In their Mobility Field Day 13 presentation, Celona made a strong case for why private 5G belongs in the enterprise stack as a core connectivity fabric. Over multiple sessions, the company laid out a roadmap of evolving architectures, AI-driven orchestration, neutral host models, and automation to simplify deployment. Their bold vision, measured engineering, and real deployment stories helped paint a consistent narrative of their private 5G goals.
Defining the Celona Platform
Mehmet Yavuz kicked off with a review of Celona’s growth trajectory. He highlighted expanding customer adoption, deeper partnerships (notably with AT&T in their Neutral Host model), and the rollout of key technology enhancements such as the Aerloc security architecture and the Celona Frequency Community initiative.
The emphasis was clear: Celona is no longer a boutique 5G startup. They’re a full-scale, enterprise‑grade platform provider, combining radios, edge OS, and a cloud orchestrator into a “whole product” that reduces friction for customers moving into private cellular.
Yavuz also touched on geographic expansion. While CBRS is U.S. specific, Celona is working through regional operator partnerships and spectrum strategies globally. The integration with systems integrators (e.g. Capgemini) positions them for broader adoption in EMEA, APAC, and Latin America.
Neutral Host: Solving Indoor Cellular Gaps
Next, Yavuz and Vanlin Sathya laid out the case for combining enterprise private 5G with indoor public cellular support over the same infrastructure. Their solution supports both T‑Mobile and AT&T, with dual 4G/5G radios running on CBRS.
They illustrated deployments in environments like hospitals and multi‑floor buildings, showing how Celona’s APs outperform macro signals, Wi-Fi, and traditional DAS in coverage, throughput, and voice performance—especially under load and with client mobility.
One compelling example was the Stanford Health Care deployment. In that environment, Celona claimed seamless roaming across floors, strong voice quality, and handoff consistency—even in elevators and vertical transitions. That kind of performance in sensitive settings is a strong proof point.
They framed three primary use cases for Neutral Host deployments: new builds, DAS replacement or retrofit, and underserved buildings. The value proposition: faster deployment (weeks, not months), integration into existing IT stacks, and dual-purpose operation (serving both enterprise and public cellular needs).
Edgeless Architecture: Controllerless Private 5G
One of the most forward-leaning parts of Celona’s presentation was their concept of “Edgeless” architecture. Puneet Shetty introduced this as a next evolution in deployment simplicity.
In traditional private 5G, you’d often need on-site appliances or core hardware. Celona’s Edgeless model shifts more of those functions onto the AP itself and to the cloud, reducing the need for a local appliance.
In the live demo, MJ showed a fully operational private 5G setup using only a single PoE++ Celona AP plugged into standard Ethernet. The AP handled local data path services, L2/L3 integration, firewall/NAC interfacing, and more. Control plane and spectrum management stayed in the cloud.
The goal is clear: make private 5G as easy to deploy as Wi-Fi by stripping out on‑premises complexity. This appeals especially to distributed enterprises with many small sites. Early indicators suggest customers are holding off on POCs until Edgeless is available.
AI‑Driven Orchestration: Celona Orchestrator + Automation
Puneet and Mark Jimenez walked through how Celona is embedding AI into its Orchestrator to accelerate operations, monitoring, and remediation. The demo showed how a minimal setup—AP, devices, cloud—can be brought live with little friction.
They connected devices like a Zebra TC78 and an iPhone 16 Pro to illustrate the provisioning flow. Celona Orchestrator dynamically assigned IPs, integrated with enterprise DHCP, and enabled local breakout. During a WAN disconnect, the system recovered gracefully with minimal user impact.
On the backend, the AI elements collect telemetry from devices, APs, spectrum, and network paths. Orion (their next‑generation RAN/AI engine) layers in issue detection, root cause analysis, and remediation. The system already knows how to identify interference, SIM or DHCP issues, and more. Orion is being trained from patterns across over 150 deployments.
The vision is for Orion to handle day ‑1 (design), day 0 (provisioning), and day N (operational) automation. It integrates with orchestration tools and ITSM workflows like ServiceNow.
What’s Next: High‑Availability, RAN Evolution, Zero Trust
In the final session, Celona pulled together all their threads and teased what’s ahead. Next-gen RAN development is underway: more integrated modems, better MIMO, tighter timing, internal GPS, and streamlined installation.
They plan to roll out a two-node HA Kubernetes model for their cloud stack, strengthen zero trust in IT/OT contexts (e.g., with “Airlock” features), and keep pushing global operator partnerships for spectrum and reach.
Overall, Celona’s MFD13 presentation painted a picture of a company evolving rapidly from a private 5G enabler to a transformative platform provider. The Edgeless architecture, AI automation, and dual-use neutral host capabilities suggest they’re aiming to fold private cellular into enterprise networking in a seamless way. The true yardstick will be deployment traction and real-world reliability—but Celona is staking a bold claim in that direction.
