Out-Of-Band Management & Private LTE

Summary

Coldsmoke creates private LTE networks for its customers, providing secure, reliable remote out-of-band access to critical infrastructure. The company enables organizations to extend their networks by converging public and private network resources, spanning locations and carriers in a secure and reliable way, on one sim.

Through Private LTE coupled with out-of-band management, companies can enjoy global configurable and accessible private networks– a capability typically only available to enterprises today through multimillion-dollar contracts.

The company is dedicated to meeting customers’ requirements for secure, predictable remote connectivity and international reach. Opengear’s Network Resilience Platform is a vital part of the toolchain and supports Coldsmoke’s growing portfolio of customers doing business outside the US, especially in Asia.

Challenge

The Coldsmoke team helps customers design and operationalize predictable and secure networks. However, in the wake of the global COVID-19 crisis, with travel bans, lockdowns, and increased health risks, it was no longer business as usual for Coldsmoke or its customers. When US-based Coldsmoke customer Evenio Networks needed access to its remote fiber networks in Asia and knew that was impossible to achieve with on-the-ground staff on a long-term basis. Furthermore, due to the critical nature of these fiber networks, Evenio knew they needed out-of-band access to monitor and manage the networks.

Evenio had tried a variety of solutions, including using a “Global Programmable SIM.” However, field-testing in Asia revealed serious carrier-level networking configuration issues that made out-of-country access to devices unreliable or impossible.

Finally, Coldsmoke and its customer determined specifically what was needed: A quick-to-deploy, scalable solution that would provide always-on out-of-band access to their critical infrastructure.

“We like Opengear because it is a resilient and performant solution that can be trusted to do the critical job it does. It is not a hacky solution. The Opengear platform is a real professional-grade solution that does not make assumptions about how we want to work.”

Tyler Ament, Solution Architect at Coldsmoke Networks

Solution

Coldsmoke and Evenio chose Opengear’s ACM7000-L Resilience Gateway and Expeto’s NeXtworking Platform to address their out-of-band connectivity problems and create a resilient network solution.

As Coldsmoke’s Tyler Ament, Solution Architect, put it, ‘Opengear’s out-of-band solution was critical for the customer’s infrastructure “as the door to control the network,” ensuring network uptime and connectivity. The team was able to configure and test the Opengear devices in the US, then ship them to different locations in Asia to have remote hands power them on, all without changing cellular modem flavors or SIMs.’

Aside from connectivity, Evenio also prioritized security, which it found in Opengear’s multiple advanced features. In addition to the increased protection created through a private LTE connection that never transits public networks, the ACM7000-L brings extra layers of protection via Firewall, Brute Force Protection, AAA/2FA Support, IPSec, OpenVPN, and more. The OpenVPN system, which is used as a means of communication to Lighthouse (Opengear Centralized Management System) provides in-depth defense via secure point-to-point (or site-to-site) connections across routed or bridged configurations and remote access facilities. As the Coldsmoke team put it, “when you use Lighthouse you have two layers of defense, giving you a true defense-in-depth solution.”

The Results

The combination of technologies provides predictable and configurable IP addressing. Evenio can now design out-of-band device subnets as easily as any other subnet. It also enables private network extension to the edge without lots of complex layers or the need for additional vendors.

Evenio has saved time and effort monitoring and managing its network via the hybrid Opengear and Expeto solution. There is no need to worry about different bands or carrier configurations for separate locations. If network problems arise, Evenio’s team can effectively diagnose and troubleshoot remotely without having to travel to Asia.

Firmware updates and new feature releases included with the Opengear Network Resilience Platform continue to provide seamless and secure connectivity regardless of the production network state.