The future is AI, zero trust, satellite, and network slicing  

Industry 4.0 is revolutionizing how enterprises need to operate. Integrating cloud technology, robotics, mobile devices and IoT devices is essential to staying ahead in an increasingly competitive global market. To maximize the benefits of Industry 4.0, however, these technologies must always stay connected to a network.

This has become even more true as IT environments grow to massive scales and unprecedented digital dependencies drive business outcomes. In 2025, network downtime could carry a price tag with consequences we’ve never seen before. Therefore, as businesses look to cellular and/or hybrid approaches to enhance their wireless wide area networks (WWAN), they must depend on four things to create resilient connectivity -- artificial intelligence (AI), satellite, network slicing, and a renewed respect for zero-trust principles.  

Combining AI and Zero-Trust Security   

Zero-trust is by no means a new concept, but its effectiveness will carry new meaning in 2025. As AI solutions gain popularity and organizations implement new technologies every day, IT architectures seem to perpetually grow in attack surface. This has made it harder for IT leaders to keep track of all the entry points through which bad actors can get into their networks.   

As enterprises deploy cellular or hybrid WWAN networks, they must leverage a solution that employs true zero-trust capabilities. This way, even as an IT environment grows, there is no need to spend hours denying access to certain people and/or battling complicated configuration procedures. CISO’s, CIO’s, IT managers, and beyond must lean into best practices such as minimizing the potential attack surface by cloaking IP addresses, only enabling access based on least privilege and continuously monitoring users to identify any changes that could result in reduced access.    

Zero trust will also become important as enterprises leverage more IoT devices -- and realize their inherent security risks. Iot devices are often set up inadequately, making them vulnerable to attack, and opening them up lateral network movement from bad actors. Once a threat actor is able to breach one device, getting to the others becomes much easier. In 2025, organizations will realize they need the strongest zero-trust measures for their IoT devices. This includes the afore-mentioned cloaking of IP addresses, locking down IoT communications only with authorized hosts and continuous monitoring of traffic.  

AI can, and will, be a massive help in deploying and maintaining these zero-trust measures. As many enterprises struggle to hire cybersecurity staff, AI can alleviate some of the workload for cybersecurity personnel. For example, AI-powered systems can analyze network traffic to identify anomalies and potential threats in real time. They can recommend specific access policies to ensure the network is locked down from threats.  They can also alert cybersecurity personnel of a security incident and even begin remediation efforts if necessary.  

Enhancing Wireless WAN optimization with AI  

Not only is AI a good catalyst for improved zero-trust security, but it can also improve overall WWAN performance. In 2025, more organizations will lean on AI to avoid service interruption and costly network downtime. There are already instances in the market of AI predicting traffic patterns, managing network resources efficiently, and being able to determine root causes of network issues with the recommended remediation. These tasks free up your IT personnel to focus on more critical business objectives.   

Not only can AI help maintain current WWAN performance, but it can also help top decision makers plan for their network’s future. Using AI for data analysis, automation, and predictive insights will provide more detailed input into network operations decisions covering costs, performance and optimization. 

Complementing Cellular with Satellite as part of the WAN Mix   

 In the new year, more enterprises and public sector organizations will fortify their WAN architecture through the combination of cellular and satellite WAN links. While cellular covers about 98 percent of populated areas, organizations that leverage tools (such as connected vehicles) in rural areas can struggle to maintain valuable network connectivity. Simultaneously, satellite download speeds, jitter and latency can vary based on factors such as a line of sight, time of day and whether there are obstructing objects. These factors may not provide sufficient support to enterprise and mission-critical applications. If organizations combine the two -- leveraging WWAN solutions that can intelligently switch between both links and secure connectivity with zero-trust capabilities -- they’ll be able to create a resilient network that constantly supports critical communications.   

Leaning into Network Slicing on 5G Standalone Networks  

In 2025, thanks to a growing number of 5G standalone networks, more carriers will offer Wireless WAN connections with predictable service-level agreements. This will allow organizations, both in the enterprise and public sector, to leverage network slicing capabilities for their critical communications. The public sector -- namely emergency services -- have seen the first deployments so they can ensure life-saving communications even in crowded communication scenarios. In the UK, the national roll-out of 5G standalone networks could save the UK policeforce 11 million hours annually, redirecting officers from day-to-day tasks towards emergency response operations.

Once public safety slices are established, enterprises should look out for future slices, which could include low latency slices, slices for IoT, and slices for bandwidth-hungry video traffic. This will help businesses match their applications to the most relevant network slice and enable differentiated services over 5G networks. It is also important to note that, with network slices essentially allowing devices to operate on their own virtualized network, there is an inherent level of security in a network slice. Threat actors who happen to breach a network through a device will find it more difficult to attack other devices on separate slices.  

Limiting Network Downtime in 2025  

Together, AI, zero-trust, satellite and, eventually, network slicing will enhance a WWAN network that is resilient enough to power organizations around the world in 2025. This resilience will become important as every sector, from healthcare to finance to retail, becomes more dependent on always-available connectivity. With the right WWAN solution, whether cellular or hybrid, and the correct implementation of these four tenets, organizations will achieve unprecedented business success in 2025 and beyond.

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Dee Dee Pare is Senior Product Marketing Manager at Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions.