Cradlepoint launches architectural extension of NetCloud solution

Cradlepoint has announced NetCloud Exchange, an architectural extension of its NetCloud solution, to help lean IT organisations transform their business and amplify their 5G experience with advanced SD-WAN and zero trust capabilities.

NetCloud Exchange is a cloud-native solution built on policy-driven, zero-trust principles that delivers multiple SD-WAN and security services.

As business transformation continues to fuel increased cloud, mobility and IoT adoption, WAN architectures have proven too limited and inflexible for securely connecting distributed enterprise sites, vehicles, remote employees and devices.

5G is emerging as an essential WAN infrastructure and will drive WAN expansion and evolution. However, these trends can produce a larger attack surface, unique, cloud-driven traffic patterns, and a greater number of connected endpoints.

Todd Krautkremer, chief marketing officer for Cradlepoint, says, "Most network solutions today are designed for wired-only deployments. With the new NetCloud Exchange extension, NetCloud now offers new 5G- and security-first services to support enterprise WAN transformation, including end-to-end secure connectivity, hybrid SD-WAN, and Zero Trust networking all lifecycle-managed through a single-pane-of-glass.

The following new NetCloud Services will be delivered based on the NetCloud Exchange extension:

Secure Connect: An agile LTE/5G VPN-like service that enables secure end-to-end connections for thousands of location. It overcomes the operational complexities of traditional VPNs through automated tunnel orchestration, efficient encryption, name-based routing, and simplified IP address management. NetCloud Exchange Secure Connect utilises zero trust principles that include IP address cloaking and no default network access to change the traditional VPN paradigm from connect and then secure, to secure and then connect provide least privileged-based access.

Advanced SD-WAN: A future service that extends Cradlepoint's current SD-WAN capabilities by adding end-to-end support and advanced application optimisation. This enhanced service will enable features like 5G network slicing, simplified configuration at scale, more advanced cloud integration, more resilient and flexible traffic steering, and more scalable and resilient private and cloud data centre terminations.

Zero trust network access: A future service that is simple to deploy and uses flexible, fine-grained user-, site-, application-, and resource-based policies that leverage identity, context and 5G attributes to control network access.

All services are delivered using the NetCloud Exchange Service Gateway: a scalable software-based solution for private and cloud data centres that aggregates remote connections, provides flow-level visibility, and acts as the policy-enforcement point for the services it supports.

Rohit Mehra, group vice president, network and telecom infrastructure at IDC, comments, "As organisations continue to undergo digital transformation, IT teams must evolve how they manage the network edge. Cradlepoint's innovation in Wireless WAN is enabling enterprises to deploy 5G with the management and security functions needed to scale.

NetCloud Exchange Secure Connect and NetCloud Exchange Service Gateway are available immediately while other solutions will be available in the fourth quarter of 2022.