CRN Exclusive: Cradlepoint Lifts Curtain On New Cloud Service Package, A 'Win-Win' For Partners Deploying IoT Networks
Cradlepoint is diving deeper into IoT with new NetCloud-based package solutions for partners to simplify IoT deployments for their customers.
The Boise, Idaho-based company said that the new cloud-based package would be a "win-win" for partners who want to deploy subscription-based package IoT solutions for applications like kiosks, vending machines, and digital signage.
"This will take away the complexity and friction from customers during that IoT sale," said Ken Hosac, VP of IoT Strategy and Business Development at Cradlepoint. "It's easier for partners to explain and sell, and with the subscription revenue model, partners can share in that as well."
Roughly half of Cradlepoint's partners are deploying solutions into the IoT space, said Hosac, with partners playing varying roles, from systems integrators rolling out networks, to managed service providers operating the customers' network.
These partners – and their customers – have struggled with understanding the various technologies, pricing models and integration features behind Cradlepoint's IoT solutions.
Cradlepoint's new NetCloud Solution Package for the COR IBR200 LTE router aims to ease that complexity by bundling together several of Cradlepoint's key IoT-targeted technologies. This includes the company's previously-announced NetCloud operating system, which is its "secret sauce" for secure connectivity on the network.
Also part of the package solution is Cradlepoint's NetCloud Manager, which allows users to rapidly deploy IoT devices – and keep them secure by quickly rolling out firmware upgrades to these devices in a group.
Cradlepoint's solution also includes the NetCloud Perimeter, a client-based software-defined perimeter model that allows users to create private networks for specific IoT devices. For instance, a customer could implement an all-in-one network specifically for IP based cameras so that network would be segmented, and more secure.
These packaged solutions, which are available in one-, three- and five-year terms, combine these services with lifetime-warranted IBR200 Series hardware, and comprehensive support from partners. They are currently being deployed through several channel partners – including Cincinnati, Ohio-based StepCG.
"We have a few clients that are already using and leveraging Cradlepoint's software solutions around IoT," said Rob Huff, CEO of STEP Communications Group. "It amounts to more elastic networks and addresses a lot of security issues around IoT."
Huff said one big advantage of the package solution for the channel is that it allows partners to sell advanced application development and more services, as well as better manage various connected devices.
"If you look at a kiosk, for example, it is ever changing and far less static than it used to be. A kiosk might have a camera that I need to access and troubleshoot, and now we can leverage the packaged solution to use NetCloud Perimeter and remotely log into specific devices to monitor and push upgrades," he said.
In another nod to its channel partners, Cradlepoint has also equipped its IBR200 router with a medium-speed 4G LTE modem, allowing customers to use low-cost IoT data plans that are offered by cellular providers.
"This combination allows channel partners to bring the value of Cradlepoint’s proven 4G LTE IoT solutions to a wider range of customers and use cases," said Hosac.
In the year ahead, the company hopes to push IoT enablement efforts by beefing up the ability for partners to talk to local sensor networks so that they can easily pick and choose local components to their IoT solutions.
"We want partners to be in the unique position where they're able to create and pull with customers need from the ecosystem," said Hosac. "There's a lot of innovation in the third party ecosystem."