Cellular connectivity was often relegated to a failover connection option. Because of its mobile or remote nature, 5G was used as a primary connection for vehicle fleets, IoT devices, and remote workers in places where wired broadband wouldn’t work or couldn’t be obtained.

But this sentiment is changing. More and more organisations recognise 5G for its agility to support connectivity needs regardless of the business’s location. According to Cradlepoint’s 2024 Global State of Connectivity Report, 40% of Australian organisations revealed that improving connectivity was a top business priority. This is because Australian executives believe that improved connectivity is directly linked to revenue growth, with over a quarter of businesses saying that better connectivity would result in 20 to 29% revenue growth in the next 12 months by enabling things like quicker sales transactions, more efficient operations, and enhanced productivity.

However, as more devices sit on the edge of the network, enterprises grapple to protect a larger attack surface from bad actors. Australia has had its fair share of major company security breaches in recent years, with more than 40% of organisations surveyed reporting having been subject to a network security attack in the last 12 months.

Amid this backdrop, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is gaining momentum and it’s not hard to see why. This cloud-based architecture is designed to secure today’s corporate networks and protect enterprises with expanded attack surfaces and distributed workforces.

5G vs wired broadband: what’s the difference?

The flexibility and reliability that 5G WAN provides are appealing, but before leveraging this technology, enterprises must understand how it differs from wired broadband and why combining it with SASE for an agile, secure network makes sense.

First, 5G allows a mobile component for your network. This creates mobile WAN connectivity for any size organisation that utilises fleets of vehicles and requires in-vehicle connectivity. 5G bandwidth also fluctuates depending on signal strength and quality from the connected cell tower. Metered links can also be an important consideration and most organisations need to track data plan usage across Wireless WAN connections. 

As carriers complete their rollouts of 5G standalone (SA) networks, organisations can subscribe to network slices with low latency or higher bandwidth—or even both—that accommodate their applications. This is similar to MPLS services available on wired broadband so that, where required, the performance of the link can be assured. 

Lastly, when your WAN connectivity is delivered through cellular, there are no physical links to help you understand all the connections and dependencies in your network. This means having the proper visibility tools is more important than ever for troubleshooting and management.

Combining 5G and SASE

The combination of 5G and SASE requires a comprehensive network management solution. Since visibility and analysis of a cellular network can be difficult, it will help if you can leverage a network management solution that brings in valuable cellular health metrics to make remediation less complex.

There are times when implementing network security features takes up bandwidth and hampers network performance. For example, IPsec tunneling is often used to secure data as it moves through your network. In certain instances, network security or IT personnel will leverage a solution that encrypts the tunnel to secure traffic from an application that is already encrypted. This “double encryption” negatively impacts bandwidth and can slow down the very application someone on the network is trying to use. Alternatively, micro tunneling, as a part of your 5G and SASE architecture, creates a network security approach that protects data in transport without hampering performance and bandwidth utilisation.

While micro tunneling helps secure data transport, SIM authentication plays a starring role in securing endpoints in 5G WAN. For IoT devices, laptops, and mobile devices, SIM authentication enables a secure but simple way to provide an identity source that can be used to create a security policy. This allows for a clientless security solution across both unmanaged and managed devices.

5G and SASE: Preparation for the future

For any organisation, it’s important to combine the latest technology with the best security features. 5G WAN is no different. 5G and SASE help you take your network to new places while making sure your network is always safe.

Looking ahead, as 5G standalone networks give way to more mainstream network slicing, a comprehensive network approach that combines 5G and SASE will provide efficiency and security for the networks of today—while setting the foundation for networks of the future. 

Arrange a meeting to discuss your SASE strategy with an Ericsson Expert.