Want private 5G devices and Industry 4.0 knowhow? Go to Vertex

It is kind of funny to hear the top-feeders in the telecoms market talk about how they ‘get’ the enterprise sector, suddenly. It is kind of frustrating that, after years of hawking private 5G like it is a panacea for the diverse and dynamic challenges of digital transformation, they ‘talk-the-talk’, like they are deeply engaged with enterprises in ‘problem solving’. Because certain channel specialists have always worked this way – to build both a rapport and a solution, where cellular is only a part of the picture.

This is the view, essentially, of US mobility distributor Vertex Wireless, which has been working with enterprise resellers and enterprise customers since 5G was just a future release-note in 3GPP files. 

Mike Fleming, senior director of marketing and business development at Vertex Wireless, blows out his cheeks. “Yeah. It is not a secret sauce by any means. It is just old-school business,” he says, responding to the suggestion that mobile operators and network vendors, all a-flutter about private 5G in Industry 4.0, have seized upon the idea of ‘old-school business’ in recent years like it is a total revelation.

But he does not really want to talk about them; he prefers to discuss his firm’s own version of ‘solution selling’, and how it differs from more direct rivals in enterprise distribution channels. “Other distributors can’t seem to figure it out – because they’re too transactional. They’ve built out these elaborate web portals where you can order thousands of units and spend millions of dollars,” he says

“Rather than making themselves available and interested to have a conversation with resellers and enterprises about how to match a technology solution to a business problem. Which is what we do, and what we have always done.”

Fleming might not want to talk about the rest of the market, but the message is loud and clear: that good businesses in the enterprise channel know (their) enterprise customers better. 

Vertex Wireless, based in Chicago in the US, sells industrialised handsets, tablets, routers, sensors, and whatever-other peripherals might be required to solve developing Industry 4.0 challenges with efficiency and productivity. It is Samsung’s premier distributor in the US enterprise market, and holds ready-stock of whatever shock-proof, water-proof, fire-proof handhelds, wearables, sensors, and accessories are being attached to new private 4G and 5G networks on CBRS spectrum in the US, as well as for regular carrier networks. It works through the specialist reseller channel, and also sells directly to enterprises.

It has “well over a thousand enterprise resellers” on its books already, mostly in the US, but crossing north and south of the border, as well; it is open for more enterprise business, says Fleming. “Enterprise is our focus in 2025; it’s our growth channel,” he says. Besides, as per its traditional offer, it serves national and regional network (and virtual network) operators (MNOs and MVNOs) in the US, again via resellers – described by Fleming as “go-betweens for the manufacturer and the enterprise itself”. Day-to-day, via its partners, Vertex Wireless is closer to enterprises than anyone, right? “Yes, absolutely,” responds Fleming.

He says: “We are different from most distributors. We’re privately owned and partnership-driven; we’re agile and fluid. We have direct relations with Samsung, Google, Motorola, Nokia, every Android manufacturer under the sun. Mobility is our heartbeat; we live, breathe, eat, and sleep mobility.” As well as fast fulfillment, competitive pricing, and high-touch service, Vertex Wireless is focused on long-term relationship-building – to empower its reseller partners to empower their enterprise customers. Which is, in essence, the definition of ‘old-school’ business – and what the rest of the market has hit upon lately like it is a eureka moment. 

Fleming comments: “The enterprise resale channel has become more and more complex. It is about much more than just a mobile device – much more than a Samsung S24, or any other iconic flagship device. It’s more about what the device does, and less just about the badge on it. It is a complicated sale, which requires a consultative approach – to put together the whole puzzle, rather than to leave pieces out. Which is where we thrive with our reseller partners.” He describes a classic Industry 4.0 setup: an oil-and-gas customer wants a thousand ruggedized CBRS-compliant Samsung tablets. 

“The point is those devices serve a very specific purpose,” he explains. “Yes, they’re consumer-based units; every mobile device in the market is consumer-based, originally. The discipline is to fit it to an enterprise application – which is about more than just hardware. So there’s a job to layer-in mobile device management (MDM), or other configuration controls, or preloaded applications. The challenge, now, for resellers is to ask more questions. How are you using these devices? What is the use case? What is the business case? That is where the industry has changed over the last five years.”

Vertex Wireless is “coaching and consulting” with its resellers to make sure they go deeper with enterprise customers – “to get answers to those questions, so that the solution always fits the application”, says Fleming, again. And when these complex Industry 4.0 solutions are primed by the reseller, in collaboration with the enterprise, then Vertex Wireless is ready to join their parts in ready-stock, and ship them in record-time. “When enterprises pull the trigger on 5G, they want it yesterday,” says Fleming. “They don’t want to wait to place an order with the manufacturer; they want those solutions right away.”

He goes on: “Which is another point of difference for us. Because we are a ‘stocking’ distributor, unlike others; we hold thousands of SKUs (stock keeping units) in our warehouses, all the time, ready to go. Other distributors run an on-demand model, where the order goes via the original manufacturer, and takes six-to-eight weeks to fulfil.” Has that expectation of speed in the channel changed because enterprises have always taken smartphones for workers, and because they expect a consumer-style retail fulfilment model – even if what they are asking for is, increasingly, complex? “Not really,” responds Fleming. 

“Their expectations are driven by their desires to deliver all of these efficiencies – which these solutions promise. The reason they want to get these devices into the hands of workers is because of the business efficiencies they will deliver. And they expect their reseller and distributor partners to work on the same principle – in response to their kind of urgent requirement for high efficiency.” The point is, that for proper engagement and rapid delivery of bespoke mobility solutions for complex Industry 4.0 in the US, then Vertex is open for business – and waiting for your call, says Fleming. “We are ready to roll on this stuff.”