- Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise has a rich history in telecom solutions for the enterprise
- Celona brings its private 5G expertise to the partnership
- Together, they aim to enhance IoT and Industry 4.0 integration for enterprises worldwide
An old name in the telecom biz is hooking up with a relatively new one to launch an integrated private 5G solution for the enterprise space.
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE) is partnering with Celona on a new turnkey 5G private network solution. Celona’s private 5G solution integrates with ALE’s OmniVista, OmniSwitch and OmniAccess Stellar networking portfolio and is engineered for IoT and Industry 4.0 use cases in complex industrial settings like manufacturing, refineries, logistics warehouses and ports.
The two companies have been talking over the past year before announcing their integration on Tuesday. ALE’s pedigree goes back to Alcatel-Lucent, which was formed in 2006 with the merger of France-based Alcatel and U.S.-based Lucent Technologies. The enterprise unit of Alcatel-Lucent was spun out in 2014, creating ALE.
“I think we have the same philosophy between ALE and Celona regarding the need for a seamless solution that covers any type of connectivity, whether it's Ethernet, Wi-Fi or 5G,” said Stephan Robineau, EVP Network Business Division at ALE.
“This end-to-end, seamless integration was something that we believe was absolutely important for our customers. They look for simplicity. They don't have an IT staff to do everything themselves, so we need to help them simplify their operation,” he told Fierce.
Celona brings private 5G expertise
Celona, based in Campbell, California, was founded in 2019 and is a relatively new player to the private 5G sector. Even though private wireless hasn’t lived up to some early, highly ambitious expectations, Celona is optimistic about the market.
“We’ve been seeing the private networks market pick up very well, especially in the logistics, warehousing and manufacturing sector. I think that part of the market has had a great demand surge in the last 12 to 18 months. We have had great traction there,” Celona co-founder and CEO Rajeev Shah told Fierce.
A recent Juniper Research report predicts private cellular network revenue will reach $12.2 billion by 2028, a significant increase from $5.7 billion in 2025. However, 4G LTE is still considered sufficient to meet most needs, with 5G representing less than half of market spend by 2028, according to the report.
That’s not deterring Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, which will have access to Celona’s entire portfolio of products covering a range of spectrum bands depending on what part of the world they’re serving. In the U.S., Celona’s products support the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) at 3.5 GHz.
Alcatel-Lucent is more than a reseller
As Celona has started to expand globally over the last 12 months, “this gives us a boost, especially in Europe, where Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise is a very strong player, so it’s very complementary,” Shah said.
But it’s more than the usual reseller arrangement, he added. “This is a lot more than that. We are both very focused on providing this tightly integrated enterprise connectivity to our customers,” which includes the access switching layer, private cellular and wireless LAN, he said.
Since their partnership was announced internally to the sales team, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise is already seeing opportunities pop up, with “clearly, a lot of demand in transportation, energy, utilities as well some new opportunities for us in the manufacturing area,” Robineau said.
He’s not naming any clients because they’re not yet at that stage, but they’re seeing interest from some big names, particularly in the transportation industry.
“It’s really promising,” Robineau said. “We already have some pretty advanced opportunities in the pipeline.”