Aruba Technologies Deploys Wi-Fi-enabled 5G for Indoor Use

According to a recent announcement, Aruba Technologies has created a set of technologies designed to assist enterprises to address connectivity without making infrastructure investments. 

The company’s new Aruba Air Pass is a roaming service that reportedly extends the reach of 5G networks inside with existing Wi-Fi access points. The company said that the technology recognizes when a user's mobile phone is in the vicinity of an Aruba enterprise wi-fi network and automatically onboards users to the network using SIM credentials.

“5G is still being rolled out by telcos, and the technology itself is continuing to evolve,” said Dave Chen, senior product marketing manager, Aruba Technologies. “The challenge a lot of telcos are facing... is providing end users with granular information on what types of experiences they can deliver. We're starting to see question of what does 5G mean for end users.”

The new service is designed to assist enterprises in taking advantage of 5G services in a cost-effective way. An enterprise can use Air Pass to leverage the existing Wi-Fi infrastructure to bring 5G cell service indoors. This can occur instead of spending on indoor small cells or distributed antenna systems (DAS ).