Apple @ Work: Celona adds Mobile Device Management support for its private cellular networks

Apple @ Work is brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that fully integrates 5 different applications on a single Apple-only platform, allowing Businesses to easily and automatically deploy, manage & protect all their Apple devices. Over 38,000 organizations leverage Mosyle solutions to automate the deployment,  management, and security of millions of Apple devices daily. Request a FREE account today and discover how you can put your Apple fleet on auto-pilot at a price point that is hard to believe.

Back in 2020, I chatted with Celona’s Andrew von Nagy about the use cases of private 5G networks in the enterprise. Just recently, they announced a new innovation that has major impacts for Apple IT managers.

About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers managed an enterprise IT network from 2009 to 2021. Through his experience deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a mobile device management system, enterprise grade Wi-Fi, 100s of Macs, and 100s of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple IT managers deploy Apple devices, build networks to support them, train users, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for IT departments.

Celona’s latest announcement brings support for automated eSim enrollment to mobile device management solutions. Available with the latest release (2308) of Celona Edge and Orchestrator, the new automated eSIM solution streamlines the onboarding of cellular-capable (CBRS) devices to use with Celona private 5G cellular networks.

“As private wireless networks quickly become mainstream, we are continuing to deliver unique innovations that remove any barriers experienced by enterprise IT staff,” said Puneet Shetty, VP of Products at Celona.

“Automating mobile device management and reducing the friction of securely provisioning user equipment (UE) on private wireless networks is a big win for everyone,” said Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst at ZK Research. “While it may seem inconsequential to many, these types of innovations are precisely what’s needed to supercharge the market for the private wireless market.”

Instead of requiring end users to manually download and install eSIMs on their devices after setting them up, Celona’s eSIM automation directly integrates with many mobile device management systems to automate the pricess. The MDM system automatically obtains the specific eSIM location for a specific device and pushes this configuration to the device as part off a zero-touch deployments and install of a distinct eSIM without any end user action required.

The integration of device management system support with the Celona Orchestrator helps IT teams deploy private 5G wireless to their iPhones and gain visibility into the devices. Once eSIMs are installed on the end user devices, individual or a groups of SIMs are easily activated, reactivated, or reset from the Celona Orchestrator interface.

9to5Mac’s take

The use of private 5G cellular in the enterprise is going through one of those gradually then suddenly types of adoption. Wi-Fi is great for many use cases, but it’s not great for everything. In environments like hospitals, warehouses, retail, etc – it can be a challenge to properly engineer, and even when done properly, there can be a struggle to deploy voice solutions. In mission critical environments, I do believe that private 5G cellular is going to play a huge role. The iPhone has become the defacto portable computer for a lot of industries that used to look towards iPads or iPod touches. A good example here is that at major conferences, lead scanners are typically smart phones with a single app on the conference Wi-Fi – that is typically just passable. This scenario is ripe for using private 5G wireless. This announcement from Celona makes it even easier to deploy and manage.

Apple @ Work is brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that fully integrates 5 different applications on a single Apple-only platform, allowing Businesses to easily and automatically deploy, manage & protect all their Apple devices. Over 38,000 organizations leverage Mosyle solutions to automate the deployment,  management, and security of millions of Apple devices daily. Request a FREE account today and discover how you can put your Apple fleet on auto-pilot at a price point that is hard to believe.

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