprise FWA push
The Cisco devices and management platform glide on top of AT&T’s enterprise push into the 5G-powered FWA space. That push gained momentum earlier this year with the launch of AT&T’s Air for Business service that is targeted at small- and mid-sized enterprises.
John Blinkiewicz, VP of enterprise mobility at AT&T, explained to SDxCentral that the service is aimed at areas where “we have a broadband presence but obviously capture opportunity where we don’t have broadband out of the region.”
AT&T, which was a late mover into the 5G-based FWA space, doubled its total FWA base during the first quarter of this year, adding 110,000 new connections to push its base to more than 200,000 connections. The carrier remains focused on driving that growth from its enterprise-focused operations, which it has said provides a more sustainable business model.
“I’ve said from the start that there are many businesses that do not have the characteristics of single-family homes, and as a result of that, fixed wireless can be a really effective way of meeting their needs and doing so at a value proposition, price and performance that makes sense for them, especially when you start to think about those companies that have a convergence of both fixed and mobility needs. It’s a natural in those cases,” AT&T CEO John Stankey said during the carrier’s earnings call. “I’d like to participate in that market aggressively and I will go after it as aggressively as my competitors and pick up any of those business customers that I can on a national basis.”
Cisco set for 5G FWA expansion
Desai also noted that Verizon and T-Mobile US have stated plans to offer the new Meraki gateways through their respective enterprise-focused 5G FWA services. “They have already announced their intention is to take this to market as a part of their managed service offerings,” Desai said.
Verizon recently reported that enterprise customers accounted for one-third of those new connections during the first quarter, echoing what the carrier was seeing coming out of last year.
“On the business side, we’re seeing new use cases that we didn’t see before, all the way from coffee shops replacing cable with fixed-wireless access to large enterprises actually replacing with fixed-wireless access as well for different use cases,” CEO Hans Vestberg said during Verizon’s most recent earnings call.
T-Mobile US launched its Connected Workplace service earlier this year, which is focused on offering managed network services for multi-location medium-sized businesses. Cisco was connected with that launch, offering its Meraki cloud-managed networking devices and platform.
T-Mobile US earlier this week added a similar Cradlepoint device and management platform to its Connected Workplace offering, though Desai noted that Cisco’s approach was more comprehensive.
“The notion of managing an entire, fully connected site from a single piece of software is unprecedented,” Desai said. “There isn’t anybody else on the market that’s able to offer that today. So that distinction remains a Cisco strength, and we’re very happy and proud to build on top of it. All the innovation that we’ve been building on is because we have made these investments in this cloud-based operating system.”
Analysts hint that those investments should pay off handsomely for vendors.
Dell’Oro Group earlier this year forecast spending on 4G LTE and 5G-enabled enterprise routers and gateways would hit $4 billion by 2027. “Enterprises are relying more heavily on FWA-enabled routers and gateways to connect branch offices, vehicles and kiosks as part of their own private wireless initiatives,” noted Dell’Oro Group VP and analyst Jeff Heynen.
Desai echoed that opportunity, noting that success will ride on easing that enterprise adoption journey.
“We’re just showing that it works in the enterprise, and I don’t think people saw that coming,” Desai said. “I think that’s going to be very meaningful as businesses continue to think about driving more outcomes. Conversations have been too focused on the technology in the past. The outcomes of same-day connectivity, the outcomes of greater business resiliency, higher business agility, we think that that’s something that is more meaningful and that’s something that we’re highly motivated by. We’re very happy and proud to work on engineering these things in the background to make those occur, but we’re laser focused on those customer outcomes.”
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