ALE International, trading as Alcatel-Lucent, has released an updated Private 5G offer built around AerFlex — a new AP-only deployment architecture that removes the need for on-site servers, baseband units, and custom cabling. Access points connect to existing LAN switches via standard Power over Ethernet, with zero-touch cloud provisioning handling multi-site rollouts without a specialist engineer present at each location.
The update targets industrial environments where traditional Private 5G deployments have stalled at procurement: manufacturing floors with metal-dense layouts, logistics warehouses with large outdoor footprints, and energy sites where connectivity is a safety requirement. AerFlex embeds authentication, NAC, DHCP, firewall, and edge AI processing directly in the AP, reducing the deployment from weeks to what ALE describes as a standard PoE installation.
"ALE Private 5G is designed to remove much of the traditional complexity associated with private cellular deployments, making it significantly easier for enterprises to deploy and scale, especially for multi-site and industrial environments — with more flexibility in how the network is designed and operated."
— Christopher Maldonado, Product Line Manager Private 5G, Alcatel-Lucent
The release also deepens integration with the OmniVista network management platform, which now shows Private 5G access points alongside existing LAN and WLAN assets in a single inventory view. Alcatel-Lucent says it remains the only vendor managing LAN, WLAN, and Private 5G from one platform.
The updated offer covers a range of new indoor and outdoor AP options for larger deployments, an extended professional services portfolio covering site surveys, validation, and managed services, and an open device ecosystem that connects IoT gateways to the Private 5G network without requiring device replacement.
Private 5G is a growing alternative to Wi-Fi in environments where robotic fleets, automated guided vehicles, and IoT sensor networks require deterministic, low-latency connectivity that radio spectrum interference and physical obstructions make difficult to guarantee with Wi-Fi alone. The Alcatel-Lucent update is aimed at lowering the infrastructure barrier that has kept industrial deployments in the pilot phase at many organisations.
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