Cradlepoint NetCloud is a leading wireless connectivity solution offering multi-communication switching, cellular options, and improved VPN usage.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Cradlepoint NetCloud | 2.5% |
| Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN | 10.7% |
| Fortinet FortiGate | 9.5% |
| Other | 77.3% |
Leveraging advancements in 5G networks, Cradlepoint NetCloud enhances connectivity with automatic failover and real-time monitoring tools. It prioritizes flexible and reliable wireless WAN and cellular connectivity, supporting organizations in unconventional locations such as cargo ships. However, improvements are needed in Trend Micro interface for web filtering and budget-friendly options for medium enterprises. Enhancing group-based cloud performance without scripting is also a focal point for further development.
What are the key features of Cradlepoint NetCloud?Cradlepoint NetCloud is implemented widely across industries needing dependable connectivity in challenging locations. Organizations utilize its capabilities on cargo ships, seamlessly switching between network options using Ericsson’s wireless WAN solutions. It collaborates with Fortinet, Meraki, Palo Alto, and Juniper for effective backup failover and recovery, supporting diverse cloud environments while managing Cradlepoint wireless routers for enhanced operational efficacy.
| Author info | Rating | Review Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Product Director at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees | 5.0 | I use Cradlepoint for wireless WAN solutions, particularly because of its focus on 5G connectivity as a primary option. It's valuable but needs more affordable options for mid-sized enterprises. Despite challenges in calculating ROI, it enhances operational efficiency. |
| Product Director at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees | 4.0 | I primarily use Cradlepoint NetCloud for its automatic failover, which is its most valuable feature, finding it stable and scalable. I recommend it, though group-based cloud performance needs enhancement, and support response can be slow. It's a great backup solution. |
| Senior IT Analyst - Telecommunications at Coates Hire | 3.0 | I use Cradlepoint NetCloud to manage wireless routers, appreciating features like online status checks and speed tests. It could improve by allowing more SD-WAN functionality for traffic monitoring. Overall, the return on investment has been positive. |
| General Manager, Information Technology at a logistics company with 1,001-5,000 employees | 4.0 | I find Cradlepoint NetCloud very stable and scalable for automatic network switching, used on ships and remote offices. Despite complex initial setup, excellent support made it worthwhile. It’s a highly valued solution, rated 8/10. |
I use Ericsson, the parent company of Cradlepoint, to provide solutions for wireless WAN technology. Customers are seeking connectivity in nontraditional places or mobile applications.
Ericsson's product line supports these connectivity solutions from a wireless WAN perspective. Additionally, Ericsson is involved in private cellular, including private 5G and 4G LTE services, offering complete product suites to design, build, and deploy these.
Cradlepoint provides real value in its focus on wireless WAN connectivity. As more major carriers in the United States are building out their 5G networks, Cradlepoint supports the option for wireless to be a primary means of connectivity, rather than just a backup. This is due to the growing prevalence of 5G fixed wireless offerings. Furthermore, Cradlepoint products support an evolution in customers looking at wireless connectivity as a primary means of connectivity.
There are areas for improvement, particularly at the lower end of the medium enterprise market. Cradlepoint's portfolio is lacking budget-friendly options. The company realizes that there's a need for affordable connectivity products, especially for lower-end medium enterprises or larger small enterprises, and is working on developing entry-level products in terms of functionality and pricing.
I have been familiar with and working with Cradlepoint products probably for the better part of five to ten years now.
Cradlepoint products support scalability very well in medium to large enterprise environments. Having one or two dedicated Cradlepoint support people with knowledge of the NetCloud management can effectively manage, monitor, and report on performance.
I have worked very closely with Cradlepoint for several years and would rate their customer service as being among the best, scoring them a nine or ten.
Positive
The initial setup of Cradlepoint products is a strong point. Everything is managed through NetCloud Manager, which, although requiring some familiarity, is intuitive and facilitates easy configuration, management, monitoring, and reporting.
For smaller enterprises, having one or two people knowledgeable about the NetCloud management environment suffices. They can efficiently configure, provision, and deploy devices, analyze network issues, and generate performance reports.
For networking equipment like Cradlepoint offers, tracking tangible ROI can be challenging. However, the efficiency they provide by ensuring a smooth-running operation without requiring extensive engineering resources offers substantial value.
Cradlepoint's pricing is viewed as market competitive, offering good value for the money invested. While some customers are price sensitive, others recognize the efficiency and smooth operation as valuable.
I recommend Cradlepoint to others. Overall, I rate Cradlepoint very highly, especially in providing wireless WAN connectivity products. With Ericsson backing them, Cradlepoint stands strong in the market.
I rate the overall solution as ten out of ten.
Cradlepoint NetCloud is primarily used for backup failover, next-day recovery, first-day recovery, and backup.
A large portion of our current business is backup for our Fortinet, Meraki, Palo Alto, and Juniper equipment. Various clouds of variety.
The most valuable feature of this solution is the automatic failover.
The performance of group-based clouds should be enhanced. For instance, when you configure the cloud and it pushes everything down to the devices.
It's great, but I wish I didn't have to enter it into a script and could just push a few buttons.
I have eight years of experience with Cradlepoint NetCloud.
Cradlepoint NetCloud is stable. I have not had any problems with the stability of this solution.
Cradlepoint NetCloud scales well but it does take a bit of time. It might be us, but it is scalable.
We deploy to 50,000 customers. I monitor everything through the cloud.
It is used by tens of thousands of employees, ranging from the IT rep to the company's director.
I would rate their technical support an eight out of ten.
They are good, however, it takes them some time to respond to me.
Positive
The initial setup is very straightforward.
This system is maintained by 30 people, with positions ranging from supervisors to entry-level employees.
The annual cost is less than $200,000 yet more than $150,000.00.
I know of cheaper devices, but they also provide less support and less functionality.
I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it. I would say definitely use it.
We are administrative partners with Cradlepoint.
There are a few things that could change, but they support the business very well. I would rate Cradlepoint a seven out of ten.
I use this solution to manage Cradlepoint wireless routers.
It lets us know whether it is online or not, and lets us do a speed test to see how quick the speed is. These are valuable features.
They should change some of the configuration settings to enable it to act more as an SD-WAN box to view the traffic and who's connected to it and what they are doing it.
I have been using Cradlepoint NetPoint for two years, but I'm not sure which version it is.
I believe the solution is stable.
This solution is scalable, we have two users working with this solution with no plans to increase it.
We have used technical support and we are satisfied.
The setup was straightforward. We purchased some Cradlepoint devices and worked with our partner whom we bought them for to get it set up. We only require one administrator for setup as well as maintenance.
My colleagues set up the solution.
The return on investment has been good.
We have to pay yearly licenses for the product.
I wouldn't recommend this solution and would rate it a six out of ten, since they should change configuration settings to allow a router to act as an SD-WAN box.
We have cargo ships and we have Cradlepoint deployed on each ship. Whenever that ship comes into port, if there's WiFi available, it switches the network over to WiFi. If there's no WiFi, it switches to cellular. If there's no cellular, then it stays on the v-set connection.
The ability to switch between multiple communications, including cellular — waves, circuits, whatever you want to call it. That's the number one feature for us.
We are starting to use the Cradlepoint VPN everywhere now. And it's a huge improvement over the previous VPN we were using.
Cradlepoint has a Trend Micro interface. They run Trend Micro, kind of like firewall — web filtering on top of it. There could be some room for improvement there, but that's kind of reaching.
I have been using this solution for two years.
Cradlepoint NetCloud is very stable. It's so good that we are starting to roll it out and now support some of our remote offices with them now. We have them on all our ships. Now we're rolling it out to our offices in the Caribbean because we'd love to sail over to cellular. That's just something we haven't ever had. That was one of the biggest selling points for us.
Cradlepoint NetCloud is scalable. In our office locations, we're also using it to replace the router. We're getting rid of the Cisco router and the firewall that we've had on location. In the locations where we're deploying these, we're using them as both a router and a firewall.
The technical support is excellent. As I mentioned, we tried to use a third party at first, an integration partner, but they just couldn't quite get the configuration right. Thankfully, Cradlepoint technical support got involved and had it working in a day.
In our situation, the initial setup was complex.
Programming the automatic failover (as I call it) between the different circuits or between the different communications was complicated.
We do the updates ourselves. It's basically just the push of a button. It's easy.
We used a third party, but primarily, it was Cradlepoint that basically ended up programming WAN. Once that was programmed, we just started rolling it out to all the different ones. Once the configuration was set, it was a fairly straightforward rollout.
I believe the net cloud licensing is roughly a couple hundred dollars a year, but I'm not positive. Another manager of ours buys the licenses and I just approve them. I look at the numbers every now and then. When we buy a device, we buy a three-year NetCloud license for it.
Cradlepoint's prices are on par with similar solutions.
If you're interested in going with Cradlepoint, just test it out before you make a decision — Implement it. To test it, typically you should set one up in the office, provide WiFi, and test it that way. That way you can get your configuration working before it goes anywhere remotely.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give Cradlepoint a rating of eight. We haven't found anything better and we've looked at a lot of solutions.
