Celona Introduces Intelligent 5G LAN Routing

Unique intelligent 5G LAN routing technology streamlines enterprise integration of private cellular wireless, eliminating security, accessibility, and administrative barriers

Celona, a Silicon Valley technology innovator credited with developing the first fully-integrated enterprise 5G LAN system, introduced the first 5G LAN intelligent routing capabilities for private cellular networks. This technology has been made possible by Celona’s ability to integrate with existing enterprise networks seamlessly and makes it possible for private 4G/5G networks to address secure connectivity for a new generation of use cases, from automated mobile robotics to computer vision.

Integrating a Celona 5G LAN within an existing enterprise Layer 3 network can be completed in a matter of minutes using proven, industry-standard routing protocols such as OSPF and RIPv2.

With Celona’s intelligent 5G LAN routing, enterprises now gain complete visibility into and control over client devices that were previously inaccessible due to the use of network address translation (NAT) services or mobile gateways. As a result, potential security concerns are eliminated, operational deployment is streamlined, and tedious manual network configuration and administration is alleviated.

This level of control accelerates time to value for organizations deploying 4G/5G technology within their existing networks without requiring the complex configuration, integration, and costly professional services associated with traditional cellular infrastructure.

ELIMINATING CONFIGURATION NIGHTMARES

At the heart of Celona’s new intelligent 5G LAN routing is the innovative use of DHCP lease tracking and IP route management principles to simplify deployment and support of multiple cellular mobile routers in an enterprise environment. This allows a Celona 5G LAN to use a single IP subnet for all attached devices sitting behind multiple different cellular mobile routers.

By parsing DHCP packets, Celona’s intelligent 5G LAN routing dynamically manages IP routing for clients connected to the private wireless network behind cellular mobile routers. Celona is adapting these intelligent IP route management and DHCP lease tracking, for the first time, to private cellular networks to simplify the management and integration of private cellular traffic within enterprise networks.

Unlike any other competitive solution that requires IT staff to tediously configure a myriad of DHCP scopes and individual IP routes to gain access to each device connecting to the network, Celona’s intelligent 5G LAN routing dynamically learns how to access clients, automatically populating route tables used to enable direct client access.

“Our support for 5G LAN routing reflects a deep commitment to making cellular integration within traditional enterprise network infrastructure as friendly and friction-free as possible to existing IT and OT environments,” said Özer Dondurmacıoğlu, VP of Marketing for Celona.

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

As more and more IoT systems and client devices, such as automated guided vehicles or manufacturing robots, make use of cellular-to-Wi-Fi or-Ethernet mobile routers to connect to private wireless networks, massive configuration nightmares, potential security risks, and operational headaches emerge.

Today each mobile router typically functions within a unique LAN subnet, forcing IT administrators to manually configure a massive number of DHCP scopes, a valid range of IP addresses that are available for assignment or lease to client computers on a particular subnet. Within traditional deployment models, utilizing network address translation (NAT) services on any client device connected to a private cellular network, enterprises lose visibility into the device mix and application types as device IP addresses are made hidden from view from existing QoS, traffic forwarding and security policies within an existing enterprise network.

Celona’s intelligent 5G LAN routing uniquely solves these problems. Client devices remain secure while accessible to the rest of the enterprise network – allowing network administrators to directly access end devices behind the private cellular mobile routers and gateways, without tedious manual network configuration.

Integrated within the Celona Edge, a fully cloud-native private cellular network software stack that controls the operation of 5G LANs, enterprises gain full visibility into and control over 4G/5G user equipment to ensure unprecedented security and device management.

The Celona Edge manages IP routing tasks for the cellular radio access network (RAN). Instead of using NAT to translate all RAN IP addresses into a single IP address that is routable on the network, the Celona Edge can function as a full layer 3 routed interface. As a result, internal RAN IP subnets are fully visible to the rest of the network.

With 5G LAN routing, network administrators are now able to:

1) ensure that end device software updates can be performed remotely,
2) better manage the operation of end devices with remote monitoring, and
3) apply requisite firewall policies to specific device groups, which was previously impossible.

When combined with Celona’s patented MicroSlicing™ technology, enterprises can now create a consistent, end-to-end QoS framework that automatically maps and routes RAN traffic to discrete network segments or VLANs, ensuring specific QoS parameters, such as throughput, packet loss or latency, are enforced on a per-application or device group basis.

“For many companies, seamless integration of 4G LTE and new 5G cellular technology within the existing enterprise network has been a point of contention,” said Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst, ZK Research. “5G LAN routing effectively eliminates this barrier to adoption to give IT & OT teams the visibility, control and security over private cellular devices to which they’ve become accustomed.”

Source: Celona media announcement