Either it has taken a year to get going, or else it has actually expanded – but US private 5G specialist Celona has stuck out another press note to proclaim its partnership with Riyadh-based telecoms group STC (Saudi Telecommunication Company; stylised stc) in the Middle East. The latter will sell its private 4G/5G system to enterprises in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain. The pair have been working together since May last year, at least; STC also has a private-networks deal with Finnish network vendor Nokia.
The statement said the two are launching a “new generation of private 5G digital solutions”, without saying much else. They referenced enterprises somehow “scaling-up their wireless connectivity in a cost-efficient manner”. They also suggested a deeper edge-compute integration (a “private 5G edge computing technology network solution”) in the manner of Nokia’s mission-critical industrial edge (MXIE) bundle for Industry 4.0 customers. But whether or not any of that is novel, compared to what Celona has already offered via STC, is unclear.
Last May, following a demo at the LEAP tech conference in Riyadh, with a “full-scale” automated guided vehicle (AGV) connected on 5G in a mocked-up warehouse, they said they would jointly pitch to regional mining, manufacturing, and logistics sectors. The Saudi firm said it will use the Celona system to go with its cloud services, IoT solutions, and cybersecurity proposition for enterprise customers in the region. Celona called it a “milestone” agreement to combine private 5G connectivity and digital-change solutions.
A request for clarification has gone out; we will update if there is any substance to the response.
Meanwhile, Celona, preparing like everyone in the sector to ramp-up the private 5G sideshow at the MWC telco show in Barcelona (from where it took its name) next month, has been expanding its channels-to-market in recent months. In October, it introduced a three-tiered global sales channel partner scheme, an integrator partnership with US-based Insight, and a global distribution deal with TD SYNNEX. It has also signed with US specialist Industry 4.0 integrator Future Technologies, a Nokia favourite, RCR Wireless understands.
Ericsson is also working more closely with Future Technologies, suddenly. As well, Celona introduced new product enhancements, including unified SIM-based authentication, dynamic and distributed policy enforcement, and IT/OT air-gapping on common 4G/5G infrastructure. The new/old deal with STC is geared towards enterprises in the oil and gas, logistics, warehousing, mining, and manufacturing sectors (so a few more than a year ago, maybe), and (again) focuses on wrapping in STC’s cloud and IoT bits-and-pieces – to accelerate schedules and reduce costs.
Celona called STC a “digital transformation visionary with a clear strategy for driving economic growth and efficiency”, and talked about “connected mines, connected supply chains, connected warehouses, and connected manufacturing throughout the region”. STC said: “This marks a significant milestone in [our] mission to drive digital transformation and operational efficiency.”
