Ericsson and T-Mobile Team-up to Help Boost Enterprise 5G Laptop Connectivity and Security

“We are excited to be working with T-Mobile to deliver 5G laptops to our employees in the U.S. EVCN provides eSIM management at scale and enables employees to securely connect their 5G laptops to the Ericsson corporate network from virtually anywhere in the U.S.”

Why it matters: By 2025, an estimated 32.6 million Americans will be working remotely, which equates to about 22% of the workforce. In this world, 5G laptops can eliminate the challenges and security concerns around time consuming VPN configurations and public Wi-Fi, providing a streamlined solution for enterprise IT teams and employees.

Who it’s for: Enterprises looking to reduce cybersecurity risks, simplify network IT and give employees an easy way to connect to corporate tools and applications.

T-Mobile announced that Ericsson has selected T-Mobile as the 5G provider for the first phase of its internal EVCN pilot in the U.S. Under the agreement, T-Mobile will deliver connectivity along with Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) capabilities for employees’ 5G laptops. EVCN is a managed IT service that enables enterprises to have their own 5G virtual network. It makes it easier for enterprise IT teams to bring employees a dependable and secure corporate network connection when working remotely.

Let’s face it, organizations with a large percentage of hybrid employees are struggling to ensure ‘work from anywhere’ can happen reliably and securely. Public and even home Wi-Fi networks aren’t always dependable when and where work happens and — most concerning — they can present cyberattack vulnerabilities every time someone clicks ‘join.’

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EVCN with T-Mobile is set to help change all of that by automating eSIM profile management, giving enterprises control of the ordering, downloading and activation of eSIM profiles on 5G laptops. This offers enterprises the ability to maintain their own virtual cellular network and connect employee laptops quickly and securely to T-Mobile’s 5G network.

T-Mobile SASE + Enterprise 5G = power couple

One of the key advantages that T-Mobile brings to Ericsson’s EVCN solution in the U.S. is its groundbreaking SASE solution with T-SIMsecure, delivered through T-Mobile’s Security Slice. This Zero Trust Network Access platform marks the nation’s first SIM-based SASE solution, utilizing International Mobile Subscriber Identity and International Mobile Equipment Identity for clientless authentication. This means that 5G laptops connected to T-Mobile’s network are automatically authorized through the eSIM, further simplifying the work for IT and security teams while delivering improved experiences for employees who are on-the-go.

Employees will be automatically connected to the nation’s most awarded 5G network by a simple eSIM profile activation. So, enterprises can be confident that employees are securely connected, whether they’re working from home, a remote workspace or travelling to the U.S. from overseas.

“We are excited to be working with T-Mobile to deliver 5G laptops to our employees in the U.S. EVCN provides eSIM management at scale and enables employees to securely connect their 5G laptops to the Ericsson corporate network from virtually anywhere in the U.S.,” said Mats Hultin, CIO and Head of Ericsson Enterprise IT. “This allows us to deliver the best possible employee experience and increases productivity of our hybrid workforce. Together we are reimagining a new reality for hybrid working, with 5G unlocking new possibilities for Enterprises to shape a sustainable future through digitalization and infra light IT architectures.”

“Enterprise IT and security teams are overwhelmed with a growing number of cyberthreats from various vectors. The mobile workforce should not be an additional concern,” said Mishka Dehghan, SVP, Strategy, Product, and Solutions Engineering, T-Mobile Business Group. “We’re thrilled to support Ericsson’s EVCN pilot as it’s more critical than ever for businesses and organizations to embrace the latest 5G and SASE innovations to help improve the protection of their networks, applications and information as well as the productivity of their people.”