Beancounters at IDG have added up some numbers and decided that the era of Wireless WAN has firmly arrived and is the critical infrastructure in driving innovation, including playing a role in business recovery from the pandemic.
The annual report which was commissioned by Cradlepoint, shows confidence and excitement for 5G, pointing to increasing adoption in the coming year.
Donna Johnson, Vice President of Product and Solution Marketing at Cradlepoint said: “As organisations look to adapt to a new normal and get back to business, Wireless WAN solutions uniquely enable network agility while enhancing security and scale.”
Traditional wired WANs are complex, slow to adapt, and applicable to only fixed locations. As businesses reinvent the way they serve their customers, they are increasingly turning to Wireless WAN technology to connect people, places, and things anywhere.
The report said that the agility required by pandemic-hastened business transformation and the growing number of connected devices are the top reasons businesses are turning to Wireless WAN solutions.
Bandwidth is another significant factor in the increased use of Wireless WAN links. 57 percent of respondents said bandwidth is a reason for adopting broadband, and 49 percent said it was a reason for choosing LTE. Today’s cellular networks are approaching fiber-fast speeds and provide rapid deployment capabilities that are unparalleled.
As businesses scramble to create new services and find new ways to engage and serve their customers, WAN flexibility is essential. 51 percent cited the flexibility of LTE to enable new services as a top reason for turning to Wireless WAN solutions.
More than 78 percent of companies surveyed either use or plan to use LTE to provide WAN or internet connectivity to at least some locations, but the use of LTE is also expanding beyond just the branch. More than half of companies are using it to connect in-vehicle networks, and 77 percent are connecting IoT devices. Additionally, 40 percent of respondents are using LTE to connect fixed locations, vehicles, and IoT, making LTE the top choice for connecting people, places, and things across the rapidly expanding WAN edge. This metric helps explain why 62 percent of enterprises plan to increase their use of LTE in the next three years.
The report said that IT decision-makers believe in the promise of 5G, with 67 percent either confident or very confident 5G will deliver business benefits within the next year. 82 percent believe 5G will deliver increased WAN speeds within the next year, and 66 percent think it will provide improved reliability.
“Wireless WAN has proven to be a critical enabler”, Johnson said. “With the emergence of 5G bringing faster speeds and smarter cellular networks, the ascension of Wireless WAN as critical infrastructure is inevitable.”
