Verizon Business is integrating Zebra Technologies devices and software into the carrier’s private 5G and 4G LTE network offering in a move to help smooth enterprise adoption and boost a still-nascent market opportunity.

The agreement certifies Zebra personal computers and tablets to work on Verizon’s private network infrastructure. This includes Zebra’s TC58 and TC78 ruggedized mobile computers and ET45 ruggedized tablets. Some of these devices can support multiple SIM cards that will allow them to access both a private network and Verizon’s public network.

Customers that already have Zebra devices will be able to trade those in for rebates on the newer models. Verizon has also certified access to Zebra’s Enterprise Browser where enterprises can access warehouse management and resource planning applications.

Shamik Basu, executive director of IoT and edge solutions at Verizon Business, repeatedly mentioned in an interview with SDxCentral the need to remove “friction” when referring to the importance of the deal for enterprise customers.

“It is about how do they remove the friction across the board, all the way from identifying the network, deploying the network, getting access to devices that work on the network and getting access to applications that actually help them be that productive,” Basu said.

Basu cited a focus on verticals like warehouse logistics, retail and health care.

“The purpose behind going after someone like Zebra was that Zebra is the absolute market leader in some of these environments,” Basu said of the deal. “If you start to pare back and look at the customer journey a little bit, what do they not want? What they don't want is having to rip out their existing device ecosystem, rip out their existing applications infrastructure and have to go to something brand new. And we're avoiding that."

A recent report from GlobalData found manufacturing, mining, utilities and government verticals were driving the private network space, accounting for more than 51% of the $2.8 billion in segment revenues in 2022. GlobalData added that advanced devices that can take advantage of the 5G-advanced capabilities will further drive the market beginning in 2025, with overall market revenues forecast to hit $7.9 billion in 2027.

Basu added that this opportunity will continue to grow as more device options enter the space. He explained that the ecosystem was still maturing, noting that device vendors should follow the same model for driving more devices into the private network ecosystem that they use when driving devices into the public network market.

“The curve on private wireless is really starting to pick up now. Customers are seeing the value of it,” Basu said, adding what the Zebra deal “brings together is when customers and these environments adopt the right wireless network they now have a very similar, diverse ecosystem for what they had in the Wi-Fi space or wide-area network. You've got a similar thing going on in the private wireless space and I think it really will help to accelerate what we've got in private wireless.”

Verizon last month signed a significant deal with the Port of Virginia to replace a current Wi-Fi network with a tech-studded 5G-based private network. That agreement calls for Verizon to deploy a private 5G network covering 270 acres at the Norfolk International Terminal in Norfolk, Virginia.

Verizon CFO Tony Skiadas told an audience at a recent Morgan Stanley European Technology, Media and Telecom Conference that private network customers are "very satisfied with the services they have, with the security, and the bandwidth and reliability of a private 5G network.”

CEO Hans Vestberg said during the carrier’s most recent earnings call that Verizon is seeing “demand for the product continue to grow, especially those solutions built with licensed spectrum, which provides a more secure and differentiated experience for the end users.”

“We also now have an ecosystem of products, infrastructure, modems, chips, phones and radios that can serve different use cases,” Vestberg said, adding, “that’s why we’re excited over it.”

Despite the growing optimism, Vestberg added that he does not expect private networks to start contributing “any significant revenues that have an impact on Verizon overall in 2024. We’re going to see that in 2025.”

“But why it’s important is that this is an area we’ve never been into,” Vestberg said. “This is a total new TAM [total addressable market] we can address by running private networks for different industries, for different large enterprises across the country.”