An area I've seen little discussion about is the intersection of new private 4G / 5G networks, with voice and unified communications, UC. Most debate is about either local IoT (i.e. data) connectivity, or neutral-host / wholesale approaches for in-building or rural coverage.
But where enterprises deploy "pure" private networks aimed at employees or visitors, they are likely to want voice / telephony capabilities, plus more advanced communications capabilities. While this is already done for highly-specialised local cellular deployments for mines, military or maritime, it is much less clear how this could scale to more general enterprise users.
Many of the existing local-cellular users are also just based on 2G/3G, for which simple circuit-switched infrastructure has been available for years (I had a client supplying softswitches for private voice with pico-cells, as early as 2006).
My view is that UCaaS, cPaaS, cloud telephony, IP-PBX & collaboration solution providers should be looking much more closely at the impact of CBRS, and its international equivalents, providing localised 4G/5G wireless in new spectrum, and neutral-host models.
It is unclear whether enterprises will want to deploy "private IMS" solutions, cloud-based VoLTE & SMS, or use some simpler forms of wireless-capable VoIP in their own domain. There are various deployment scenarios I can see, each of which will require careful thought & focused strategies:
(Please contact me if you're interested in exploring this domain, have existing solutions, or would like to engage me on private advisory work)
#5G, #cloudcommunications, #neutralhost, #UCaaS, #cPaaS, #voice, #collaboration
But where enterprises deploy "pure" private networks aimed at employees or visitors, they are likely to want voice / telephony capabilities, plus more advanced communications capabilities. While this is already done for highly-specialised local cellular deployments for mines, military or maritime, it is much less clear how this could scale to more general enterprise users.
Many of the existing local-cellular users are also just based on 2G/3G, for which simple circuit-switched infrastructure has been available for years (I had a client supplying softswitches for private voice with pico-cells, as early as 2006).
My view is that UCaaS, cPaaS, cloud telephony, IP-PBX & collaboration solution providers should be looking much more closely at the impact of CBRS, and its international equivalents, providing localised 4G/5G wireless in new spectrum, and neutral-host models.
It is unclear whether enterprises will want to deploy "private IMS" solutions, cloud-based VoLTE & SMS, or use some simpler forms of wireless-capable VoIP in their own domain. There are various deployment scenarios I can see, each of which will require careful thought & focused strategies:
- Transition from two-way radio (eg TETRA) to cellular push to talk
- Integration of existing UC/UCaaS/PBX with private cellular voice
- IoT integration of realtime voice/video (for example "speak to an engineer" functions)
- Fit with conferencing, collaboration & messaging platforms
- Interoperability / roaming scenarios with public PSTN & mobile calling
- cPaaS scenarios & APIs tailored for private mobile networks
- Will private 5G networks using slicing techniques to prioritise QoS for non-3GPP VoIP?
- For neutral hosts, how will they enable roaming telephony / messaging / other voice & video applications
- What happens with numbering & identity?
- Can private cellular work for contact centres?
- Are there "IMS lite" options for enterprise, that cuts down some of the features and integration seen in telcos?
- Is this a prime candidate for multi-tenant "VoLTE-as-a-service" cloud propositions?
(Please contact me if you're interested in exploring this domain, have existing solutions, or would like to engage me on private advisory work)
#5G, #cloudcommunications, #neutralhost, #UCaaS, #cPaaS, #voice, #collaboration
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