Overview

The current landscape of enterprise networking is experiencing a profound transformation, supported by the emergence of private 5G networks. Though public 5G networks provide enhanced mobile broadband experiences to consumers and enterprises, private 5G (P5G) enables organizations to deploy dedicated, high-performance cellular networks for their specific requirements and based on the latest 3GPP standards. P5G complements Wi‑Fi to provide a customized experience under enterprise control, over large areas, and with dedicated resources—supporting wide area, high speed, deterministic, and latency-sensitive applications.

Private 5G offers the following:

• Separation from public network

• Control radio to configure fine-grained QoS/SLA

• Spectrum protected from wireless interference

• SIM‑based device identity

• Ability to cover larger areas than Wi‑Fi per radio

• Improved handover with support for high mobility

HPE Aruba Networking is at the forefront of this evolution, offering robust and scalable private 5G solutions tailored for diverse industry needs.

In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has played a crucial role in enabling private 5G networks by opening 150 MHz of the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band (3.55 GHz – 3.70 GHz) for shared use without additional costs and contractual agreements associated with carrier contracts. CBRS is a spectrum-sharing framework in the 3.5 GHz band that enables dynamic allocation of frequency resources among different tiers of users. The three-tiered access model includes:

• Incumbent Access

• Priority Access License (PAL)

• General Authorized Access (GAA)

Incumbent Access users, such as naval radar systems, have the highest priority and protection. PAL users, typically commercial entities, have priority over GAA users, who can utilize the spectrum opportunistically when it is not in use by higher-tier users. Within the CBRS band, a portion is designated for PAL users, specifically between 3550 MHz and 3650 MHz. This constitutes 100 MHz of the total CBRS band. Up to seven PALs may be licensed in any given county, subject to a cap of four aggregated PAL channels per licensee. In other worfs, full 150 MHz CBRS spectrum is available for general authorized access out of which 70 MHz may be reserved for PAL holders (per US county). Typically, each channel is 10 MHz.

P5G vs Wi-Fi

The future of the enterprise network is not either/or. Multiple different types of connectivity — Wi‑Fi, wired, Bluetooth, Zigbee, private 5G, LoRa and others — are and will continue to be used in the enterprise to support a wide range of use cases. The direction will evolve from focusing on the specific type of network connectivity and devices to one that uses connectivity as a way to meet business outcomes.

Private 5G and Wi‑Fi have often been discussed in terms of one vs. the other. However, the two are highly complementary and enterprises are exploring new ways to use private 5G and Wi‑Fi 6/Wi‑Fi 6E in tandem:

• Private 5G provides wider area coverage, high-speed mobility, and deterministic network access.

• Wi‑Fi 6, Wi‑Fi 6E (802.11ax) and Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) deliver the highest network capacity in dense deployments, particularly indoors.

Advantages of P5G

Enterprises are adopting private 5G for many reasons, including the strengths in the following areas:

• Segmentation of mission‑critical traffic: Some enterprises are looking to deploy a separate network for business‑critical applications that operates over relatively clean spectrum alongside existing Wi‑Fi networks. For example, a large public venue might deploy private cellular for back‑office applications like mobile ticket scanning and reserve the Wi‑Fi network for guest use.

• Wider area coverage: Due to higher power limits, and higher radio receiver sensitivity, private 5G can cover more area per access point (albeit at a lower per‑AP throughput). Less cabling is needed which lowers costs, minimizes the impact on landscaping, and simplifies the connection to hard‑to‑reach areas like mines.

• Deterministic network access: Private 5G infrastructure coordinates the resources of each forwarding node to guarantee priority, latency, and bandwidth per application per device. To illustrate how this works in practice, consider a busy conference room. With private 5G, the moderator ensures that each attendee gets their turn to speak and that no one talks over another person.

• High‑speed mobility: High‑speed mobility without any loss of connectivity is required to avoid costly work stoppages. With private 5G, hand‑off decisions are controlled by the network and benefit from the wider area coverage that requires fewer handoffs. Private 5G is ideal for robotics, autonomous vehicles, and warehouse operations.

• Seamless indoor cellular coverage: Private 5G ensures uninterrupted connectivity across all areas of a facility. This reliable coverage supports critical operations and enhances communication and productivity within the organization.

Key use cases for P5G

Private cellular networks (LTE and 5G) represent an emerging market with most investments thus far in energy, mining, manufacturing, transportation, logistics, government, and public venues. As private cellular networks become more closely integrated with existing Wi-Fi networks, opportunities open across a broader range of markets, including coverage over larger areas, segregating guest from back-of-house traffic, ensuring more deterministic mobility for high-velocity IoT clients, or filling gaps in public network coverage. Examples include:

• Retailers can operate mobile point-of-sale devices and inventory scanners, connect building IoT systems, feed ruggedized tablets on forklifts, and power robotic warehouse systems.

• Manufacturers can use wirelessly enabled power tools to record every aspect of a product’s creation as the product moves down the line, and apply machine vision systems for automated quality inspection.

• Public venues can perform ticket scanning, enable push-to-talk (PTT) voice communication between staff members, and provide secure sideline data terminals for sports teams to make real-time decisions.

• Hospitals can deliver latency-sensitive medical telemetry to nursing stations and electronic medical record servers, and provide PTT voice communication for clinical staff, and enhance in-building cellular service for patients, families, and staff.

• Mining and heavy industry can cover large areas without the need to run cable.

• Educational institutions can backhaul massive data from security cameras and provide wide-area outdoor coverage.

• The transportation sector can use P5G on connected vehicle, fleet management, logistic optimization and real-time traffic planning.

• The energy sector can use P5G for remote monitoring, digital oil fields, grid monitoring, mines.

HPE Aruba Networking Private 5G

HPE Aruba Networking Private 5G is a full stack offering designed to meet enterprise requirements. As part of the solution, two flexible deployment options are available.

1. “Turnkey” as a full stack, integrated deployment in which all components of the solution, including small cell radios, are supplied and supported by HPE.

2. “Modular,” in which the customer deploys 4G/5G mobile core technology but leverages third party small cell radios, SIMs, and other components to support regional requirements and/or specialized use cases.