The IT Nerd

Ericsson’s enterprise wireless solutions are supporting Coffrages Synergy Formwork as the company focuses on being a leader in innovation in the construction industry, while improving productivity and processes.

Through the deployment of a reliable Ericsson wireless wide area network (WAN), Synergy’s employees are better equipped to do their work, with stable access to applications and devices they need – even when they’re on a high floor of a project site.

Coffrages Synergy is a Montreal-based construction company that specializes in formwork and high-rise towers. The organization has more than 1,500 employees working on jobsites across Québec and Ontario, including Ottawa, Gatineau, Québec City, Montreal and now Halifax, N.S.

Reliable internet connectivity is imperative on construction sites in order to enable employees’ access to important applications and information. However, the vastness of job sites was impacting the ability of Synergy’s workers to stay connected. Getting wires to a new build job site is also a complex process that is subject to onsite issues and statuses. Wired networks in particular posed difficulties for Synergy, as crews frequently move between different floors during their projects.

Extending wired networks across multiple floors of high-rise projects proved not only to be time-consuming and disruptive to ongoing construction, but also very costly and highly inefficient.

To solve this issue, the company needed a wireless network that could effectively support all requirements. Synergy created portable office units called Sky Shacks that can move from floor to floor of a high-rise under construction. The units are equipped with devices including tablets, laptops and printers, so employees can easily access what they need to work without having to descend to the ground floor. Synergy selected Ericsson Cradlepoint R2100 5G and S700 4G routers to create a reliable Wi-Fi network that connects these devices and extends internet access across the floors of the high-rise project. So far, the company has rolled out 67 Sky Shacks across their project sites delivering reliable connectivity to even the highest floors.

As employees move to work on a different floor of a high-rise project, the Sky Shack follows, providing a stable network to connect to cloud applications and more.

Synergy’s workflow has significantly improved since implementing the wireless WAN solution:

• As Sky Shacks can be quickly relocated to new floors without the need for time-consuming wired installations, the organization has seen a considerable reduction in downtime
• Improved connectivity has in turn increased overall productivity with seamless access to cloud-based construction software, plans, and communication tools driving + 4.2 TB of cellular data per month
• Overall, the new efficiencies gained have translated into substantial cost savings, eliminating expenses associated with wired infrastructure and on-site troubleshooting

Ericsson has unveiled the integration of agentic AI into its NetCloud platform, representing a major leap forward in enterprise 5G networking. As NetCloud evolves to effortlessly manage both Wireless WAN and private 5G solutions, Ericsson is also launching the industry’s first enterprise 5G agentic AI virtual expert that will transform how businesses deploy, optimize and manage their 5G networks.

The integration of agentic AI advances Ericsson’s generative AI-based NetCloud Assistant (ANA) from a user-prompt driven tool into a strategic partner empowered by a team of AI agents. By interpreting high-level intents, ANA will be able to handle complex workflows, execute administrator decisions and learn in real time. This reduces burdens for lean IT and Operational Technology (OT) teams while boosting network reliability and user experience. 

Key AI features include:

• Agentic organizational hierarchy: ANA will be supported by multiple orchestrator and functional AI agents capable of planning and executing (with administrator direction). Orchestrator agents will be deployed in phases, starting with a troubleshooting agent planned in Q4 2025, followed by configuration, deployment, and policy agents planned in 2026. These orchestrators will connect with task, process, knowledge, and decision agents within an integrated agentic framework.
  
• Automated troubleshooting: ANA’s troubleshooting orchestrator will include automated workflows that address the top issues identified by Ericsson support teams, partners, and customers, such as offline devices and poor signal quality. Planned to launch in Q4 2025, this feature is expected to reduce downtime and customer support cases by over 20 per cent. 
  
• Multi-modal content generation: ANA can now generate dynamic graphs to visually represent trends and complex query results involving multiple data points.
  
• Explainable AI: ANA displays real-time process feedback, revealing steps taken by AI agents in order to enhance transparency and trust.
  
• Expanded AIOps Insights: NetCloud AIOps will be expanded to provide isolation and correlation of fault, performance, configuration, and accounting anomalies for Wireless WAN and NetCloud SASE. For Ericsson Private 5G, NetCloud is expected to provide service health analytics including KPI monitoring and user equipment connectivity diagnostics. Planned availability is Q4 2025.

Planned to be available Q4 2025, the integration of Ericsson Private 5G into the NetCloud platform brings powerful advantages to enterprise 5G customers, including access to AI features, real-time feature availability, simplified lifecycle management, greater agility across multisite deployments and better administrator controls with distinct user roles and permissions. NetCloud acts as a foundation for future agentic AI features focused on removing friction and adding value for the enterprise. These innovations directly address critical adoption barriers as more industrial enterprises leverage private 5G for business-critical connectivity. With this integration, Ericsson is empowering businesses to overcome these challenges and unlock the full potential of 5G in IT and OT environments.

Ericsson has announced it is providing Sunswift Racing with major improvements in Wireless WAN communications using Ericsson’s Intelligent Link Bonding. This capability combines multiple WAN links — cellular, satellite, or wired — into a single, logical connection and leverages unique traffic steering and cellular intelligence features to make decisions about how traffic is distributed. The Sunswift racing team is using Ericsson enterprise wireless solutions to provide uninterrupted connectivity between the solar race cars, support vehicles and Sunswift’s headquarters in Sydney. 

Sunswift Racing is a team of innovators at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia, working to redefine the future of sustainable transport through the research and development of world class prototype electric cars. The team is best known for its Guinness World Record-holding success in previous World Solar Challenge events and will be competing at this year’s week-long event from Darwin to Adelaide, Australia in August.  

The World Solar Challenge competitors rely on race and vehicle performance data to make strategic decisions during the week-long event. With real-time access to data enabled with Ericsson wireless connectivity solutions, the Sunswift team will be collecting and using live telemetry data during the race. This includes live data about the solar car’s battery, electric motor, solar panel, and vehicle speedometer. Reliable connectivity will also be vital for live video, IP Push-to-Talk communication for status reporting, real-time race video streaming for the team’s YouTube channel, and reliable internet access. 

Ericsson Cradlepoint ruggedized R1900 routers connected to 5G and satellite links are managed with Ericsson NetCloud to provide multi-carrier connectivity back to Sunswift headquarters. Ericsson’s Intelligent Link Bonding will be used to optimize the bandwidth of all available WAN links to deliver consistent performance and always-on connectivity over cellular and satellite-supporting uninterrupted live telemetry data sharing and video streaming.      

Ericsson Intelligent Link Bonding enhances resiliency and performance with the following features: 

• Flow duplication for high resiliency – Duplicates application traffic flows across two WAN links simultaneously to provide high availability.
• Flow balancing for link optimization and cost savings – Distributes traffic flows across multiple links based on predefined weights or percentages to enhance performance and cost efficiency.  
• Bandwidth aggregation for increased bandwidth – Bandwidth aggregation combines two or more WAN connections to increase the overall bandwidth available for large data transfers. This can significantly boost performance for large file uploads or real-time video uploads.  

Each of these intelligent bonding features can be enabled on an Ericsson Cradlepoint router with SD-WAN. Additional features such as application-based traffic steering, forward error correction, and rich AI insights can also be leveraged. 

Ericsson today announced its recognition as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: European Enterprise Private 5G Solutions 2025 Vendor Assessment.

The IDC MarketScape assessment evaluates enterprise private 5G solution providers, focusing on their capabilities and strategic initiatives for delivering robust and scalable connectivity solutions. We believe Ericsson’s recognition reflects its commitment to innovation and excellence in meeting the diverse needs of industries across Europe and globally.

The IDC MarketScape report states: “The creation of a dedicated enterprise unit [in Ericsson] reflects a major strategic shift. This unit focuses specifically on private network solutions, enterprise mobility, and vertical-specific use cases, demonstrating Ericsson’s ambition to compete not only as a network vendor, but as a solution provider for digital enterprise infrastructure.”

Ericsson’s strategic transformation and creation of its enterprise unit is supported and bolstered by its professional services and streamlined partner ecosystem. This approach enables scalable enterprise deployments and seamless integration with broader digital transformation initiatives, making Ericsson a trusted partner for industries such as manufacturing, mining, ports, airports, and energy.

Full sourcing – IDC MarketScape: European Enterprise Private 5G Solutions 2025 Vendor Assessment, #EUR253555324, 20 JUN 2025

For more information on Ericsson’s Enterprise Private 5G solutions, please visit https://www.ericsson.com/en/portfolio/enterprise-wireless-solutions.

Ericsson today announced the findings of its annual State of Enterprise Connectivity report for Canada, which finds that while connectivity is vital to increase innovation and to enable companies to be competitive, challenges such as cost are hindering its progression in the country. The report underscores the need for business investment in advanced network infrastructure to help drive efficiency and to position Canada as a world-class leader in innovation.

According to those surveyed, organizations in Canada are facing an unpredictable business environment. Investing in technology such as AI and IoT can help them navigate this with improved productivity and processes. However, strong, reliable connectivity is needed to support these efforts.

As in previous years, the 2025 Censuswide research indicates unreliable connectivity is a main area of concern for respondents, with downtime directly affecting their business. As some Canadian businesses have recently experienced, unforeseen challenges including weather-related issues, carrier/service provider issues and networking configuration errors can cause network downtime. For organizations that rely on technology for their day-to-day business, outages can be costly and debilitating. The survey found the main impacts of unreliable connectivity over the last 12 months include higher operational costs (46 percent), operational inefficiencies (45 percent) and an increase in waste (31 percent).

Furthermore, as more than half of Canadian companies (56 percent) are enforcing people to be in the office more in 2025 — 42 percent of respondents said they are already fully office-based — the top factor Canadian businesses consider to encourage workers back to the office is to improve office connectivity (56 percent). Just one in five Canadian companies (19 percent) reported they are fully remote.

Reliable, affordable connectivity needed to position Canada as a world-class leader

The annual survey of over 500 respondents across various industries in Canada found the majority (90 percent) of Canadian businesses agree that more secure, reliable and high performing networks such as 5G will help to position the country as a world class industrial and technology leader. Additionally, the survey found 5G connectivity will play an important role in advancing the competitiveness of Canadian businesses.

• 46 percent believe 5G will improve bandwidth
• 44 percent say it will be a key enabler for the development of IoT, AI and other technological applications
• 43 percent indicated it will improve security

Six out of 10 respondents said affordable connectivity across the country will support Canadians to realize the benefits of a digital transformation. More than half (52 percent) of those surveyed believe that investment by the private sector in infrastructure for high-speed and high-capacity wireless and wireline technologies will support this, and 49 percent cited access to connectivity for all Canadians. According to the report, key investment areas that should be made for private and public Canadian organizations to address the advancement of connectivity include:

• Improved reliability of communication networks (48 percent – a 21 percent increase compared to 2024)
• Faster roll-out of 5G/advanced wireless networks to rural areas (47 percent – a 24 percent increase compared to 2024)
• Stronger security (45 percent)

Connectivity needed to unlock the true power of AI

Many Canadian companies are already leveraging 5G to maximize their business for production efficiency (68 percent), customer experience (62 percent), enhancing scalability (57 percent) and reliability/resilience (56 percent).

Respondents indicated they also believe that 5G connectivity and next-generation technologies, such as AI, have a symbiotic relationship. For example, nearly 85 percent of respondents said AI helps improve their network performance by automating analysis and reducing the manual workload on their IT team. Almost nine of 10 (87 percent) also agree that 5G is critical to optimizing the use of AI within the workplace.

Another area of growth is the implementation of IoT devices, which can help increase productivity, reduce worker burnout, and improve safety. Looking ahead over the next 12 months, the top connected IoT devices planned for implementation by Canadian businesses include predictive maintenance (46 percent); sensors (41 percent); digital signage (41 percent); and cameras (39 percent).

Improving productivity through innovation

There are, however, factors businesses believe are hindering the progression of connectivity in Canada, with nearly half (47 percent) citing the cost of services from network-operating telecoms/providers as the biggest issue. Forty-three (43) percent of those surveyed said complex and lengthy permitting processes for deploying connectivity infrastructure are affecting progression, while 38 percent said strict data protection rules across Canada, such as Law 25 in Quebec and Ontario’s Bill 194, are also a hindrance.

For more insights, read the full report here.

Ericsson and Supermicro today announced an intent to engage in a strategic collaboration to accelerate Edge AI deployment. The parties have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the combination of Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions’ industry-leading 5G connectivity with Supermicro’s industry-leading Edge AI platforms into commercial bundles that will:

• Deliver advanced Edge AI capabilities that leverage 5G network connectivity as a key value-add attribute
• Simplify procurement and deployment with a unified solution with pre-validated AI compute and 5G connectivity

As AI becomes integrated into a wide range of business functions, many of those AI applications require low-latency response times. This development is leading to a demand for Edge AI solutions that deploy pre-trained AI models, generative AI, and agentic AI to the network edge, outside the data centre, for local processing. The combination of Supermicro and Ericsson technology is intended to enable businesses in retail, factories, health care, and others to rapidly deploy Edge AI infrastructure together with wireless connectivity.

Supermicro continues to expand its extensive portfolio of infrastructure products supporting Edge AI applications with product choices ranging from small fanless devices to shoe-box sized systems to 1U rackmount systems. These new stand-alone wireless systems can be deployed in diverse environments yet deliver industry-standard data throughput comparable to wired systems.

Ericsson’s wireless WAN portfolio of indoor and outdoor low-and-mid band wireless adapters and their 5G, SD-WAN, and security appliances are critical components for an enterprise when traditional wired connectivity may be inconvenient or even unavailable for some of these edge deployments. In these situations, 5G can serve as the primary WAN connection or even as a backup WAN connection for business-critical deployments. With Ericsson’s solution, enterprises will also be able to take advantage of 5G functionality including network slicing, cellular intelligence, and zero trust security.

Specific industry applications include:

• Retail: Accelerate checkout processing through real-time image recognition of items, enhance inventory tracking, and detect and alert against theft.
• Smart Factory and Industrial Automation: Monitor and control industrial machinery by locally processing sensor and camera data.  
• Traffic Safety: Enhance traffic safety by data analysis directly from camera and sensor sources for adaptive real-time traffic management. 
• Healthcare Management: Support healthcare operations such as just-in-time inventory management to reduce waste and ensure critical medical supplies are available.

Enterprise customers and system integrators can learn more by visiting the Supermicro booth # P10, Pavillion 7 at NVIDIA GTC Paris, June 11-12, 2025 or by visiting https://supermicro.com/en/solutions/ericsson for further solution and product details.

As some Canadian businesses have recently experienced, unforeseen challenges including weather-related issues, carrier/service provider issues and networking configuration errors can cause network downtime. For organizations that rely on technology — including network and application access — for their day-to-day business, outages are costly and debilitating.

According to last year’s 2024 State of Connectivity report from Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions (formerly Cradlepoint), shared downtime continued to impact Canadian businesses. More than half (53 per cent) of respondents experienced one to two hours of connectivity downtime per week on average over the previous 12 months, resulting from fixed line/fibre network failure. Additionally, 28 per cent of Canadian businesses experienced three to four hours of downtime per week. Those connectivity issues resulted in higher operational costs (45 per cent), operational inefficiencies (41 per cent), and loss of talent (36 per cent), affecting productivity and the ability for organizations to be competitive.

Tips – Failover strategies for businesses

There are, however, ways for business to protect themselves. Failover strategies enable network data to be rerouted on a secondary or back up network if the primary network link fails, enablingorganizations to continue to operate as usual.

Below are three recommended failover strategies from Jason Falovo, Vice President and General Manager, Canada at Ericsson EWS, to enable businesses to stay connected.

Add link/connection diversity: In many cases, an organization’s internet connection relies upon a single wire running to their chosen internet service provider (ISP), which could not only be affected by a provider’s outage, but also by weather or other forces of nature. While adding a second Wide Area Network (WAN) connection can be a simple and fast way to reduce the risk of losing connectivity, that second wire is just as susceptible to risks as the first. Instead, consider adding a satellite or cellular wireless link which offers not only backup, but also diversity to the network. If the wired connection goes down, rapid failover can seamlessly switch to the second connection, minimizing network and service disruption. Another option is to add a wireless connection to an existing router using a 5G or LTE adapter, then relying on its SD-WAN and failover functionality.

Ensure dual-carrier connectivity: It’s no longer practical to rely on just one telecom carrier or internet provider. Relying on a single service provider is another risk point for branch continuity. Network congestion, routing and DNS issues, and core network outages are just some of the potential incidents that can disrupt business operations.

You can reduce the risk of carrier disruptions by using two links with two different wireless carriers. The separate infrastructure adds network diversity, making it highly unlikely that both would be unavailable at the same time. You can set the two connections as a primary and a backup, or use both connections in tandem to increase bandwidth. Wireless WANs also bring greater agility and make easier to open new locations or move existing ones, which can be especially useful for short-term or temporary locations. The simplest way to employ two wireless carriers is to use a 5G or LTE router that supports two modems, providing advanced network awareness and routing capabilities. With routers that have this capability, deployment is easy as adding a second modem and SIM card to the device. A dual modem router has two active radio connections, allowing SIM cards from different carriers to be active at the same time without the downtime of switching between the two.

Add hardware redundancy: Routers can go offline for many reasons, and can often require a site visit to fix, leaving the location isolated until tech support arrives. Redundant or mirrored routers are an effective protection against router downtime. These routers monitor each other, with the backup automatically taking over if the primary router or WAN connection fails, switching back when the primary is restored.

With a primary and backup router IT can safely stage updates, configuration changes, and other periodic maintenance without risking business-critical communications.

Adding different WAN connections or carriers to each router provides additional protection from common business continuity risks. If the backup router has a lower bandwidth connection, traffic policies ensure that essential traffic is prioritized.

In today’s business environment, where organizations and their employees rely heavily on applications housed in the cloud or data centre, down time is not an option. A network failover strategy is critical to ensuring the redundancy needed to keep your business running, even when networks go down.

Ericsson today announced an expansion of its NetCloud SASE with clientless Zero Trust Network Access. This innovation empowers organizations to securely connect third-party and BYOD users to authorized resources with enhanced security. Building on Ericsson’s existing client-based ZTNA, the new solution offers flexibility for lean IT teams navigating managed and unmanaged devices in dynamic, wireless-first settings. 

According to KPMG, 73 per cent of organizations have experienced at least one major disruption tied to third-party cyber incidents over the past three years. Ericsson’s clientless ZTNA solution enhances protection against these events with embedded isolation technology. Unlike other clientless solutions relying solely on access controls, NetCloud SASE activates application sessions in isolated cloud containers for unmanaged or BYOD device access. This air-gaps corporate systems from potentially insecure devices, preventing malware spread into the enterprise. 

Key features of NetCloud SASE with clientless ZTNA include: 

• Clientless Secure Access: Contractors and BYOD users can access isolated applications via a secure URL, eliminating the need for VPNs, clients or special browsers. 
• IoT/OT asset and corporate application protection: Interactions between unmanaged users and corporate systems are isolated in cloud containers, safeguarding applications from potential malware infections. 
• Granular access based on least privilege: Access is controlled by detailed policies based on user roles, device types, and other factors, ensuring users receive only the necessary level of access. 
• Continuous Risk Assessment: Real-time analytics and intrusion detection system/intrusion prevention system (IDS/IPS) allow for instant access revocation in response to changes in user context and risk levels. 
• Zero-trust based: This unique architecture removes the need for static public IP addresses, hides all internal IPs, defaults to deny all, and enables micro-segmentation, which prevents lateral movement within the network. 
• Single-platform Management: Integrated into NetCloud Manager for simplified deployment, visibility, and policy enforcement alongside 5G WWAN, SD-WAN, and other SASE security features. 
• Seamless integration with Existing Identity Providers: Leverages existing enterprise Identity and Access Management (IAM) platforms for seamless user authentication and authorization, preventing identity sprawl. 

NetCloud SASE with clientless ZTNA is now available and included as part of the NetCloud ZTNA license. The solution will be showcased at RSA Conference on April 28, 2025, marking the first time an enterprise 5G router vendor has delivered a fully integrated, clientless ZTNA solution under fully unified management.  

To learn more about Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions security capabilities, please visit the Ericsson NetCloud SASE page. 

Ericsson today announced the launch of its new wireless-first architecture that brings agility and scale to branch networking. Designed to support higher-bandwidth, business-critical AI-powered operations, it combines diverse WAN connectivity, LAN switching, network slicing, and zero-trust through unified management to deliver scalable and secure high-performance branch networking. From virtual experts in insurance offices to computer vision applications in remote healthcare clinics, distributed sites increasingly rely on always-on connectivity to support business-critical operations and deliver modern customer experiences.

According to IDC, by 2026, 90 per cent of enterprises will integrate generative AI into their connectivity strategy – underscoring the growing need for secure, scalable, and easily managed networks. As 5G Advanced gains momentum, enterprises are moving beyond traditional best-effort services and seeking predictable performance for business-critical applications through services such as network slicing. Ericsson’s wireless-first branch architecture – combining the Cradlepoint E400, new LAN switches and access points, and NetCloud Manager – provides enterprises with a future-ready connectivity foundation to unlock the full potential of AI-driven innovation.

Key components of Ericsson’s new wireless-first branch architecture include the following:

• The new Cradlepoint E400 is a next-generation routing and security appliance that serves as the core of the architecture – providing integrated support for 3GPP Release 17 5G, Wi-Fi 7, and LEO satellite WANs to deliver high-performance, scalable connectivity from virtually anywhere.
• New Cradlepoint LAN switches and access points, which extend LAN capacity and are unified under Ericsson NetCloud Manager to augment LAN solutions from existing technical alliance partner solutions.
• Ericsson NetCloud Manager additionally provides centralized control and provisioning of embedded eSIM and dual-SIM capabilities, enabling remote profile configuration, seamless carrier switching, and streamlined deployment for lean IT teams.
• Ericsson NetCloud SASE, SD-WAN, and 5G network slicing capabilities which enhance reliable performance and security across diverse WAN connections. While SD-WAN, link bonding and SASE optimize traffic across wired, cellular, and satellite links, network slicing delivers isolated, secure 5G slices with use-case specific parameters for business-critical applications.

To fully unlock AI’s potential, lean IT teams must be able to deliver modernized branch operations that support AI applications with scalable, secure, and resilient wireless connectivity. Ericsson’s wireless-first architecture – powered by the E400, NetCloud Manager, and LAN infrastructure – gives IT teams and carriers the flexibility, performance, and security needed to deploy and manage AI-ready connectivity across distributed branch sites.

All products are available immediately. For more information on the Ericsson Cradlepoint E400 routing and security appliances visit here; for details about Ericsson Cradlepoint LAN switches visit here; and information on Wi-Fi access points, visit here.

Aduna, a landmark venture between some of the world’s leading telecom operators and Ericsson have announced a strategic partnership with Canada’s EnStream LP, marking a comprehensive Canadian expansion of its network API ecosystem.

The collaboration will enable seamless access to telecom network APIs from Bell, Rogers, and TELUS – Canada’s three leading nationwide operators – empowering developers and enterprises worldwide to build and scale next-generation digital services with greater security and efficiency.

EnStream, a joint venture between Bell, Rogers, and TELUS, has been instrumental in positioning Canada as a global leader in network APIs. By leveraging mobile data across the country’s largest telecom providers, EnStream has facilitated secure, frictionless authentication and fraud prevention solutions for businesses, including major financial institutions.

Through this partnership, EnStream’s powerful APIs will be integrated into Aduna’s platform, accelerating global adoption of telecom-enabled security and verification services. Among these are:

• Number Verification: A seamless, silent authentication method that enhances user experience while strengthening security
• SIM Swap Protection:A critical fraud prevention tool that detects potential account takeovers, helping businesses mitigate identity theft and cyber threats.

With full nationwide coverage exceeding 90 percent, Canada stands as a core innovation hub within Aduna’s ecosystem. Global enterprises will now have access to a live testbed for telecom-driven authentication and fraud prevention, gaining insights that can be scaled internationally through Aduna’s standardized (CAMARA-based) global network APIs.

This expansion reinforces Aduna’s footprint across North America – covering Canada, the U.S., and Mexico – a major region for the global network API market. Additionally, telecom operators worldwide can leverage insights from Canada’s real-world implementations to enhance their own network API strategies.

This partnership cements Canada’s role as a springboard for global network API success, offering enterprises unparalleled access to real-time, telecom-powered intelligence to drive security, innovation, and seamless digital experiences worldwide.