Wireless WAN vendor Cradlepoint today updated its E3000 router with integrated 5G networking.

Cradlepoint actually launched the router early last year, but at the time, the 5G modem wasn’t ready. Starting today and shipping later next month, customers can order the router with up to two 5G modems for redundant wireless connectivity.

Beyond cellular connectivity, the router features WiFi 6, 2.5 Gb/s Ethernet for LAN and WAN connectivity, as well as power over Ethernet. The router also has integrated SD-WAN functionality optimized for cellular connectivity.

Cradlepoint is targeting the router at customers looking to use cellular networks as their primary underlay network. This allows users without easy or cost-effective access to MPLS or broadband to take advantage of SD-WAN, the company claims.

However, unlike the company’s earlier 5G router, which targeted transportation applications, the E3000 is built for high-demand environments like retail, hospitality, healthcare, financial, and construction.

"It’s intended for fixed wireless or other fixed locations where you're using 5G as your only link, as an augmentation link with a wired connection, or as a failover,” said Donna Johnson, VP of marketing at Cradlepoint.

While the router also supports traditional wired networking, Johnson notes that customers are relying entirely on wireless connectivity more often. “We feel like 5G will increasingly become a primary link, if not the sole link, because it does have the reliability and bandwidth capabilities,” she added.

Henley Enterprises, a division of Valvoline's Instant Oil Change franchise, is already moving in this direction.

“They just were not getting good broadband in their area, and interestingly enough, wireless was better,” said James Weaver, director of product marketing at Cradlepoint, adding that Henley Enterprises ended up using cellular as its primary WAN link and broadband as a failover.

While wireless WAN remains a key selling point for Cradlepoint, ever since Ericsson acquired the vendor for $1.1 billion late last summer, the company has started investigating new markets including private cellular.

According to Johnson, Cradlepoint is bringing an enterprise-focused approach to private cellular, whereas Ericsson has traditionally taken a carrier-focused one.

“Private cellular networks are really transforming the LAN and transforming the way people build networks, and to some extent, transforming the relationship that they have with their service providers in a way that hasn’t been seen maybe since the beginning of the SDN transformation,” she said in an earlier interview with SDxCentral.

The company’s revised E3000 router is designed with this future in mind, featuring native support for Citizen’s Broadband Radio Service spectrum for both 5G and LTE models.