California-based private wireless provider Celona has introduced a new platform called Celona Orion, which the company describes as a unified agentic converged wireless system. The announcement, made public today, brings together multiple wireless technologies—private 5G, Wi-Fi, public cellular, and satellite connectivity—into what Celona calls a single deterministic network fabric.
The platform is explicitly designed to support the connectivity requirements of physical AI applications. This includes autonomous vehicles (AVs), autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), computer vision systems, and edge software agents. According to Celona, Orion represents a shift away from legacy device-centric networking toward an intelligent, multi-network architecture intended for automated enterprise operations.
The company, headquartered in Campbell, California, said that Orion simplifies infrastructure management by bundling private 5G and Wi-Fi 7 access points under a single subscription model. Additionally, Celona is offering an open-source agent for robotics manufacturers, which the company says is designed to help robotic systems make smarter decisions about which network to use at any given time.
One of the practical examples Celona provided involves an uncrewed hauler operating at a mining site. During normal operations, the vehicle might connect to a private 5G network. At the end of a shift, once the hauler returns to a garage, it could switch to Wi-Fi for high-speed data downloads and software updates. This kind of selective connectivity is at the core of what Orion aims to enable.
In terms of new capabilities, Celona Orion introduces what the company calls an agentic operations platform for converged wireless. Celona Wi-Fi 7 access points are included at no additional cost, according to the announcement. Factory and warehouse customers can deploy Celona private 5G access points alongside Celona Wi-Fi access points to create overlapping coverage canopies. The entire network can then be managed through the Orion Orchestrator, which Celona describes as a "single pane of glass" for network administration.
Luca Chichiarelli, head of IT operations at tile vendor Del Conca USA, was quoted in the announcement discussing the operational reality that many enterprises face. He noted that his company's operations rely on multiple wireless technologies, each serving a different purpose across different environments. As automation expands, he said, more devices, systems, workflows, and workers are being connected in more places. Bringing those networks together under a common platform, he added, can simplify operations while maintaining the security, reliability, and control that the business requires.
Why it matters for European robot service
For the European robotics and automation ecosystem, the Celona Orion announcement touches on several themes that are becoming increasingly relevant across the continent's industrial sectors.
European manufacturers, logistics operators, and port authorities have been deploying AMRs and AVs at a steady pace. These deployments often take place in complex environments—warehouses, factory floors, container terminals, and outdoor industrial sites—where no single wireless technology has proven universally adequate. Wi-Fi has been the default for many indoor applications, but it has well-documented limitations when it comes to supporting mobile robots that move quickly, roam across large areas, or operate in environments with significant radio frequency interference. Private 5G has emerged as a more robust alternative for some use cases, but it has its own constraints, particularly around capacity for large data transfers and the cost and complexity of deployment.
The Celona Orion approach attempts to address this by allowing robots to maintain a single SIM identity that can authenticate on both Celona Wi-Fi and Celona private 5G networks. This means a robot can move between networks without losing its identity, which is a significant operational consideration for fleet managers. The platform also supports integration with other vendors' Wi-Fi or private 5G networks, according to Celona, which positions Orion not just as a commercial product but as an ecosystem play.
For European operators, the question of network convergence is not merely a technical nicety—it has direct implications for uptime, safety, and return on investment. A robot that loses connectivity in the middle of a task can cause production delays, and in safety-critical environments, connectivity loss can raise serious concerns. The ability to steer traffic between networks based on quality thresholds, as Celona describes with its AerConnect agent, could help mitigate some of these risks.
The open-source nature of AerConnect is also noteworthy for the European market, where there is strong interest in avoiding vendor lock-in and maintaining flexibility in technology choices. Celona said the goal of AerConnect is to maintain a non-proprietary agent that is aware of all available wireless interfaces and can handle visibility, monitoring, and traffic steering among those interfaces. The endpoint—the robot itself—can decide which network to use at any given time, based on factors such as quality thresholds, and can also switch networks when performance or reliability issues arise.
Another aspect that could resonate with European operators is the satellite connectivity integration. Celona said Orion integrates the management of Starlink satellite connectivity with private 5G and Wi-Fi, enabling enterprises to extend their wireless fabric to remote and previously unconnected locations. This could be relevant for industries such as mining, agriculture, forestry, and utilities, where operations often take place far from reliable terrestrial connectivity. From one platform, teams can bring up private 5G, Wi-Fi, and satellite-backed connectivity wherever operations need to run, Celona said. The company also claimed that new sites can be brought online in hours rather than weeks or months, using the same operating model everywhere.
Brandon Butler, senior research manager for network infrastructure and services at IDC, was quoted in the announcement offering an analyst perspective. He noted that Wi-Fi and private 5G have matured into essential but largely disconnected enterprise connectivity technologies. As AI workloads and edge computing reshape operational networks, he said, enterprises increasingly need both—not as separate silos, but as a unified, intelligently managed system. In an AI-driven era where connectivity is foundational to business innovation, he added, platforms that converge Wi-Fi and private 5G management, coupled with AI-driven orchestration and insights, address a real operational challenge. He said Celona Orion helps define this emerging category of enterprise wireless platforms designed to simplify management and orchestration while allowing enterprises to leverage the strengths of each technology.
What buyers and operators should know
For organizations considering whether Celona Orion is relevant to their operations, there are several practical points to keep in mind.
First, the platform addresses a real pain point that many robot fleet operators have encountered: the need to choose between Wi-Fi and private 5G, often from different vendors, with limited ability to move seamlessly between networks. Celona said that Wi-Fi may struggle with mobile robots, while private 5G can be capacity-constrained for large overnight data transfers. Orion is designed to enable a single SIM identity on the robot to authenticate on both Celona Wi-Fi and Celona private 5G while maintaining the robot's identity when moving between networks.
Second, security is architected into the platform rather than added at the edges, according to Celona. This includes SIM-based identity, micro-segmentation for operational technology, and IT/OT separation—all delivered through an in-house software stack and a single trusted supply chain. For enterprises in regulated industries, or those with strict cybersecurity requirements, this approach to security may be a relevant consideration.
Third, the platform is not limited to Celona's own hardware. Celona said Orion can be used with other vendors' Wi-Fi or private 5G networks. This interoperability could be important for organizations that have already invested in networking infrastructure from other suppliers and are looking for a way to unify management rather than rip and replace.
Fourth, the open-source AerConnect agent is aimed at robotics OEMs. Its purpose is to provide a non-proprietary agent that is aware of all available wireless interfaces and can handle visibility, monitoring, and traffic steering among those interfaces. The goal is to enable a robotic system to decide which network to use when, such as based on quality thresholds, and to switch when performance or reliability issues arise. For robotics manufacturers, this could offer a way to build more robust connectivity into their products without being tied to a single wireless vendor.
Fifth, Celona is moving toward what it calls agentic network operations, where AI agents act like virtual members of the IT/OT team. The company said troubleshooting is informed by network infrastructure data from Celona Orchestrator, kept local and accessible via Model Context Protocol (MCP) and large language models (LLMs). Celona Brain, a model trained on the company's internal documents and code, acts as a digital twin of a Celona engineer. The stated goal is to bridge the connectivity skill gap for roboticists who are not wireless experts and improve the scalability of physical AI deployments.
The Orchestrator AI exposes network capabilities through open, standards-based interfaces and an extensible library of skills and agents built by Celona, according to the company. These agents can work with an enterprise's preferred LLM platform and collaborate with other agents across the AI-native enterprise. Celona claimed that the result is a new operating model that elevates wireless teams from network operators to orchestrators of the infrastructure the AI-native enterprise depends on.
Rajeev Shah, co-founder and CEO of Celona, was quoted in the announcement discussing the broader vision. He noted that for years, enterprises have deployed and managed multiple wireless technologies as a collection of separate networks. As AI moves into physical operations, he said, those networks must begin to operate as one system. Orion brings these technologies together into a unified fabric, he added, elevating wireless connectivity from a supporting technology to critical infrastructure for modern enterprise operations.
It is worth noting that the announcement does not disclose specific pricing details for the subscription model, nor does it provide technical specifications for the Wi-Fi 7 access points beyond the fact that they are included at no additional cost. The company also did not disclose specific performance benchmarks or case study data in the announcement. Organizations evaluating Orion will likely need to engage directly with Celona to understand how the platform would perform in their specific environments.
Similarly, the announcement does not provide details on deployment timelines, professional services requirements, or the level of integration effort needed to connect Orion with existing enterprise systems. While Celona said new sites can be brought online in hours rather than weeks or months, the specifics of what that entails are not detailed in the source material.
For European buyers, there are also questions that the announcement does not address, such as data residency, compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and whether the platform's satellite connectivity component is available and compliant across all European jurisdictions. These are not disclosed in the source material, so interested parties should seek clarification from Celona directly.
The broader trend that Orion represents—converging multiple wireless technologies into a unified, intelligently managed system—is likely to continue gaining momentum as physical AI deployments scale across industries. Whether Celona's specific approach will become a standard for the industry remains to be seen, but the company's announcement signals that major wireless vendors are paying attention to the unique connectivity needs of robots and autonomous systems.
For European robot service providers, system integrators, and end users, the key takeaway is that network convergence is becoming a more realistic option. The ability to maintain a robot's identity across Wi-Fi and private 5G, to steer traffic based on quality thresholds, and to manage satellite, cellular, and Wi-Fi from a single platform could simplify operations and improve reliability. However, as with any new platform, careful evaluation of specific requirements, existing infrastructure, and total cost of ownership will be essential before making procurement decisions.
Sources
Celona launches Orion agentic wireless platform built for physical AI and robotics
Published by Vigla Media OÜ (Estonia).