Ericsson has entered into a strategic partnership with Telarus, the largest privately held master agent in the US, to market its Wireless Office solution.
Adam Edwards, CEO of Telarus, says: “We are continuously seeking to expand our portfolio with innovative solutions that create real differentiation in the marketplace. Ericsson Wireless Office is spot on for today’s businesses as remote-work and hybrid-work models become the new norm.”
Dan Foster, Head of Global Sales at Ericsson Wireless Office, noted that Ericsson Wireless Office was ideally suited to the new post-pandemic way of working because it removes the dependency of in-house IT expertise, physical installations and devices while providing reliable and secure network access anywhere and at any time.
The embedded security framework in Ericsson Wireless Office delivers secure remote access service for businesses, while enabling them to maintain both control and governance. The solution builds upon Ericsson’s workspace-as-a-service technology acquired from StratusWorX, which Ericsson acquired in July 2020.
Omnisperience’s view
Ericsson has recognised the growth of CCAPS solutions being rolled out by its service provider customers and this is an initial foray into supporting this area. While we applaud its entry into the SME marketspace with Wireless Office, Ericsson needs to add further capabilities to round out its offering. In particular it needs to address the hybridised needs of B2C-B2B by combining capabilities it has to support smart households with those it now offers to small, micro and nano businesses.
Ericsson, along with other network equipment providers, is well positioned to address the emerging CCAPS value-added service market, because of its deep understanding of the wide area public network. Many CCAPS vendors have excellent in-house capabilities but lack the final piece of the jigsaw that’s required to deliver true quality of service for households that want to Work, Live and Play in an increasingly connected world: the ability to help CSPs deliver end-to-end quality of service and security.
Our biggest caution to Ericsson is to avoid levering the word “5G” into their discussions of this initiative. While 5G undoubtedly has an important role to play in CCAPS, the service itself is network agnostic and uses whichever network will provide the optimal combination of availability, reliability, performance and security for the customer. In fact, Ericsson’s ability to help operators do this is potentially one of its biggest advantages. It will narrow its market and fail to fully resonate with operators if this becomes just another 5G promotion, rather than focusing on the core of the issue: how CSPs can leverage their assets to build a value adding service and essential new revenue stream that customers need and are prepared to pay for today. Which points to another key advantage Ericsson has – its ability to help CSPs monetise this service by providing flexible billing, charging, pricing and packaging capabilities.
