As the use cases for private 4G LTE and 5G wireless networks expand within the enterprise, the need for simplicity and scale in SIM provisioning increase with them. SIM card profiles need to have a direct correlation on device level policy enforcement within an enterprise network, as such devices serve 5G LAN users and applications.
It’s critical that a SIM provisioning service for an enterprise is designed to integrate with existing enterprise policies and allow for network operations teams to easily create device onboarding workflows to support variety of different device types from smartphones to ruggedized handhelds to IoT gateways.
Celona SIM provisioning capabilities as part of its platform and its physical & embedded SIM (eSIM) cards are designed to work seamlessly with the entire ecosystem of products within the private mobile network industry, and offer a simple, powerful and cost-efficient solution.
How do Celona SIM cards work?
Celona SIM cards carry the secure credentials for devices to gain access to the Celona 5G LAN via the Celona access points (AP) for a private mobile network installation, indoors and outdoors. Once activated, they securely onboard private cellular capable devices across athe 5G LAN and allow policy based access to specific application and network segments, as defined within a Celona MicroSlicing policy configuration.
Celona supports both physical SIM cards and embedded SIM (eSIM) identities to authorize devices to gain access to a Celona network. Celona eSIM identities can be accessed by users of the mobile devices simply by scanning a QR code via the camera on their mobile device. eSIMs offer the potential for multiple identities to be setup on mobile devices, with one of the profiles being active at any point in time. If the devices are dual SIM capable, Celona profile can be installed as one of the SIM identities on the devices and the other physical or eSIM profile can be reserved for a public mobile network connection.
eSIM cards can greatly decrease operational costs, by offloading the task of authorizing device access to the end users. In the future, Celona will allow for role based onboarding of devices to a Celona 5G LAN where the identity of the end user will determine which groups of SIM cards a specific user role can download and install.
Celona 5G LAN will also be integrated with market leading enterprise mobile device management (MDM) solutions to roll out of SIM identities across enterprise managed devices with limited end user intervention – further simplifying the solution reach across large scale deployments, while staying within the boundaries of enterprise policy control.
How do competitor SIM cards stack up?
SIM cards are integral for delivering reliable network resources to devices and applications across an entire network. However, the approaches other companies take to implement and manage SIM cards falls short of the industry leading standard that Celona SIM cards demonstrate.
Currently, competitors have to utilize a different cloud management software to manage SIM cards in device groups in addition to the general network management portal. This introduces complications for customers in learning a new interface and managing different parts of the network on separate platforms. At times, alternative solutions do not even provide the ability for IT administrators to move and update policy assignments for existing SIM cards – which truly defeats of building a private 5G for enterprise use across many devices against new and old use cases.
Alternative solutions also lack the ability to draw a line between existing enterprise policies within the existing L2/L3 local area network configuration and private cellular wireless connectivity via SIM authentication. In comparison, Celona uses an integrated authentication database within the Celona Edge – extension of the Celona platform to enterprise network backbone acting as the 4G/5G core – to securely assign different device groups via SIM profile assignments to desired enterprise network segments.
This ensures that existing corporate policies can also be taken into account within the Celona 5G LAN, keeping the security posture of the overall network infrastructure in tact.
An important strength that Celona SIM cards offer is the option to either receive pre-provisioned SIM cards or to remotely provision the SIM cards based on the customer needs. Whereas many alternatives require customer specifications beforehand to preconfigure SIM cards, Celona grants customers the flexibility to set them up with their own requirements, offering adjustments and configurations within Celona Orchestrator at any time.
What does this mean for customers?
Celona SIM cards, similar to other components of a Celona 5G LAN, enable enterprise IT and industrial IoT teams have direct and simple access to their configuration. Customers are guaranteed a user-friendly experience, full privacy when assigning policy rules, and complete control over SIM card activation process when utilizing them as part of their 5G LAN.
By keeping all SIM management features within a single interface, customers won’t have to worry about the process of learning a separate platform to activate SIM cards. In addition, secure authentication of SIM cards stays completely within the Celona 5G LAN, guaranteeing network security within the enterprise.
Initially, SIM cards are mutually authenticated through the Celona Edge. From there, SIM cards ensure that wireless data traffic stays encrypted with AES Ciphering. Celona Access Points continue to ensure user data encryption as the wireless data from connected private cellular devices is encrypted and decrypted at the Celona Edge.
See the Celona MicroSlicing in action by tuning in for an on-demand demo, request a custom demo or a free trial. And, to keep in touch with the rest of our community of customers, ecosystem and technology partners, join us at the Frequency Community.
