Awards Highlight Breakthroughs in Performance, Efficiency, and User Experience Across Diverse Applications

Chicago, March 27, 2024 – OnGo Alliance, the industry consortium that promotes the development, commercialization, and adoption of LTE and 5G solutions for the US 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), announced at the OnGo Forward event in Chicago the winners of the OnGo Alliance 2024 Awards. The awards recognize innovations in real-world CBRS solutions and their business impact.

The OnGo Annual Awards celebrate trailblazing companies that have harnessed the power of CBRS technology to unleash groundbreaking wireless services and applications, streamline operations through enhanced efficiencies, and elevate user experiences to new heights.

“It is my privilege to commend this year’s OnGo Alliance Annual Award recipients for their pioneering adoption of OnGo technology,” said Alan Ewing, Executive Director of the OnGo Alliance. “Their innovative approaches have demonstrated the vast opportunities that shared spectrum delivers.”

The winners include:

• Excellence in a WISP OnGo Deployment: Awarded to Pente Networks (with Baicells and Local2U) for providing fixed wireless broadband connectivity to underserved areas of West Virginia, a state with minimal voice and data connectivity. The solution showcases how CBRS-based networks can supercharge the next era for WISPs to deliver fixed wireless and mobility (voice, SMS, data, and 911) in one seamless solution to the end user. The commercial deployment is expected to grow to support over a million devices with approximately 10 TB of throughput as they expand nationwide.

• Excellence in an Enterprise OnGo Private Network Deployment: Awarded to John Deere (with Multi-Tech Systems and Nokia) for private network deployment in multiple factories across Illinois and Iowa. The network takes advantage of the five CBRS PALs bought by John Deere in the 2020 FCC auction. It has allowed John Deere to automate processes, connect digital devices to the Manufacturing Execution System (MES), use video analytics to automate quality checks, operate Automated Guided Vehicles (AVGs) and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), and replace an extensive Wi-Fi network with fewer LTE access points. LTE and 5G are currently used at many John Deere facilities.

• Excellence in OnGo Technology Innovation: Awarded to JMA (with Sherpa 6, Druid Software, and Dell Technologies) for their innovative Open-RAN-based nomadic private 5G mobile network solution. The solution is designed to meet the scale and capacity demands of an 800-member military battalion and their troops and equipment within a single deployable unit. The solution makes existing US DoD tactical edge applications accessible by all frontline operators and connected devices to seamlessly collaborate across various military operations – from training exercises to humanitarian relief efforts to active battlefield scenarios. The introduction of an Open RAN, 5G, and OnGo solution has provided two orders of magnitude increase in bandwidth and connected devices while maintaining the range and security of legacy systems for frontline operations

• OnGo in State, Local, and Education (SLED): Awarded to Blue Arcus (with Leax, coreNOC, and New J) for the private 4G & 5G network solution to increase Internet access, health services, and public safety in rural and low-income parts of Spokane County, Washington. The network comprises residential end-user devices (Fixed Wireless Access outdoor CPEs), CBRS routers for fire trucks and other first responder vehicles, and CBRS-connected cameras and IoT devices. The private network will help bridge the digital divide in many communities by allowing residents to download an application to their smartphone, laptop, or tablet and link to various rural hospitals and clinics, which provide private and secure patient monitoring and mobile telehealth services.

• OnGo Neutral Host Architecture/Solution: Awarded to Druid Software (with Kajeet) for deploying a CBRS-neutral host network at a large college campus. Using multiple major U.S. operators (T-Mobile and AT&T), the Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) solution ensured that the community of over 25,000 students & faculty had uninterrupted campus-wide mobile coverage and could make vital 911 calls in emergencies, bolstering campus safety. The LTE Neutral Host Network over CBRS and the implementation of a private 5G network provide a solution that improves the university experience, enhancing connectivity and reinforcing safety measures, unlocking opportunities for cutting-edge academic innovation, and expanding in-building coverage cost-effectively.

• Device Innovation: Awarded to CTS for SiteNet^TM, a construction site modular communication system using CBRS and Wi-Fi to improve productivity and safety at large sites. SiteNet makes building information modeling systems accessible anywhere, increasing productivity for an entire team. The system allows workers to use their iPhone or Android phones and tablets from anywhere, providing task lists, models, pictures, and records when needed. In addition to Internet access for the crew’s electronic devices, SiteNet provides connectivity for various job site applications, including videoconferencing and collaboration, tool tracking, access control, and security cameras.

• Judge’s Choice: Awarded to InfiniG (with Cox) for their Neutral Host as-a-Service (NHaaS) solution that extends public cellular service (of AT&T and T-Mobile subscribers) indoors using shared CBRS spectrum on a Multiple Operator Core Network (MOCN) and existing broadband infrastructure. InfiniG & Cox provided Arizona State University with a solution that offers high coverage and capacity inside its 150,000-square-foot administration building and the peace of mind of calling 911 from anywhere with their mobile phones. The university has experienced a 5x improvement in individual download speeds from previous repeater systems and a 20x capacity (bandwidth) improvement across the facility. The university is now adding private applications to the network.

“This year’s OnGo Award entries show solid progress from Proof-of-Concept to profitable projects. It’s exciting to see the market scaling up with solutions serving multiple locations and starting the growth wave in multiple sectors,” commented Joe Madden of Mobile Experts, the Head Judge for the OnGo Awards.

The OnGo Alliance Annual Awards program is open to all members of the OnGo Alliance, and winners are selected by a panel of judges consisting of industry experts. The OnGo Alliance board and its members are uninvolved in the judging process. This year’s panel of judges was led by Joe Madden, Founder and Chief Analyst at Mobile Experts. He was joined by Ashish Jain, CEO at KAIROS Pulse and Chief Editor at PrivateLTEand5G; Monica Paolini, Principal at Senza Fili; and Peter Murray, Executive Director at Dense Networks

About OnGo Alliance:

The OnGo Alliance is an industry consortium that promotes developing, commercializing, and adopting LTE and 5G solutions for the US 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) and evangelizes shared spectrum globally. Formerly the CBRS Alliance, this 130+ member group accelerates the buildout of effective and efficient CBRS networks using 4G and 5G solutions. There are over 365,000 CBRS Access Points across the US currently broadcasting wireless signals on the CBRS spectrum via private and fixed wireless networks, spanning various sectors, including enterprise IT, industrial IoT, smart cities, rural broadband, transportation, hospitality, retail, and real estate. The Alliance has also established a product certification program for OnGo equipment in the CBRS band, ensuring multi-vendor interoperability.

To learn more about the OnGo Alliance, please visit http://www.ongoalliance.org

For more information on the awards, go to https://ongoawards.org

OnGo Alliance and the OnGo logo are trademarks of OnGo Alliance

Media Contact:

Ratika Garg

PR – OnGo Alliance

pr.ongo@sociallect.com

Beaverton, Oregon, November 14, 2023 – The OnGo Alliance, the industry consortium that promotes the development, commercialization, and adoption of LTE and 5G solutions for the US 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), held its biannual member meeting in the last week of October in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The three-day event brought together attendees from OnGo member companies and associated enterprises for presentations, workshops, vendor exhibits, and OnGo’s first Plugfest, with devices connecting to a 5G NR Stand Alone network built on site.

The member meeting featured over 20 presentations covering topics such as CBRS commercialization, private LTE and 5G networks, indoor neutral hosts, and OnGo market development. Notable speakers included:

• Eduardo Valencia, the CIO of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, described the airport’s successful trials with CBRS on multiple use cases and emphasized the importance of video as a game-changing application for airports.
• David Hallgren & Karin Glitterstam from Einride shared their deployment leveraging CBRS private networks for Freight Mobility-as-a-Service, enabling electric freight transportation with driverless trucks.
• Johnny Park, CEO of the Wabash Heartland Innovation Network (WHIN), described the WHIN Living Lab Ecosystem project, which includes CBRS networks over a ten-county region in Indiana. WHIN is becoming a major player in agricultural & manufacturing technology.
• Garfield Swaby, VP of IT of the New York Public Library, described the library’s success leveraging CBRS to deliver broadband access to the communities surrounding their branches in New York City.
• Kyung Mun, Principal Analyst at Mobile Experts, gave an overview of the rising market for CBRS private networks and neutral hosts.

One key session led by both the Chairman and President of the Alliance summarized recent key OnGo Alliance accomplishments that will further enhance the reliability of CBRS:

• Citizens Broadband Radio Service Devices (CBSDs) in areas or frequencies outside of DoD activity can now continue transmissions on approved grants for up to 24 hours without requiring renewed authorization from a Spectrum Access System (SAS).
• An approval of new CBRS propagation models that will substantially reduce the neighborhoods associated with Dynamic Protection Areas. This will significantly increase the amount of available spectrum to more users and ensure their uninterrupted operation in the band.
• The completion of a collaborative GAA coexistence framework. This innovative set of specifications and practices, designed and approved by the Alliance, serves to facilitate the reduction of interference among GAA networks. It achieves this by implementing a GAA frequency plan within an area agreed upon by users and associated SAS administrators.

“These advancements stem from the collaborative efforts of the NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration), DoD (Department of Defense) and OnGo Alliance. We are pleased with the broad recognition of the importance of optimizing shared spectrum to drive innovation and efficiency,” stated Preston Marshall, Chairman of the OnGo Alliance. “Improving services for end users will not only drive greater adoption but also pave the way for spectrum sharing across more bands.”

This continued progress is expected to further expedite the growth of CBRS adoption across multiple verticals. There are already more than 362,000 CBSDs in active operation, accompanied by over 720 FCC-authorized end-user devices and a vast network of over 1,000 operators.

The OnGo Alliance hosted its inaugural device Plugfest at the event, dedicated to exploring CBRS 5G NR SA (Stand Alone) operation and performance. Featuring participation from over two dozen CBRS 5G devices spanning a diverse array of vendors, the event showcased the utilization of the CBRS Shared Home Network Identifier (HNI) within a private network. Using a 40 MHz carrier in GAA spectrum, consistent performance was achieved exceeding 400 Mbps in the downlink and uplink speeds surpassing 50 Mbps. The Alliance is looking to build on this success and in the near future hold additional events with more devices and vendors and showcase more advanced use cases for private networks.

The member meeting was a great success. It allowed the OnGo community to share success stories, align on priorities, share knowledge, build partnerships, and continue driving the evolution of shared spectrum technology.

About OnGo Alliance:

The OnGo Alliance is an industry consortium that promotes developing, commercializing, and adopting LTE and 5G solutions for the US 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) and evangelizes shared spectrum globally. Formerly the CBRS Alliance, this 140+ member group accelerates the buildout of effective and efficient CBRS networks using 4G and 5G solutions. There are over 362,000 CBRS Access Points across the U.S. currently broadcasting wireless signals on the CBRS spectrum via private and fixed wireless networks, spanning various sectors, including enterprise IT, industrial IoT, smart cities, rural broadband, transportation, hospitality, retail, and real estate. The Alliance has also established a product certification program for OnGo equipment in the CBRS band, ensuring multi-vendor interoperability.

To learn more about the OnGo Alliance, please visit http://www.ongoalliance.org.

OnGo Alliance and the OnGo logo are trademarks of OnGo Alliance.

Media Contact:

Ratika Garg

PR – OnGo Alliance

pr.ongo@sociallect.com

The OnGo Alliance, the industry consortium that promotes the development, commercialization, and adoption of LTE and 5G solutions for the US 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), is pleased to announce substantial enhancements and milestones achieved within the CBRS domain.

In a recent significant development highlighted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Public Notice, Citizens Broadband Radio Service Devices (CBSDs) can now continue transmissions on approved grants for up to 24 hours without requiring renewed authorization from the Spectrum Access System (SAS). The effort to implement this policy enhancement was led by the OnGo Alliance and its members.

This enhancement in service applies within the 3550-3650 MHz range for CBSDs positioned outside the neighborhood of Dynamic Protection Areas (an area defined for aggregate interference calculation). CBSDs within the 3650-3700 MHz range can benefit from this extended interval regardless of their geographic location. This will further enhance the performance and reliability of the band and aid enterprises and service providers in delivering business-critical outcomes.

“This advancement in regulation propels the value of CBRS spectrum to new heights, fostering innovation across the board,” stated Stephen Rayment, President of the OnGo Alliance. “CBRS continues to demonstrate its ability to revolutionize connectivity, serving as a pivotal enabler for diverse business use cases and expanding the horizons of wireless access.”

The OnGo Alliance further solidifies its commitment to seamless coexistence among General Authorized Access (GAA) networks through the introduction of its collaborative GAA Coexistence framework. This innovative set of specifications and practices, designed and approved by the Alliance, facilitates the reduction of interference between GAA networks by applying a GAA frequency plan within an area agreed upon by users and associated SAS admins.

As CBRS technology gains traction, its adoption growth becomes undeniable. More than 350,000 CBSDs are in active operation, accompanied by over 650 FCC-authorized end-client devices and a vast network of over 1,000 operators. The Alliance confidently foresees a trajectory of accelerated growth as CBRS technology matures. Enterprises are increasingly harnessing CBRS to establish private networks leveraging both 4G LTE and 5G technologies, serving an ever-expanding range of verticals and use cases. Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) are using CBRS Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) to deliver broadband internet to unserved and underserved areas, helping to close the digital divide.

Additionally, state broadband departments are aligning with the transformative potential of CBRS, as showcased by its inclusion in the $42.5 billion allocation from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.

This momentum will be highlighted in force at Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas, where members of the Alliance will showcase CBRS solutions and devices at the OnGo Alliance Pavilion.

For more information on this FCC Public Notice and CBRS advancements, please refer to the official source here.

About OnGo Alliance:

The OnGo Alliance is an industry consortium that promotes developing, commercializing, and adopting LTE and 5G solutions for the US 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) and evangelizes shared spectrum globally. Formerly the CBRS Alliance, this 140+ member group accelerates the buildout of effective and efficient CBRS networks using 4G and 5G solutions. There are over 350,000 CBRS Access Points across the U.S. currently broadcasting wireless signals on the CBRS spectrum via private and fixed wireless networks, spanning various sectors, including enterprise IT, industrial IoT, smart cities, rural broadband, transportation, hospitality, retail, and real estate. The Alliance has also established a product certification program for OnGo equipment in the CBRS band, ensuring multi-vendor interoperability.

To learn more about the OnGo Alliance please visit http://www.ongoalliance.org

OnGo Alliance and the OnGo logo are trademarks of OnGo Alliance.

Media Contact:

Ratika Garg

PR – OnGo Alliance

pr.ongo@sociallect.com

Meta’s new neutral host wireless network recently launched with the help of CBRS.

For more information on this, please check out Mike Dano’s article here.

BEAVERTON, Ore., April 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — OnGo Alliance, the industry consortium that promotes the development, commercialization, and adoption of LTE and 5G solutions for the US 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), announced the winners for the OnGo Alliance 2022 Awards. The awards recognize innovations in real-world CBRS solutions and their business impact.

The OnGo Annual Awards recognize companies that have demonstrated exceptional leadership, innovation, and success in deploying CBRS to enable new wireless services and applications, drive operational efficiencies, and improve user experiences.

“We are thrilled to honor this year’s OnGo Alliance Annual Award winners for their exceptional deployments of OnGo technology and for leading the way in unlocking the full potential of shared spectrum for private wireless,” said Alan Ewing, Executive Director of OnGo Alliance.

The winners include:

• Excellence in a WISP OnGo Deployment: Awarded to Ericsson (with Ohio TT, Winncom) for expanding broadband to the rural communities of Ohio by providing affordable broadband to more than 20,000 households and small businesses. The solution overcomes many traditional line-of-sight and signal propagation issues, making it possible to deliver broadband service in areas that previously had no other viable connectivity options. Moreover, the new radio technology could be installed on existing water towers, minimizing the need for building new towers.

• Excellence in an Enterprise OnGo Private Network Deployment: Awarded to Baicells Technologies (with Alef Edge, CELLocity, Druid, LittleBird, Winncom) for its deployment in a multi-dwelling unit (MDU) community, providing high-speed broadband access to apartment buildings where laying fiber or coax was not part of the original design plan and was prohibitively expensive. The private wireless network enables MDU service providers to offer smart amenities to residents and enhance safety with IoT applications like door entry access control and interactive video intercoms.

• Excellence in OnGo Technology Innovation: Awarded to JMA (with Boingo, Cisco, Dell, DISH, Google, Hughes, Intel) for providing ORAN and OnGo-compliant 5G virtual RAN and radios using CBRS spectrum on the n48 band to the US Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. With the upgraded private 5G network, Whidbey will better support base operations and maintenance and enhance mission-critical naval functions. The solution showcases a first-of-its-kind operational private 5G network leveraging 5G Standalone core, open standards set by ORAN, and CBRS spectrum with both GAA and PAL licenses.

• OnGo in State, Local, and Education (SLED): Awarded to Federated Wireless (with AWS) for the CBRS private network solution at Cal Poly (California Polytechnic State University) that increased coverage and capacity for students and staff, modernized campus facilities management, and provided low-latency connectivity for data-intensive research applications in the University’s indoor and outdoor innovation lab, driving adoption of 5G features such as the Internet of Things (IoT), digital twins, and autonomous farming.

• OnGo Neutral Host Architecture/Solution: Awarded to CTS (with Airspan, Druid) for deploying a CBRS network at a medical office building looking for a cost-effective replacement for its existing DAS network. In-building cellular coverage is a significant problem that impacts patient and guest satisfaction scores. The OnGo Neutral Host Network provides a solution that improves the patient experience and expands in-building coverage cost-effectively.

• Judge’s Choice: Awarded to Bearcom (with Athonet, Airspan, and BEC) for using OnGo technology in an innovative and exciting way. Bearcom designed and deployed a mobile CBRS private LTE Cell site on Wheels (COW) for a large music festival that, at the organizer’s request, could be put up the week before the event and taken down the week after the music ended – possibly the world’s first PLTE rental! The deployed LTE network provided high-speed connectivity to over 2,000 devices for ticket scanning, POS, artist connectivity and more

“Over the past few years, the OnGo award entries have changed, from technology innovations to business model innovation and practical changes to make OnGo deployments work easily in the field. It’s exciting to see such a variety of deployments in industrial, educational, healthcare, and public venue cases, with a business chain where everybody can make a profit,” said Joe Madden of Mobile Experts, lead judge for the award submissions.

The OnGo Alliance Annual Awards program is open to all members of the OnGo Alliance, and winners are selected by a panel of judges consisting of industry experts. The OnGo Alliance board and its members are uninvolved in the judging process. The panel of judges this year was led by Joe Madden, Founder and Chief Analyst at Mobile Experts. He was joined by Ashish Jain, CEO and Chief Editor, PrivateLTEand5G; Iain Gillott, Founder and President at iGR;  Monica Paolini, Principal at Senza Fili; and Peter Murray, Executive Director at Dense Networks.

About OnGo Alliance:

The OnGo Alliance is an industry consortium that promotes the development, commercialization, and adoption of LTE and 5G solutions for the US 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) and evangelizes shared spectrum globally. Formerly the CBRS Alliance, this 160+ member group accelerates the buildout of effective and efficient CBRS networks, using 4G and 5G solutions. There are over 300,000 CBRS Access Points across the U.S. currently broadcasting wireless signals on the CBRS spectrum via private and fixed wireless networks, spanning various sectors, including enterprise IT, industrial IoT, smart cities, rural broadband, transportation, hospitality, retail, and real estate. The Alliance has also established a product certification program for OnGo equipment in the CBRS band, ensuring multi-vendor interoperability.

To learn more about the OnGo Alliance please visit http://www.ongoalliance.org
For more information on the awards, go to https://ongoawards.org

Welcome our new OnGo Alliance member, Fortress Solutions, which recently announced the establishment of an inter-operability test lab devoted to the private wireless community. Welcome aboard!

Link: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230410005038/en/Fortress-Solutions-Joins-OnGo-Alliance-as-Systems-Integrator-with-4G-5G-Private-Mobile-Network-Inter-Operability-Test-Lab