By John Celentano, Inside Towers, Business Editor
Druid Software, based in Ireland, has progressed over the last 20 years to become a leading provider of private cellular technology. In the summer of 2020, the company was one of the first to deliver 5G SA (standalone) private network technology for the latest 5G testbeds and use cases.
More importantly, the company won a major deal recently with a European mobile network operator that selected Druid’s software for its 5G private network market rollout. Druid has also landed some key 5G projects at home and internationally with its RAEMIS™ platform.
The wireless industry is taking note of the company’s technical capabilities.
Druid along with Geoverse recently won the 2021 Small Cell Forum’s “Outstanding Innovation” Award for “the City of Tucson [AZ] Smart City OnGo deployment, addressing the Digital Divide.”
With mobile data demand escalating in private networks across many vertical markets, Druid is well-positioned to capture a share of that growth.
A Bit of History
The company name is a reference to ancient Irish times where a druid was a philosopher, teacher, counsellor and even, a magician. The word translates roughly as “Forest Sage” or “Strong Seer.”
In that spirit, Liam Kenny, Druid Software co-founder and CEO, reveals how the company has evolved and grown through innovation. “We built our platform to address various business- and mission-critical solution areas. While WiFi is great for consumer wireless communications, it doesn’t necessarily serve businesses that have critical use cases that need to scale and deliver 24/7 data.”
In the early years, the company’s progress was dampened by scarce cellular spectrum license availability for private networks. “We wanted to deliver high quality data services but there wasn’t enough bandwidth back then compared to unlicensed technologies like WiFi for maximum throughput,” says Kenny.
Now that regulators in many countries are opening more cellular spectrum for private networks, the timing is ideal. Kenny suggests Druid’s 4G and 5G core technology will be “a must-have solution for businesses struggling to support their operational use cases effectively, without relying solely on WiFi.”
The RAEMIS™ Platform
Druid’s primary offering is its RAEMIS core software platform. RAEMIS is widely deployed with impressive results. To date, there are over 1,500 commercial sites running on the RAEMIS platform where private network spectrum is available. Moreover, the company has nearly 1,000 other sites that are either in the proof-of-concept or field trial stages.
The secret sauce? A key feature of the RAEMIS platform is its ease of integration with important business applications such as mission critical push-to-talk (MCPTT), nurse call, and industrial automation that run on third-party vendor mobile and IoT devices served from small cells.
“Druid built the RAEMIS platform to be very integrable. We have always had REST API (REpresentational State Transfer Application Programming Interfaces) architecture integrated with the earliest versions of RAEMIS back in the 2G and 3G days. We wanted web app capability to be easily incorporated to add value as soon as the switch is flipped. Now we see the 5G industry is embracing REST as the API model to cloudify the network,” Kenny points out.
Enterprise Slicing
Another significant element of Druid’s success is its ability to support private network slicing. That capability was first unveiled in 2019 in its 4G LTE product and more recently, was incorporated into its 5G release.
By using Druid’s RAEMIS platform, mobile devices operating on an Enterprise’s private network can be grouped and assigned priority with a guaranteed quality of service (QoS).
Such assignments can be made in multiple distinct software “slices.”
A Gold Slice serves the most critical users including industrial automation devices which operate at a very high level of QoS and very low latency.
The Silver Slice services high priority users with a mixture of IoT devices, such as cameras and sensors, along with some mobile handsets that operate at a mid-range QoS.
The Bronze Slice serves applications such video streaming that generally can tolerate a lower QoS ranking.
RAEMIS™ 5G Private Network Enterprise Slicing
All three slices are dynamically linked with their own virtual local area network (VLAN). This VLAN association ensures continuity of the service isolation within the overall Enterprise LAN. Each slice has its own user plane function (UPF) to assure full traffic isolation from a QoS perspective.
Routes to Market
Druid does business with the Enterprise end users through channel partnerships consisting of value-added resellers, systems integrators, and distributors. These channels-to-market allow the company to work closely with integrators that build their respective product roadmaps around what is important to the end user’s needs.
In this scenario, everyone benefits, especially the end users, “who enjoy virtualized, cloud-based functionality or run their network at the ‘edge’ as a standalone solution at any of their locations, to further reduce latency for specific use cases,” according to Kenny. He explains that this has been a common practice for Druid and their partners around the globe.
Fixed Wireless Access Solutions
Druid offers versions of the RAEMIS platform to specifically support fixed wireless access (FWA) applications.
The timing of this feature is fortuitous. The OnGo Alliance’s 3.5 GHz CBRS spectrum that is available in the U.S. has spawned an emergence of FWA applications for Enterprise private networks and among wireless internet service providers (WISPs). Certainly, the COVID pandemic has only added to the substantial need for reliable, high-speed broadband connections in people’s homes.
Enterprises also need reliable and secure private networks. Druid and its partners are making it happen and flexibility is a critical component. “Our core is flexible,” Kenny emphasizes. “We’re able to easily integrate with WISPs preferred billing systems, interoperate with various base station vendors of their choice. More importantly, the platform supports centralized and distributed models that allow WISPs to roll out and easily manage their respective local, regional or national networks.”
Competitive Advantage
Druid ensures its technology interoperates with RAN and Core hardware platforms supplied by the major wireless original equipment manufacturers. RAEMIS supports both Nokia and Ericsson small cells, for example.
The company suggests that channel partners, such as ISP Supplies of College Station, TX, find Druid’s software easier to install and maintain compared to core network platforms supplied by the major wireless OEMs.
So, where is the competition? Smaller software providers such as Athonet are the company’s main rivals, though not in the FWA market. Druid has a leg up on competitors when it comes to supplying WISPs in the U.S. through distributors like ISP Supplies.
Kenny boasts that Druid, “deployed large, mission critical private networks in hospital university campuses in 2011 and 2012. We have a lot of experience in determining what the Enterprise wants and needs, and in delivering a solution that satisfies everyone. We’ve been at it longer than anybody else, especially in the European market.”
Bright Prospects
The company is hinting at more high-profile Enterprise deals on the horizon. The company has established a foothold in the all-important North American market, working with system integrator partners on various applications.
Expect some announcements from this Irish company in the future, as it is hitting its stride. With these guys, it really is a case of “Druid by name, Druid by nature.”
For more information on Druid Software’s products and services visit: www.druidsoftware.com
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