Warehouse & Logistics
Private 5G for Warehouse Automation
How an 850,000-square-foot, high-turnover distribution center replaced its unstable Wi-Fi network with EdgeNectar’s private 5G, achieving seamless mobility and a lower operating cost despite higher device price.
Business impact
The challenge
Legacy Wi-Fi and its limitations
The warehouse ran on 200 Wi-Fi industrial access points and 200 Wi-Fi PDA barcode scanners for picking, receiving, and cycle counting. As the operation scaled, network problems grew with it:
- Frequent scanner disconnects during peak workflows.
- Dropouts in high racks and metal-rich aisles.
- Slow scan-to-database updates from latency spikes.
- Manual credential management for every device, and shared-password security risk.
Resulting in slower throughput, rising IT labor, and higher operational-interruption costs.
The Solution
Solution: CompactOne 5G, delivered as autonomous private 5G and operated by AIDEN.
Zero-touch private 5G, pre-provisioned before it ever shipped
The facility upgraded to EdgeNectar’s integrated private 5G solution: an on-site EdgeNectar 5G system, a remote 5G cloud controller for monitoring and provisioning, far fewer CBRS radio units than the 200 Wi-Fi APs they replaced, and 200+ CBRS-enabled PDA scanners with pre-provisioned SIMs.
EdgeNectar configured every network parameter before shipment — the 5G network pre-tuned and optimized, every PDA SIM provisioned in advance. Devices auto-connected on arrival: no Wi-Fi passwords, no SSID setup, no certificates. After installation, the warehouse IT team needed to do no network operations at all — no troubleshooting, no credential resets.
5G PDA scanners still cost more than Wi-Fi scanners today, though that gap has narrowed sharply over the last 2–3 years. But measured on total cost of ownership, private 5G already wins: it eliminates the repeated Wi-Fi tuning, scanner reconnection failures, manual inventory recovery, and daily IT troubleshooting that were the real cost driver all along.
Why warehouse Wi-Fi struggles once operations start to move
Scanners are the forgiving case: a person absorbs every dropped connection. Autonomous robots have no one to do that. Read why warehouse Wi-Fi reaches its limit when the operation starts to move.
Why this site runs on autonomous private 5G
After installation, the distribution center’s IT team needed to do no network operations at all. AIDEN operates the network, and the on-site 5G system carries the traffic locally, with the cloud controller used only for monitoring and provisioning. That is what makes it autonomous private 5G.