A startup called Highway 9 Networks said today it’s ready to elevate enterprise connectivity to the next level with the industry’s first-ever “mobile cloud,” which promises to deliver extremely reliable cloud-native mobility and services in any location.

The company is launching its mobile cloud platform today after closing on a $25 million funding round led by top-tier investors, including Mayfield, General Catalyst and Detroit Ventures, with the participation of a number of prominent enterprise and institutional customers.

The Highway 9 says its mobile cloud network provides superior voice and data coverage in any location, enabling more reliable and higher-performing connectivity for artificial intelligence-powered applications such as robotics, drones and factory automation. It will also enable always-on mobile access for critical applications in the field, the startup claims.

Highway 9 is attempting to tackle a significant problem for enterprises. It says mobile devices have become vital tools for today’s highly mobile, hybrid workforce, leading to big demand for consistent and reliable mobile connectivity in every location, including outdoor environments and remote campuses. At the same time, numerous manufacturing facilities and distribution centers are looking to take advantage of AI-powered autonomous computing, but the problem is that they cannot rely on existing networks.

Fixed wireless connections struggle with resiliency and low-latency in many remote environments, and integrating them with existing information technology systems can be a major hassle, creating major security headaches. Until now, the only alternative to wireless networks was distributed antenna systems, but these also fail to meet the exploding demand for remote connectivity.

Highway 9 has been able to leverage a number of recent advances, such as the availability of free spectrum, multi-eSIM support and private 5G connectivity, to cater to these demands. The startup says its new mobile cloud network is uniquely suited to solve today’s connectivity problems and deliver powerful, cloud-based mobile services to any location.

According to the company, the Highway 9 Mobile Cloud will significantly boost connectivity for smartphones, tablets and laptops, as well as new, AI-powered robots, drones and internet of things systems. With its cloud network, they’ll benefit from always-on access to whatever applications, data and services they need to connect with. Moreover, its cloud is designed to integrate with existing IT stacks, ensuring that it can maintain customer’s existing security policies.

The company promises that the unique, cloud-native architecture of its mobile network will also simplify the deployment and enable autonomous operations, resulting in much faster rollout times than traditional mobile networks.

There are three main use cases for its network. They’re “everywhere mobile coverage” that ensures ubiquitous access to voice and data services from any location, “AI and automation” to provide high-performance and low-latency connectivity for AI-driven factory automation, autonomous robots and IoT systems, and “always-on mobile data,” meaning it can ensure reliable and secure connectivity to business-critical applications and communications channels. In other words, Highway 9 says, it’s enabling connectivity for everything, everywhere, no matter what device is being supported or where it is located.

Allwyn Sequeira, co-founder and chief executive of Highway 9, said that reliable connectivity has become the lifeblood of many modern organizations at a time when more business processes than ever before are being automated. But such organizations face significant challenges when it comes to deploying a reliable and high-performing mobile network to support these processes.

Not only do most private mobile networks lack complete coverage across indoor and outdoor campuses, but they would crumble in the face of a cybersecurity attack or performance meltdown because they can’t prioritize or isolate critical users and workflows, Sequeira said: “We built the Highway 9 Mobile Cloud as a cloud-based and enterprise-focused platform to clearly address these gaps.”

Although the startup is only launching today, its technology has already gotten the attention of a number of industry experts. Last year, for instance, it was named as a “Cool Vendor” by Gartner Inc. for its potential to drive business disruption in the cloud.

Meanwhile, Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst at ZK Research, says it has the potential to fundamentally transform enterprise communications and accelerate digital automation. “[Existing] offerings aren’t forward-leaning or ready for widespread enterprise usage because they’re still complex and telecom-centric,” the analyst said. “What enterprises need is a simplified and cloud-native approach, essentially a mobile cloud, and that’s what Highway 9 is bringing to market.”

Highway 9’s network has already been deployed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and its performance appears to have exceeded expectations. MIT Chief Information Officer Mark Silis said one of his main priorities is to ensure that students and staff can always connect securely to their applications, both in its campuses and out in the field. “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,” he said.

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