By Catherine Sbeglia Nin
Private network technology provider Athonet is teaming up with BearCom, a wireless integrator, to deliver private LTE, 5G and Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) solutions throughout North America.
The partnership is targeting key industries including education, healthcare and Industry 4.0 to provide private cellular coverage designed to bring security, reliability and capacity into enterprise environments.
“When developing a private network, our customers rely on us to provide a mobile core that is proven, reliable and secure,” said CTO of BearCom, Mike Owen. “Athonet has delivered thousands of LTE, 4G/5G and CBRS mission-critical networks across the globe in the same verticals where we are focused.”
Last year, the Fort Worth Independent School District in Texas installed a private LTE network to support up to 4,000 students. The network uses CBRS and Athonet’s EPC LTE mobile core, which was deployed onsite at the district’s data center.
Chief technology officer of Athonet, Gianluca Verin previously stated that the company’s 5G core “is built for business-critical applications to connect a multitude of devices and sensors,” which he said enables developers “to put their ideas into action and leverage the incredible potential of 5G.”
For the Texas project, BearCom fulfilled its role as integrator, bringing in other vendors to supply the Spectrum Access System, home routers, CBRS eNodeBs (CBSDs) and radio access network (RAN) software for the project.
“Organizations are beginning to understand the benefits of private networks but need an integrator that can bring all the vendors together to deliver business results,” said Athonet President Simon O’Donnell.
