Highway 9 Networks Emerges from Stealth with the First Mobile Cloud for Enterprises

Funding of $25 million underscores the still unmet market need and $10B opportunity to provide cloud-native mobility and services for AI-driven enterprises

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Highway 9 Networks launched from stealth, introducing the industry's first mobile cloud for delivering cloud-native mobility and services for the AI-driven enterprise. Developed by veteran leaders from VMware, the Highway 9 Mobile Cloud enables voice + data coverage everywhere, reliable and high-performance mobile connectivity for AI-driven use cases like robotics, factory automation and drones, and always-on mobile data access for top priority apps and communications. The Highway 9 founding team previously built multiple billion-dollar business lines at VMware and have applied their cloud-native design and operational learnings to the development of the Highway 9 Mobile Cloud – a first in the traditionally physical and telecom infrastructure-centric mobile networking industry.

With the proliferation of mobile phones, tablets and an increasingly hybrid work force in today's enterprises, there is a high demand for consistent mobile coverage across indoor, outdoor and campus environments. In parallel, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers are embracing AI-driven, autonomous and mobile devices + machinery. Today's fixed wireless solutions do not adequately address the mobility, resiliency, and predictable, low-latency performance requirements needed by this growing number of mobile-first use cases. Likewise, distributed antenna systems (DAS), which were the primary tool to extend carrier cellular networks into the enterprise, cannot meet the exploding demands in this area.

Several advances in private mobile technology, including the availability of free spectrum, multi-eSIM support and private 5G, finally make it possible to address the needs of the mobile enterprise. Highway 9 Networks has leveraged these technology advances and combined them with a robust set of cloud-based mobile services to build a first-of-its-kind mobile cloud.

Highway 9 Mobile Cloud enables smart phones, tablets, computers, new AI-driven devices, and the proliferation of next gen IoT to interconnect with apps, data and each other, as well as cloud services. It addresses the key enterprise requirements of cleanly integrating into existing IT infrastructure and security policies, seamlessly operating across mobile service providers, and delivering a cloud-based approach to automate and lifecycle manage the full mobile stack.

"We created a mobile cloud for the enterprise, building on the superior range, mobility, resiliency, predictability and low-latency characteristics of private cellular technology, and coupled it with a fully cloud-native platform. The Highway 9 Mobile Cloud delivers the always-on, performant mobile network needed for private mobility and modern AI-aware systems, regardless of whether they are indoors, outdoor, campus-wide or beyond," said Allwyn Sequeira, founder and CEO, Highway 9 Networks. "Much like the last decade saw the migration of servers and apps to the public cloud, we believe the next decade will see the migration of mobile and AI clients and devices to the mobile cloud, unleashing a whole new wave of innovation."

The Highway 9 Mobile Cloud Explained

Highway 9 Mobile Cloud radically simplifies and automates the deployment + operation of private mobile networks. Its unique cloud-native model and fully-integrated set of mobile services enable a much faster rollout of mobile connectivity vs. traditional telco-focused mobile equipment. Highway 9 Mobile Cloud provides end-to-end visibility and maintains an IT team's centralized control and policies.

Key capabilities:

• Uniform connectivity, control and orchestration of mobile devices organization-wide
• Full stack of mobile services including SIM, SAS, radio, packet core, orchestration and life cycle management
• Simple cloud-based management for Day 0, 1 and 2 tasks with end-to-end visibility
• Transparent integration with IT infrastructure, policies and operations
• Interworking across key carriers with seamless private/public roaming
• Extensibility to support a growing set of partner integrations and cloud services

Key benefits:

• Simplified cloud-based operations and familiar model for enterprise IT teams
• Faster time-to-service and time-to-value
• Lower total cost of ownership (TCO) vs. traditional Wi-Fi deployments
• Stronger security through deep integration with enterprise security controls and policies

Highway 9 Mobile Cloud can be used across three sets of solutions to enable a wide range of use cases across many industries:

1. Everywhere mobile coverage – ubiquitous access to voice and data services within, across and outside of locations of all sizes
2. AI and automation – high performance and low latency connectivity for AI-driven factory automation, autonomous machines and next-gen IoT
3. Always-on mobile data – isolated private mobile network for reliable and secure connectivity to critical apps and channels

Industry Feedback

Fueling the company's launch is over $25 million of funding from top-tier investors including Mayfield, General Catalyst and Detroit Ventures, as well as a growing number of prominent enterprise and institutional customers. Highway 9 was also named a Cool Vendor in the 2023 Gartner^® Cool Vendors™ in Cloud That Drive Business Disruption.

"In our dynamic environment across the MIT campus, we need to ensure that students, faculty, staff and others can always connect securely to their apps and data...wherever they are and whatever they're doing," said Mark Silis, Vice President Information Systems & Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "The Highway 9 Mobile Cloud provides a platform-level solution to help us do this, while saving us significant time through their cloud-based operations and tiers of integration."

"Private mobile networking and private 5G have the opportunity to fundamentally transform enterprise communications and accelerate digital automation," said Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst, ZK Research. "But today's offerings aren't forward-leaning or ready for widespread enterprise usage because they're still complex and telecom-centric. What enterprises need is a simplified and cloud-native approach, essentially a mobile cloud, and that's what Highway 9 is bringing to market."

"As a people-first investor, I've been thrilled to work with the veteran team of entrepreneurs at Highway 9 and their game-changing idea of building a mobile cloud," said Ursheet Parikh, Partner, Mayfield. "They see the big picture of what mobility can do in enabling enterprises' AI-powered initiatives to transform their business, and they've cracked the nut by applying a cloud-native model to it, which will greatly speed adoption of both private mobility and AI in the coming years."

For more information about Highway 9 Networks, please read CEO Allwyn Sequeira's founding story and launch post here.

About Highway 9 Networks
Founded by veteran cloud and networking innovators, Highway 9 Networks has developed a unique cloud-based approach to enterprise mobile networking that addresses both everywhere, always-on mobile coverage and AI's dynamic connectivity requirements. The Highway 9 Mobile Cloud leverages the key capabilities of private cellular technology coupled with a cloud-native mobile platform to provide the consistent operations, IT integration and ease-of-use that today's enterprises require. Learn more at highway9.com.

SOURCE Highway 9 Networks