Juniper Networks SD-WAN customers can now augment their deployments with 5G wireless WAN functionality courtesy of Ericsson’s Cradlepoint division.

The partnership, announced today, will see Juniper pair Cradlepoint’s 5G routers, adapters, and NetCloud platform with its Sessions Smart Routing (SSR) SD-WAN and Mist artificial intelligence (AI) services.

Cradlepoint, an early contender in the wireless WAN space, launching its first cellular appliances a little more than a year ago. The company was acquired by telecom equipment heavyweight Ericsson in a late 2020 deal valued at $1.1 billion.

Since then, it’s announced a series of 5G-capable SD-WAN appliances primarily aimed at retail, remote branch, and construction use cases. However, with the rise of 5G networks, Cradlepoint claims wireless WAN is now a viable alternative to traditional network infrastructure like broadband or MPLS.

The integration announced today leverages open APIs to tie Cradlepoint’s appliances and NetCloud platform into Mist’s WAN, Wired, and Wireless Assurance services for improved network visibility and management. Juniper’s virtual network assistant Marvis has also been updated to provide additional insights, recommendations, and remediation for challenges associated with 5G deployments.

The partnership comes just as Juniper completes the integration of 128 Technology’s SSR SD-WAN stack into its Mist portfolio. Juniper acquired the SD-WAN vendor in late 2020 in a deal valued at $450 million.

Juniper is the latest vendor to jump on the wireless WAN bandwagon. Several wireless WAN appliances were released during the last year by major SD-WAN vendors, including those from Fortinet, Versa, and Cisco.

Cisco rolled 5G connectivity into its cellular gateways in early 2021. The gateways feature a sub-6 GHz 5G radio designed for high-throughput, low-latency communications with any of the company’s Catalyst routers or edge appliances.

Versa followed Cisco late last summer with the launch of its CSG 700 and CSG 1000 SD-WAN appliances, which feature integrated 5G and 4G LTE modems capable of delivering peak download speeds of 5 Gb/s on sub-6 GHz bands.

Finally, in December, Fortinet doubled down on wireless WAN functionality with a dual-modem SD-WAN appliance. However, unlike its earlier FortiExtender 511F-5, the appliance trades 5G connectivity for a pair of LTE modems.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misstated the release of Cradlepoint's first 5G deployments. We regret the error.