We’re back for another episode of IoT Nuggets! Today, we are discussing private mobile networks with Shawn Sweeney, Head of Strategy and Partnerships for ALEF. ALEF is a global edge connectivity platform company that empowers enterprises and developers to launch their private networks. Their specialties revolve around private mobile networks and edge compute infrastructure.
Let’s learn more about who they are, what they do, and how they provide value to customers.
Who is ALEF?
ALEF is an entirely indirect company that sells through channel partners. Their product allows enterprises to build an edge compute infrastructure inside a customer’s firewall and network perimeter. This is through using API calls, which ALEF offers as a service.
There’s an emerging problem in the technology industry that ALEF helps solve. Enterprises don’t have to get involved in the cost and complexities of building a vast infrastructure. Increasingly, more enterprises are looking to bring mobile devices inside that firewall for various reasons: They’ve been held on the outside for so long, or they want to set themselves up for an IoT future. This allows specific workloads to be deployed to a network edge as they would within their service.
CBRS & Edge: Overview
One of the biggest challenges in the industry regarding 5G and CBRS is trying to understand it in totality – what is its functionality, when would you use it, and why would you use it?
More applications require proper mobility. Today, what’s inside of enterprises is more of a WI-FI approach. While WI-FI is a great technology, it’s not considered a mission-critical technology. It also provides portability without proper mobility.
For example, ALEF has customers and prospects interested in moving machines around factory floors. Some of the bakeries on WI-FI, interferences, channel overloads, and coverage issues aren’t sufficient for those mission-critical applications where money can be wasted if there’s downtime.
ALEF can also be classified as a software API layer between the hardware and the infrastructure. They allow the enterprise customer to deploy CBRS radios today, and tomorrow 5G is built into the same infrastructure seamlessly. ALEF also enables connectivity both on the premise and to edge compute resources. This is important to IoT applications, as many workloads are being moved to the edge of ML AI-based workloads. Running them at the edge tightens up the decisions they can make, which leads to better decisions in a faster time.
As we look into the future, there’s more application for what’s being done, not only on the connectivity side but also on the infrastructure side, allowing customers to recognize this path is available as enterprises are looking for the ability to pick and choose which vendors they use.
ALEF’s Partnership with BH IoT
BH IoT Group is thrilled to cultivate this new partnership with ALEF. One reason is use cases for customers with ALEF’s offering. Their network as a service between voice only, data, tablets, phones, and IoT devices is incredible. This is an excellent product for the BH IoT Group to add to our line card. Their offering is in high demand with its overall functionality and pricing.
To get connected with BH IoT Group’s wide network of IoT solution providers, please contact us.
To reach out to Shawn and his team to see how they can help you, visit https://www.wearealef.com/.
Thank you for tuning in to this episode of IoT Nuggets, and we’ll see you again on the next one!