Verizon today announced a service that will let business users connect to their enterprise network from an LTE device without traversing the public Internet or requiring the use of an IPSec virtual private network.
The offering, dubbed Private IP Wireless, provides “secure, reliable and high-speed access to all business requirements,” said Stephen Goodman, Manager of Global Wide Area Solutions Marketing for Verizon Enterprise Solutions, in an interview.
When data from a Private IP Wireless customer reaches the cell tower, it will be sent to an enterprise gateway connected to Verizon’s MPLS network. From there it will connect “into your VPN that we’ve built at layer 3,” explained Goodman. “To the network, the mobile device is just another IP address.”
Goodman expects the offering to appeal to organizations with branch offices as well as to mobile workers. “LTE can be as fast, or faster, than a T-1” as well as a “cost-effective solution,” Goodman said.
The wireless solution also may be easier to implement than a landline alternative. “If you put in traditional T-1, you need a cross connect and you need to program the router,” Goodman said. Goodman also expects to see a market for Private IP Wireless as a backup service which, unlike wired offerings, is not vulnerable to backhoe cuts.
When Verizon announced its co-marketing deal with cable companies late last year, some saw it as an indication of the company’s willingness to boost its wireless business at the expense of its landline business. And to the extent that Private IP Wireless is a landline replacement offering, it too could be viewed as another example of how the company sees its future primarily on the wireless side.
Other might argue that if Verizon doesn’t introduce the wireline replacement offering, someone else will.
Private IP Wireless will be available everywhere Verizon has LTE, Goodman said.
