Ryan Sullivan, chief product officer at Inseego, argues that fragmented wireless networks are getting harder to manage as AI and other demanding workloads expose gaps in connectivity, visibility, and security (via rcrwireless.com).
He also points to fixed wireless access as a clear example of a network being asked to do more than it was built for, with businesses increasingly using it as a primary way to connect locations rather than as backup.
Why fragmentation is getting more expensive
The argument is not that wireless stopped working. It is that modern workloads now require coordination across systems that were never built to operate as one, and that makes management harder across connectivity, visibility, and security.
Ryan Sullivan says fragmented wireless networks are structurally worse at supporting modern workloads because the coordination those workloads need has to happen across boundaries. That is the operational problem he says enterprises are paying more to manage.
FWA as the stress test
Fixed wireless access is the clearest example in the piece. It used to serve as a backup connection, but the article says businesses now use it as the primary way to connect locations.
That shift matters because FWA is still often added on top of a legacy patchwork instead of being managed as part of a unified platform. The article frames that as the point where the damage lands.
Security and platform consolidation
Fragmentation also creates security gaps, because every disconnected system has to be patched, monitored, and defended on its own. The result is a visibility problem as much as a security one.
The remedy Ryan Sullivan puts forward is a single platform that unifies connectivity, security, and visibility across cellular, Wi-Fi, satellite, and other wireless technologies. Inseego says that its product organization, strategy, and roadmap include the integration of Nokia’s fixed wireless access business.
He recommends that established businesses start with an audit rather than a rebuild and count how many vendors are needed to keep locations connected and secured.
What it means for U.S. buyers
For U.S. multi-site buyers, the decision is no longer just whether FWA can connect a branch or warehouse. The issue is whether that connection can be governed inside a broader security and visibility stack instead of being left as a separate tool.
The article’s audit recommendation points to a practical first step: map how many vendors are carrying the connection, security, and management layers before adding another one.
Droam Perspective
For enterprise wireless buyers, the useful part of this piece is not the consolidation slogan. It is the admission that FWA has moved from backup status to primary access in enough deployments that patchwork management now looks like the weak link.
The Gartner forecast that 60% of new SD-WAN purchases will be part of a single-vendor offering with security by the end of 2026, up from 15% in 2022, gives that argument a harder edge: consolidation is already becoming a buying pattern, whether or not vendors frame it that way.