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SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024 EMERGENT 8 10 Ways AI Transforms Business 10 Data Realities Drag on AI By Martin Vilaboy 14 Expereo: Accelerating Agility Q&A with CEO Ben Elms MOBILE & WIRELESS 16 U.S. Wireless Data Use Skyrockets, Says CTIA By Martin Vilaboy 18 Neutral Spaces The positive forces behind neutral host private wireless By Martin Vilaboy CYBER PATROL 24 Security Savvy Security vocabulary partners need to know when engaging with customers 30 Keeping up with FTC Cybersecurity Compliance By Jonathan Cox CHANNEL MANAGEMENT 34 Lumen Leans into the Channel By Gerald Baldino 36 Disrupting Enterprise Connectivity SmartCIC’s delivers a unified, end-toend approach to connectivity By Gerald Baldino 38 Time to Level Up Technology leaders are open to working with new expert advisors By Martin Vilaboy 46 Youth Movement Young Channel Leaders paves the way for the next generation of technology innovators By Gerald Baldino 48 NHC STACKS Up the Wins By Gerald Baldino 50 Full Speed Ahead for Endeavor IT By Gerald Baldino AT YOUR SERVICE: XaaS 54 Lost in the Shadows Nightmare scenarios unfolding due to insufficient SaaS management By Martin Vilaboy 56 UC at a Crossroads Intermedia helps service providers transition to the cloud By Gerald Baldino CORE COMMUNICATIONS 58 POTS to Profits TELCLOUD’s white label POTS replacement opens the door to recurring revenue streams By Gerald Baldino 60 EnTelegent: Enabling Technology Transformation 62 Dollars Beyond the D-Marc Starken empowers partners to “accessorize access” and increase ARPU By Gerald Baldino 64 Cox Business: Delivering a Custom Approach to Private Networks By Gerald Baldino 6 Editor’s Letter 66 ICYMI 70 Ad index CONTENTS Volume 23 – Issue 5 4 CHANNELVISION | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024
Your customers and prospects are under a lot of strain these days. According to detailed findings from Telarus’ recently released “2024 - ’25 Tech Trends Report,” technology decision makers increasingly are driven by an imperative to balance both rapid innovation and cost management (see pages 38-45). All the while, C- suite confidence in their IT departments’ abilities to deliver basic services is waning, suggests a global study from IBM. Less than half (47 percent) of C- level technology executives surveyed think their IT organization is effective in basic services compared to 69 percent surveyed in 2013. Today, only 36 percent of surveyed CEOs and 50 percent of surveyed CFOs believe IT is effective at basic services, down from 64 percent and 60 percent, respectively since 2013. This all seems to suggest a screaming need for expert technology advisors and knowledgeable third-party partners. But make no mistake, the opportunity is not just about providing knowledge and expertise when it comes to emerging services such as AI, cybersecurity, cloud, next-gen networking or any other solution or technology. Even when the level of understanding of a particular technology or solution is adequate, IT decision makers also need help dealing with increased procurement complexities, shows the Telarus study. Slightly more than half of IT leaders admit that technology reviews are taking more time, while about four in 10 agreed that IT is struggling with the sheer number of new IT system acquisitions and admit that it’s becoming harder to determine which vendors to bet on in emerging service areas. More than a third said it is increasingly difficult to maintain talent that can properly oversee acquisitions in emerging tech. “The IT procurement process is only becoming more complex and time-intensive as decision makers juggle supplier identification and management, navigating vendor contracts and keeping pace with rapid advancements all while managing budget constraints and talent shortages,” said Telarus executives. With that in mind, this issue highlights many companies and solutions that specifically address the procurement headaches facing today’s IT departments. Starken Technologies, for instance (see page 62), is one of the first, if not only, LAN infrastructure project management companies with a formal channel program and deep personal experience in the voice and data channel. Starken offers a type of one-stop shop where channel partners can add a myriad of LAN infrastructure elements to a connectivity deal that are all procured, delivered, managed, installed and billed and then make a commission on that LAN equipment. Global MSP SmartCIC, meanwhile (page 36), introduced a comprehensive “through-the-line” model that simplifies and accelerates service delivery while providing greater visibility and control over each aspect of enterprise connectivity. The new platform provides access to international wholesale services, access technologies, local networking, shipping and logistics as well as onsite field services, all from a single pane of glass. On page 69, partners can learn about a deal between Telinta and VoIP Supply whereby ITSPs can more easily provision and deploy any number of VoIP endpoints that are offered by VoIP Supply. When an ITSP purchases IP phones, VoIP Supply can configure each device to automatically connect with Telinta’s cloud-based softswitch platform. This enables the phones to automatically download a complete provisioning profile from Telinta’s platform, without the need for installer visits or manual configuration. Similarly, neutral host networks (pages 19-22) dramatically reduce the complexities around provisioning, deploying and managing private wireless network infrastructure, while NHC (page 48) continues its messaging around “accessorizing your access sales” with ancillary services such as wireless back-up, cybersecurity and network monitoring in order for partners to increase the ARPU per location and manage more for their customers. The common denominator of all these instances, as executives at Telarus pointed out, is that technology advisors have a distinct opportunity to differentiate their businesses by becoming a “hero for today’s procurement woes.” Procurement Heroes LETTER Martin Vilaboy Editor-in-Chief martin@bekabusinessmedia.com Brady Hicks Contributing Editor brady@bekabusinessmedia.com Gerald Baldino Contributing Editor gerald@bekabusinessmedia.com Percy Zamora Art Director percy@bekabusinessmedia.com Jen Vilaboy Ad Production Director jen@bekabusinessmedia.com Berge Kaprelian Group Publisher berge@bekabusinessmedia.com (480) 503-0770 Beka Business Media Berge Kaprelian President and CEO Corporate Headquarters 10115 E Bell Road, Suite 107 - #517 Scottsdale, Arizona 85260 Voice: 480.503.0770 Email: berge@bekabusinessmedia.com © 2024 Beka Business Media, All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in any form or medium without express written permission of Beka Business Media is prohibited. ChannelVision and the ChannelVision logo are trademarks of Beka Business Media 6 CHANNELVISION | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024
It’s Here: 2024-25 Telarus Tech Trends Report Executive IT buyers are leaning harder on outside advisory for help throughout the discovery and purchase process. The 2024-25 Telarus Tech Trends Report was curated specifically for the channel community and is a must-read for technology advisors looking to take advantage of new growth opportunities ahead. Uncover the Latest IT Buying Trends and Help Your Customers Thrive in the New AI Era telarus.com/techtrends Scan here to view the report today!
1. Sentiment Analysis These tools can help you understand the emotions and opinions expressed in text data. Understanding the sentiment in data can be used to monitor and analyze customer feedback, as well as to understand social media trends. 2. Document Processing This can analyze text, provide semantic search or semantic reasoning, and automate the tedious and timeconsuming tasks of manual data entry and processing. Document processing tools can extract information from various document types, including PDFs, images and scanned documents such as invoices, financial statements and compliance reports. 3. Text Classification Text classification and topic modeling solutions automatically classify and organize your text data. It involves the process of automatically assigning texts to one or more predefined categories and can be used to sort emails, articles, customer reviews and other types of text data. 4. Natural Language Generation These solutions can automatically generate text from data and can be used to create reports and provide text summaries, descriptions and other types of text data. 5. Predictive Analytics Predictive analytics is a field of data science that uses historical data and machine learning algorithms to make predictions about future events and unlock the value in data. This technology is used across industries for various applications, such as identifying trends, predicting demand and making decisions about pricing and marketing strategies. 6. Demand Prediction Predictive models for demand prediction can help businesses forecast future demand for your products or services, optimize inventory levels and make better decisions about pricing and marketing strategies. 7. Churn Prediction Custom predictive models can help identify which customers are at risk of canceling their subscription, product or service. With this information, a business can target at-risk customers with personalized offers and benefits to make them stay. 8. Recruitment Intelligent recruitment and job-pairing solutions can help employers find the best candidate for a job. The system works by analyzing the profile of the job and the profile and resumes of the potential candidates, then uses machine learning algorithms to identify the best potential matches for the job based on experience and qualifications. With a powerful recommendation system, employers can quickly and easily identify the most qualified candidates for a job. 9. Predictive Maintenance Machine learning (ML)-driven predictive maintenance solutions can detect potential equipment failures before they happen. By using predictive analytics, you can avoid costly downtime and improve the efficiency of your operations. 10. Image Analysis and Segmentation Algorithms for image analysis and segmentation can help automatically detect and classify entities in images, extract specific features from images, and develop biometrics systems for facial recognition. 10 Ways AI Transforms Business EMERGENT While artificial intelligence often is generally thought of in terms of customer service chatbots and customized marketing, while increasingly moving into cybersecurity solutions, “its potential to benefit other key aspects of a business operation is seemingly boundless,” said Angel Vossough, data scientist, CEO and Co-Founder of BeterAI. “Data management and data analytics play a critical role in making organizations more efficient, driving visibility and accelerating growth,” she continued. “Those doing it well by leveraging AI can gain actionable insights and operational efficiencies that result in a significant informational edge –and competitive edge at large” In the interest of expanding the conversation with customers and helping partners think outside the AI-chatbot box, here are 10 ways that businesses currently are applying one subset of AI – natural language processing (NLP) – courtesy of Vossough and BeterAI. Angel Vossough 8 CHANNELVISION | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024
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Data Realities Drag on AI As organizations aggressively invest to apply AI to an expanding set of objectives, “a kink is emerging in organizations’ project pipelines,” suggest new findings from S&P Global. While more initiatives are funneled toward AI project teams, S&P Global analysts noted a buildup of initiatives that have been only partially deployed. On average, organizations surveyed have more projects classified as being in production with a limited deployment than ones with scaled-up capabilities. In the average organization, shows S&P Global data, 51 percent of AI projects are in production but not being delivered at scale. The crux of the problem, said the research firm, appears to be data quality and availability, with legacy data architectures causing this pipeline stoppage in many organizations. All the while, the constant chasing of new initiatives means many organizations fail to maximize the value of their existing investments, the research firm warned. “AI projects risk stalling in a limited deployment purgatory, costing a company money, time and resources, while not seeing desired levels of use,” said the S&P Global study, commissioned by AI company Weka. “Initiatives are becoming snagged on data siloes, poor data quality and ineffective data and model pipelines.” Data quality is the most frequently identified challenge as organizations move their projects from pilots to production, identified by 42 percent of organizations as among their top three barriers. That placed data quality as an even more significant issue than skill shortages (32 percent) and budget limitations (31 percent). Organizations in media and EMERGENT By Martin Vilaboy 10 CHANNELVISION | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024
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entertainment (59 percent), higher education (53 percent), and aerospace and defense (48 percent) feel the data quality challenge particularly keenly. According to S&P Global analysts, the data quality challenge does not stem from a lack of data to build performant models. Rather, at issue is data not being set up in such a way that project teams can take full advantage of it. When asked specifically to rank the primary data challenges to move projects to production environments, respondents indicated that availability of quality data is a more notable impediment than identifying relevant data. “With 34 percent of organizations perceiving availability of quality data as a top three data challenge, outranked only by data privacy concerns (35 percent), it is clear that many organizations are poorly set up for effective data management,” said the research firm. Data management and storage are most commonly seen as the infrastructure components that inhibit AI application development. More than a third (35 percent) of respondents see them as a more serious issue than security (23 percent), compute (26 percent) and networking resources (15 percent). What’s more, organizations that are most effectively scaling AI initiatives are less constrained by these data management and storage components. Whereas 28 percent of respondents who reported that AI is widely implemented within their organization perceive storage and data management challenges as their greatest inhibitor; these respondents feel greater pressure from networking or compute resources. This compares to 42 percent of respondents who perceive AI as being limited to a few use cases or projects within their organization. “Organizations that are delivering AI at scale appear to have focused on investing in upgrading the systems and technologies used to store or manage data,” said Weka executives. More than three-quarters (80 percent) of respondents expect an increase during the next 12 months in the volume of data they use to develop their AI models, with nearly half (49 percent) forecasting growth in data volumes of more than 25 percent. All the while, the proportion of organizations using unstructured rich media and text data for AI initiatives has increased notably since 2023. In other words, immature data management toolsets are a worrying backdrop for the increasingly datahungry AI strategies many organizations are embarking upon, the study noted, and outdated data management technologies may prevent organizations from delivering these projects meaningfully. “Leaders are significantly less likely to see storage and data management as their primary inhibitors, presumably because these companies have already prioritized modernizing their data architectures.,” Weka executives concluded. “By building a solid data foundation at the outset, AI leaders have ensured that valuable pilots have a clear path to deliver at scale.” o Top three impediments to organizations moving an AI/ML application from pilot to production environments Source: Uptime Institute; 2022 Source: S&P Global; Weka Organizations find the early data steps of the AI life cycles as challenging as Source: S&P Global; Weka 18% 13% 12% 12% 11% 10% 10% 10% 11% 12% 9% 10% 8% 10% 10% 8% 9% 10% 8% 8% 9% 6% 7% 9% 6% 8% 7% 6% 7% 7% 6% 8% 6% Proportion of respondents that identify AI life cycle stage as “most challenging” Data pre-processing Model build an Criteria Used in Selecting Third-Party Firms for Cybersecurity Source: CompTIA Data quality Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Skills shortages Availability of AI accelerators Budget limitations Compliance/regulatory requirements Legacy infrastructure cannot support AI/ML applications Employee/internal resistance Illustrating the business case for further investments Potential reputational damage Insufficient vendor tooling Customer resitance 59% 41% Gathering/ sourcing data Preparing data Standardizing data Analyzing data Training a model Testi a mo Access to threat intelligence Specific knowledge in a focused area of cybersecurity Broad knowledge across multiple domains of cybersecurity Clear remadiation policies in event of cybersecurity incident Excellence in core offering where security may be embedded Ability to perform cost/benefit analysis of initiatives Offer cybersecurity insurance 44% 43% 43% 41% 39% 38% 33% Top three impediments to organizations moving an AI/ML application from pilot to production environments Source: Uptime Institute; 2022 Source: S&P Global; Weka Organizations find the early data steps of the AI life cycles as challenging as model building Source: S&P Global; Weka 18% 13% 12% 12% 11% 10% 10% 10% 11% 12% 9% 10% 8% 10% 10% 8% 9% 10% 8% 8% 9% 6% 7% 9% 6% 8% 7% 6% 7% 7% 6% 8% 6% Proportion of respondents that identify AI life cycle stage as “most challenging” Data pre-processing Model build and deployment Data quality Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Skills shortages Availability of AI accelerators Budget limitations Compliance/regulatory requirements Legacy infrastructure cannot support AI/ML applications Employee/internal resistance Illustrating the business case for further investments Potential reputational damage Insufficient vendor tooling Customer resitance 59% 41% Gathering/ sourcing data Preparing data Standardizing data Analyzing data Training a model Testing a model Deploying a model 12 CHANNELVISION | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024
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Businesses today require resilient network infrastructure to support AI and cloud investments. But according to a recent report from IDC and Expereo, over one-third of companies believe their networks are either unfit or will soon require upgrades to support future needs. Expereo, a leading global intelligent internet company, is helping organizations modernize their network infrastructure and deliver greater performance, reliability and visibility. In January, Expereo launched a groundbreaking AI-driven Enhanced Internet service with real-time global monitoring and route optimization. And in April, Expereo followed up by enhancing its connectivity portfolio with fixed wireless access. Expereo CEO Ben Elms spoke with ChannelVision to discuss the company’s latest initiatives and how the company works with partners. CV: How can channel partners leverage Expereo’s AI-driven Enhanced Internet and fixed wireless access services to help customers accelerate their digital transformations? BE: With businesses increasingly relying on cloud applications, the need for predictable performance and user experience is essential to get returns on cloud investments. This is where Expereo helps. Our AI-driven Enhanced Internet analyzes and optimizes traffic fully autonomously, ensuring faster and more reliable connectivity between the user and the cloud. Fixed wireless access plays a crucial role in the site connectivity mix for availability and business continuity. By leveraging the latest 4G/5G networks globally, fixed wireless access offers a technologydiverse connectivity solution and is fully embedded in our expereoOne platform – giving businesses all the insights on usage and performance on an individual site level, and for pooled services. Channel partners can leverage these services for their customers who are increasing their use of cloud applications and need global connectivity solutions that run smoothly. For example, channel partners with U.S.-headquartered customers who want to connect with globally dispersed sites – our solutions provide peace of mind in knowing that their sites, across all locations, are always connected. CV: Tell us more about how the company supports channel partners. BE: Channel partners have a strong market position, with research showing up to 60 percent of American global businesses engage a channel partner for their technology needs. Expereo’s global reach, experience and extensive intelligence of international network capabilities gives channel partners a holistic solution that fulfils their customers’ requirements. Channel partners can partner with us to support customers and organizations who are U.S.-based with distinct international needs across more than five countries; organizations with complex internet connectivity needs and hard-to-reach places and on-site locations; businesses with centralized buying and decision-making; businesses focused on migrating from MPLS to the internet; and organizations that value cost efficiency, scalability and flexibility. We also have a dedicated and highly visible partner team to work with technology solution distributors and their partners to inform our value-add, train on Expereo’s products and services and engage with teams to drive customer engagement and opportunities. CV: In January, you took over as CEO of Expereo after being promoted from your role as CRO. Please talk about this strategic move and the transition process. BE: Since becoming CEO, I have taken steps to ensure our entire organization is focused on global growth, everyone knows the contribution they make to success, and a greater emphasis is put on our customers. During my two years as CRO, I spent time speaking with our customers and discussing their challenges and ambitions – and working out how we can best support them. This is an approach, and a mindset, that I’ve taken into my role as CEO. We have a customer-centric approach to everything we do at Expereo. We’ve made recent investments in new AI technologies to enable our teams to deliver more for our customers – and improve the end-to-end experience for them. I am also supported by a fantastic leadership team, who all have customer centricity at their core and are driving our renewed focus on our channel partners to ensure we are supporting them in the best way. It’s an exciting time to lead Expereo, with companies accelerating their digital transformation plans – and more and more organizations now requiring advanced network support. Heading into 2025, our solutions and approach puts us in a strong position to partner with the channel, to help organizations all around the world deliver on their ambitions and growth objectives. o Ben Elms, Expereo CEO Q&A with CEO Ben Elms Expereo: Accelerating Agility 14 CHANNELVISION | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024
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MOBILE & WIRELESS U.S. Wireless Data Use Skyrockets, Says CTIA U.S. wireless networks are supporting unprecedented growth in data traffic, hosting an extraordinary 100.1 trillion megabytes in 2023, marking the biggest yearover-year increase in history and an 89 percent increase since 2021, according to CTIA’s 2024 Annual Wireless Industry Survey. In fact, Americans used more wireless data in 2023 than they did from 2010 to 2018 combined. “This explosion of wireless data demand reflects the increasingly central role 5G plays in day-to-day life – from 5G home broadband to connected healthcare, autonomous transportation and advanced manufacturing,” said CTIA researchers. And the growth is expected to continue, with Ericsson predicting Americans’ data usage will increase by more than three times by 2029. CTIA’s survey also showed how 5G is increasingly embedded into the way Americans live and work. By the end of 2023, nearly 40 percent of all wireless devices – from phones to smartwatches, IoT devices and more – had a 5G connection, a 34 percent increase compared to 2022, while more than 330 million Americans are now covered by one or more 5G networks. These 5G networks are providing a platform for other services and industries, said CTIA, including competitive and affordable 5G home broadband, which accounted for 95 percent of all new broadband subscriptions during the past two years. In addition, one out of five net 5G home adds were entirely new home broadband subscribers, underscoring 5G’s role in helping to close the digital divide. All the while, CTIA figures showed that the cost per MB of wireless data has decreased 50 percent since 2020, bucking the overall upward trends in pricing for other consumer goods and services during the same period. At $.002 per MB today, wireless data prices have decreased 97 percent compared to a decade ago. To support the skyrocketing demand for 5G, the wireless industry continues to build out more cell sites. By the end of 2023, there were 432,469 operational cell sites across the U.S., a 24 percent increase since pivotal wireless siting reforms were enacted in 2018. Of course, Americans also continue to rely heavily on voice, SMS, and MMS messaging to keep in touch. Last year, Americans exchanged more than 2.1 trillion SMS and MMS messages, or more than 67,000 messages every second, said CTIA. Americans also collectively spent more than 2.4 trillion minutes talking on the phone. All told, the total number of wireless connections in the U.S. hit 558 million, more than 1.6 wireless connections for every American. o By Martin Vilaboy rsecurity Source: STL Partners; Cox Private Networks Reduced latency Enhanced SLAs Neutral Host in Enterprise Cellular Revenue by Enterprise Segment (World Markets: 2023 to 2030) Source: ABI Research 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 44% 43% 43% 41% 39% 38% 33% 40% 36% 33% 29% 25% 22% 20% 20% 20% 19% 19% 13% 45% 40% 36% 35% 33% 33% 33% 32% 31% hnology advisor when... 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 (US$ Billions) U.S. Wireless Data Over a Decade Source: CTIA 2013 3T 10T 16T 37T 53T 2X 100.1T MB 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 Data used in 2023 Increas in data use over 2021 16 CHANNELVISION | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024
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As industries become increasingly reliant on dependable “everything to everything” connectivity, along with real-time access to data and applications and growing numbers of mobile employees and equipment, it’s no surprise that private wireless networks are emerging as a next-gen connectivity option. Private wireless networks, by nature, offer high reliability, higher levels of security and control of confidential data and more customizable “in-building” coverage, while reducing the complexity of managing multiple connectivity solutions, argue proponents of the technology. “Private wireless networks, whether LTE or 5G, are an emerging technology solution that hold the promise of enabling U.S. businesses to digitally transform and solve some of their current key connectivity challenges,” said analysts at research firm STL Partners, in a report prepared for Cox Private Networks. On the other hand, private wireless networks are not cheap and can require a high level of in-house capabilities and resources to set up and manage. That’s why private wireless so far has largely been the domain of larger, more-resourced enterprises as well as operations that are mobile or are located where traditional communication infrastructure may not be available or where reliable or in-building coverage can be a challenge. Neutral host wireless networks, however, provide an interesting option when budgets are tight and the appetite to manage a network in-house is low, argue analysts at ABI Research, thereby greatly expanding the potential market for private wireless for both providers and partners. By Martin Vilaboy The positive forces behind neutral host private wireless Neutral Spaces MOBILE & WIRELESS 18 CHANNELVISION | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024
In general, neutral host networks are designed to propagate public wireless carrier network access across a privately deployed wireless network to provide LTE and 5G wireless connectivity to users within a set area regardless of the mobile carrier serving them. Instead of each operator/carrier building its own cell towers and wireless configurations, neutral host third-party connectivity providers invest in and maintain wireless infrastructure (cell towers, distributed antennas, small cells, fiberoptic networks, etc.) which they rent or lease to mobile network providers and MSPs on a shared-tenant basis. The neutral host also provides the access to the spectrum they already prosses, typically Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) shared spectrum in the United States. “Enterprises that are looking to deploy cellular connectivity to improve their operations are no telco experts, and they do not want to become telco experts, as they have their own strategic priorities,” analysts at ABI Research pointed out. “In this context, enterprises can hand over network management and operation to the neutral host provider, rather than dealing with it themselves.” Similar to Wi-Fi access points, neutral host systems are built upon Ethernet architecture, thereby leveraging the existing LAN switching infrastructure of a building or premises. Users can connect to carrier networks over encrypted tunnels via the internet. Due to the nature of neutral host networks, and since multiple customers use the same infrastructure concurrently, they tend to be more affordable and quicker to deploy than dedicated LTE and 5G private networks. “For enterprises and MNOs [mobile network operators], choosing a neutral host means they do not need to invest and build out their own telco infrastructure or lease spectrum,” stated ABI Research. On the other hand, while neutral host can be economical and manageable for many operations, “it’s important to understand that it comes with less control over the network, negatively affecting network integrity,” the research firm noted. This presents a challenge for verticals and operations for which connectivity is mission- or life-critical or requires the robust security provided by a dedicated network. For these reasons, ABI believes the so-called carpeted verticals – such as retail, stadium and event spaces, public venues and commercial real estate – present the significant opportunities for neutral hosts as these organizations aim to digitize in the most convenient and costeffective way possible. “For these firms, network ownership is not considered essential, and they are more interested in the cost savings generated from shared connectivity infrastructure,” said ABI, which forecasts retailers will spend $106.3 million on neutral host solutions annually by 2030. The financial services sector (including commercial real estate) will be a $69.7 million opportunity by the decade’s end, the firm predicted. Even so, mission-critical and lifecritical verticals also are expected to provide a significant revenue opportunity. “Organizations within these sectors, such as manufacturers, logistics firms and utilities, are motivated to partner with neutral hosts because they find it beneficial to have a managed services provider (MSP) handle network operations,” said ABI in a recent research note on neutral host networks. All told, ABI Research forecasts the enterprise neutral host cellular market opportunity to equate to $1.3 billion by 2030, up from about $250 million in 2024. Businesses in Asia-Pacific and North America are anticipated to adopt neutral host solutions the most. Throughout the forecast period, the manufacturing, logistics and energy generation verticals will account for between 62 percent and 67 percent of the market opportunity. Types of Neutral Host Networks Neutral host networks generally are delivered using technologies including distributed antenna systems (DAS), multi-operator small cells, Wi-Fi and private LTE/5G to provide a seamless connectivity experience for users. The Wi-Fi and private LTE/5G versions are common for retail operations and consumer experiences, allowing users to seamlessly roam on these “venueowned” network infrastructures. For a DAS-based network, multiple antennas strategically placed within a building or specified area amplify signals from a base station, the piece of equipas model building and deployment What are the main potetial benefits that you are seeking to derive from private wireless networks? Please select up to three options Source: STL Partners; Cox Private Networks Source: Telarus Increased security Increased reliability Improved manageability of the network Higher bandwidth Improved coverage/availability Improved configurability of the network Reduced downtime Accelerated speed of service deployment Reduced latency Enhanced SLAs Neutral Host in Enterprise Cellular Revenue by Enterprise Segment (World Markets: 2023 to 2030) Source: ABI Research 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% sting model Deploying a model 40% 36% 33% 29% % 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 Agriculture Energy Generatio Financial Service Healthcare Logistics Manufacturing Retail Stadiums & Even Transport (US$ Billions) U.S. Wireless Data Over a Decade 37T 53T 2X 100.1T MB Data used in 2023 Increas in data use over 2021 MOBILE & WIRELESS 20 CHANNELVISION | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024
ment that facilitates wireless communication between user equipment and a network. The multiple antennas work to expand a signal’s coverage and eliminate service gaps, boosting capacity and reducing latency. DAS-based solutions tend to utilize the same carrier licensed spectrum indoors as outdoors and can involve a good deal of dedicated premises gear, remote end components and cabling. Multi-operator small cells, meanwhile, utilize a small network of cells within a building or specific area that can be used to fill in coverage gaps. In traditional mobile networks, each operator deploys its own core network infrastructure, which includes the network elements that provide services such as call routing, authentication and billing. But through virtualization of the base station and backhaul sharing, the network of small cells can support multiple operators. Each operator receives dedicated capacity and does not need to bring spectrum of its own. Similarly, multi-operator core network (MOCN) technology enables multiple mobile network operators to share a common core network infrastructure, while still maintaining their own individual radio access networks (RANs) through which they can maintain their own brand and services. Cox Private Networks, for its part, announced last year an expansion of its solution portfolio with the launch of neutral host as a service (NHaaS) built on MOCN technology. Delivered in partnership with InfiniG, the solution “provides mobile users access to stable, high-speed cellular service in hard-to-service areas such as buildings with reflective building materials, concrete walls, or locations underground,” said Cox Private Networks. It was one of the first commercially available MOCN neutral host solutions that can service subscribers from multiple carriers on the same network. According to the companies, the MOCN solution solves similar challenges addressed by the more-prevalent DAS but at reduced cost and complexity, greater flexibility and faster time to deployment, enabling it to address many previously unserved organizations, facilities and industries. For starters, Cox Private Network’s MOCN solution is based on publicly available CBRS spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band, which is considered the “happy medium” portion of the RF spectrum in terms of offering both capacity and coverage. CBRS is centrally controlled by a network of spectrum allocation servers (SAS), which ensure all radios operate optimally with respect to the radios around them and without respect to their owner/operator. “Because they use an entirely different portion of the spectrum, CBRS-based MOCN connections are not established on the basis of signal strength,” explained executives at Cox Private Networks. “The connectivity is opportunistic, based on the best available medium. As such, they can be deployed surgically and, most importantly, where customers want the coverage.” CBRS-based MOCN neutral host also can be faster to deploy compared to DAS, which tend to require engineering, input and approval from the carrier for RF coordination. And CBRS-based MOCN networks are built upon Ethernet architectures – leveraging existing LAN switching infrastructure similar to Wi-Fi access points – and route over common public Internet connections, so there’s no need for the parallel dedicated cabling and added equipment of a DAS neutral host deployment. “CBRS-based MOCN neutral host solutions are inherently and by definition multi-tenant, which enables the ability to quickly implement and operate private cellular service over the shared CBRS radio infrastructure,” explained analysts at STL Partners. As analysts at ABI Research pointed out, neutral host networks are not new and have existed for decades, “but the solutions have never generated as much attention as they do today.” Indeed, end user organizations of all sorts are accelerating digitization projects, and rapid digitization often requires reliable wireless connectivity, they continued. When budgets are tight and the appetite to manage a network in-house is low – whether due to high inflation, rising energy costs or labor shortages – the high deployment costs of a traditional, dedicated private cellular network becomes undesirable or untenable. “Neutral hosts fill a crucial role here, ‘renting out’ the telco infrastructure needed for mobile network operators (MNOs) to sell connectivity services to numerous enterprises simultaneously,” said ABI analysts. “Neutral host solutions and managed services go hand-in-hand,” they continued, “as enterprises want to avoid high upfront costs and offload network management to another entity.” o Source: STL Partners; Cox Private Networks Neutral Host in Enterprise Cellular Revenue by Enterprise Segment (World Markets: 2023 to 2030) Source: ABI Research 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 40% 36% 33% 29% 25% 22% 5% . 68% 37% 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 Agriculture Energy Generation Financial Services Healthcare Logistics Manufacturing Retail Stadiums & Event Venues Transport (US$ Billions) U.S. Wireless Data Over a Decade Source: CTIA 2013 3T 10T 16T 37T 53T 2X 100.1T MB 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 Data used in 2023 Increas in data use over 2021 22 CHANNELVISION | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024
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CYBER PATROL Security vocabulary partners need to know when engaging with customers Cybersecurity partners, similar to all channel firms, are moving away from product-based selling to consulting models built around services that aim to drive business outcomes. This shift calls for “a level of industry and business knowledge perhaps not historically required in the reseller channel,” according to CompTIA in its 2024 State of the Channel report. “If marketplaces own the initial product transaction, then channel firms need to reinvent their marketing, sales messaging and techniques to reflect their new value to customers: services, recurring management of technology, consulting and business advice,” CompTIA explained. “This requires new attention to sales and marketing expertise that might not map to what a channel firm has done in the past.” In CompTIA’s report, just four in 10 U.S. channel firms describe their company as “experts” in terms of general business acumen, while more than half said their business skills need work. But in addition to learning the “brass tacks” like financial forecasting and budgeting, partners also need to make sure they are up to speed with industry terms. Many partners, especially those who are new to cybersecurity, find it hard to keep up with the dizzying array of frameworks, strategies and solutions. You don’t need to have all the answers during a cybersecurity consultation. But it’s critical to have a working knowledge of basic technical terms to avoid getting caught off guard and build customer trust. To help, ChannelVision compiled insights from Kiteworks, CompTIA, Fortra and various industry professionals to uncover some of the most misunderstood data security terms, as well as must-know technologies that are generating heavy demand. Security Savvy 24 CHANNELVISION | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024
CYBER PATROL Cybersecurity must-know vocabulary Data poisoning is a type of cyberattack where threat actors target training data for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models. By adding corrupting training data, threat actors can manipulate models and cause them to learn incorrect behaviors. In one recent example, researchers at JFrog discovered more than 100 malicious AI/ML models in the Hugging Face AI platform. Endpoint detection and response (EDR) involves analyzing, monitoring and protecting endpoints like laptops, servers, smartphones and IoT devices. Large companies can have hundreds of thousands of endpoints spread across their distributed environments. EDR platforms scan for connected network devices and enable security administrators to set policies, monitor their usage and restrict access. Extended detection and response (XDR) goes a step beyond EDR by analyzing data from endpoints as well as networks, cloud systems, email systems and servers. XDR provides complete visibility across the attack surface and helps to eliminate silos and cybersecurity gaps. XDR is typically a better fit for large enterprises with multiple networks. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a framework established by the European Parliament in 2016 that requires businesses to protect the personal data and privacy of EU citizens for transactions occurring in and outside of EU member states. While the U.S. doesn’t have a federal data protection law like GDPR, several states have their own protection laws that determine how companies can access citizens’ data. Some examples include the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) and the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA). HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) is a federal law that protects personal health information (PHI) and medical records. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for updating HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules and ensuring that healthcare providers, health plans and clearinghouses remain compliant. Channel partners often encounter HIPAA when selling services like firewalls and SD-WAN solutions to companies that operate in the healthcare industry. Source: S&P Global; Weka Criteria Used in Selecting Third-Party Firms for Cybersecurity Source: CompTIA Access to threat intelligence Specific knowledge in a focused area of cybersecurity Broad knowledge across multiple domains of cybersecurity Clear remadiation policies in event of cybersecurity incident Excellence in core offering where security may be embedded Ability to perform cost/benefit analysis of initiatives Offer cybersecurity insurance 44% 43% 43% 41% 39% 38% 33% People Involved in Risk Management Discussions Source: CompTIA Technology staff CEO Mid-level technology management Mid-level business management Business staff Board of directors Third party firms Other technology executives CFO CISO CIO Other business executives 25% 22% 20% 20% 20% 19% 19% 13% Cybersecurity Changes in the Past Year Higher priority on determining proper reponse to incidents Greater focus on process improvement More diverse set of technology tools Greater focus on employee education 45% 40% 36% 35% Organizations find the early data steps of the AI life cycles as challenging as model building Source: S&P Global; Weka Proportion of respondents that identify AI life cycle stage as “most challenging” Data pre-processing Model build and deployment Criteria Used in Selecting Third-Party Firms for Cybersecurity Source: CompTIA 59% 41% Gathering/ sourcing data Preparing data Standardizing data Analyzing data Training a model Testing a model Deploying a model Access to threat intelligence Specific knowledge in a focused area of cybersecurity Broad knowledge across multiple domains of cybersecurity Clear remadiation policies in event of cybersecurity incident Excellence in core offering where security may be embedded Ability to perform cost/benefit analysis of initiatives Offer cybersecurity insurance 44% 43% 43% 41% 39% 38% 33% People Involved in Risk Management Discussions Source: CompTIA Technology staff CEO Mid-level technology management Mid-level business management Business staff Board of directors Third party firms Other technology executives CFO CISO CIO Other business executives 40% 36% 33% 29% 25% 22% 20% 20% 20% 19% 19% 13% 26 CHANNELVISION | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024
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