Cradlepoint – Digital IT News

State of Connectivity 2024 Reveals Utilization of 5G to Expand Business

Taylor Graham — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 13:00:21 +0000

Cradlepoint unveiled the State of Connectivity 2024, an annual worldwide research report exploring the business implications of connectivity. Conducted in collaboration with Censuswide, the report surveyed 1,003 decision-makers from various industries in the United States. It revealed a growing trend among businesses to utilize 5G to combat frequent wired network outages, enable innovative technologies like AI and Industrial IoT, adapt to evolving cybersecurity threats, and achieve sustainability objectives.

Most notably, investing in cellular connectivity is proving to be a strategic business decision to combat the volatility and constraints of wired connectivity while matching the demands of rapid digitalization. The State of Connectivity 2024 report found that lapses in wired connectivity are resulting in costly downtime. In fact, more than half of technology decision makers (54%) estimated their organizations face 1-2 hours of connectivity downtime a week due to network failure, and over one third of firms (34%), experienced as much as 3-4 hours per week of connectivity downtime. While utilizing cellular as failover connectivity is effective in promoting networking resiliency, it can be even more beneficial as a primary connectivity source, with cellular networks enabling 99.99% of network uptime.

Despite the proven benefits of 5G and government incentives, the survey revealed that many firms still face barriers to 5G adoption. A third (33%) of technology decision makers cite a lack of skills necessary to adopt the technology, while others feel unsure about the security implications across their organizations (31%). Additionally, certain organizations are worried about cost (32%) or struggling to see a clear return on investment (29%).

Part of addressing business continuity concerns, leaders are also prioritizing network security. With business leaders reporting that their organizations have fallen victim to phishing attacks, ransomware and stolen credentials in the previous year, addressing security is a top priority in 2024. In fact, 49% of businesses said they have been subject to a network security attack in the last 12 months. Of those that were the target of a network security attack, company data was most frequently targeted (42%), with 35% of executives saying these security breaches usually result in data loss. As more organizations seek to realize the benefits of an expanded edge, reliable security options are essential to match the growing scale of their network. This is why, according to the report, organizations are leaning into security solutions that have Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and zero trust principles.

According to the report, sustainability is identified as a priority for businesses across the U.S. as it streamlines workflows and saves operational costs. Sixty-eight percent of technology decision makers believe sustainability plays a key role in their company’s short-term and long-term goals, and more importantly, it is seen as a vehicle to improve revenues (65.8%). To accomplish this, 65% of executives agree that their business needs smart facilities that incorporate IoT and connected devices to operate more efficiently and sustainably. U.S. businesses are on the right path, with 84.2% of those surveyed revealing they use IoT devices across their business. Moreover, in addition to cellular networks (29%) and equipment sensors (38%), executives are planning to invest in technologies like AI/ML (38.3%) to reduce waste and make their facilities more efficient.

“These findings reinforce the urgency for enterprises to prioritize resilient and secure network connectivity as industries across the U.S. navigate uncertain economic climates, emerging technology, advanced threat landscapes, changing consumer demands and talent shortages,” said Donna Johnson, CMO at Cradlepoint. “The data also confirms that 5G’s prevalence in the enterprise is resulting in a positive impact on sustainability goals as we work to reach net zero emissions, prioritize network security, and eliminate downtime so operations can increase at scale.”

“Organizations are seeing the powerful combination of 5G connectivity, generative AI, and IoT in real time. To keep up with the speed of innovation, investments in the right network approach are crucial to remove complexities, direct certain traffic, and protect sensitive company data,” said Johnson. “Controllable, scalable and secure networks for critical business functions come with strategic 5G adoption.”

The full Cradlepoint State of Connectivity 2024 Report United States can be found here.

Telit, Digi, and Nokia Together Transform Mid-Speed IoT Connectivity

The post State of Connectivity 2024 Reveals Utilization of 5G to Expand Business appeared first on Digital IT News.

Cradlepoint Launched the S700 IoT Router for Zero Trust Security

Taylor Graham — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 13:00:36 +0000

Cradlepoint announced the launch of the S700, a multipurpose IoT router designed to provide a rich zero trust security service to enterprise customers. Coupled with Cradlepoint NetCloud Exchange Secure Connect, the S700 provides a comprehensive cloud-managed network solution to safeguard IoT devices as today’s attack surface expands and adversaries increasingly target connected devices.

There are an estimated 41.76 billion IoT devices that exist globally in 2023. With shipments of these devices expected to grow at 18% annually, IoT solutions are driving device sprawl despite not being equipped to use modern security methods. As today’s attack surface expands and cybercriminals become more sophisticated, it is clear that many organizations are not prepared to address IoT security needs. For IT teams to effectively manage distributed IoT networks, organizations need an efficient zero trust approach to security. This includes easing the setup and maintenance of IoT solutions, while enabling advanced fine-grained policies to allow access for third-party management of devices.

The S700 and NetCloud Exchange from Cradlepoint delivers a robust zero trust solution for IoT that removes deployment complexity and is ideal for enterprise lean IT scenarios. Key benefits include:

Connect-and-go Zero Trust: Any IoT device connected to the router is immediately dark to public scans and other internal sites. Access policies are easily defined so IoT devices communicate only with their authorized resources on a least-privilege basis.
Efficient WAN creation: Orchestrated with only a few clicks through a cloud-based management system, the S700 removes deployment and management complexity and easily builds effective zero trust encrypted tunnels over cellular and wired links.
Small Router with Big Security: IoT devices connected to a small router can still have access to full modern security services including zero trust. The S700 adds simplicity by offloading the security processes to a services gateway, which holds the security policies, manages router updates (including security patches), and orchestrates processes.
Third-party access protection: Over 60% of WANs are now serving outside customers and suppliers, so protecting third-party access to IoT equipment has broad implications. With the Cradlepoint solution, fine-grained policies can be added to the zero trust services gateway allowing third-party access to all or part of the management system of an IoT device behind the Cradlepoint router.

“As the network expands and we see more sophisticated cyber threats, it’s evident that IoT networks will need to be rearchitected,” said Chantal Polsonetti, vice president, industry analyst, ARC Advisory Group. “By off-loading security from the perimeter to a distributed zero trust architecture, Cradlepoint is offering IoT devices access to a collection of robust security services that have traditionally not been available on typical IoT routers.”

As a multipurpose IoT router designed for the enterprise, the S700 connects light industrial, smart city, IoT and portable devices over cellular, Wi-Fi and wired links. Offering a wide variety of connectivity options through LTE, two Gigabit Ethernet ports for wired connections and dual band Wi-Fi 6 options, the S700 also adds advanced features, such as active GNSS/GPS for asset tracking, GPIO pins to control and monitor external sensors.

“IT teams have more responsibilities and less time, even as organizations deploy more connected devices,” said Donna Johnson, senior vice president of marketing, Cradlepoint. “Last year, we launched NetCloud Exchange as an advanced security and SD-WAN extension to Cradlepoint NetCloud to make managing security threats easier for those teams. The S700 with zero trust capabilities shows our commitment to 5G—and security-first services to support enterprise WAN transformation—at scale.

The Cradlepoint S700 will be available for purchase widely on July 12. For more information please visit the website HERE.

Actility, Abeeway, and Combain Unite for AI-Powered Indoor Geolocation Solutions

The post Cradlepoint Launched the S700 IoT Router for Zero Trust Security appeared first on Digital IT News.