Telstra has joined Ericsson’s IoT Accelerator, a combination of platform services for IoT and agreements with mobile operators and technology partners that enables enterprises to deploy IoT capability worldwide and manage it centrally.
Ericsson says its IoT Accelerator ecosystem spans more than 30 service providers in more than 100 countries and has more than 3,500 enterprise customers.
In a joint announcement at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona the two companies said that from March 30, Telstra’s enterprise customers would be able to manage, access and track their IoT devices and networked assets at a local, national or global level via the platform and Telstra’s cellular IoT capabilities including Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) and CAT-M1 technology.
The announcement said the agreement built on Ericsson and Telstra’s deployment of NB-IoT extended range in September 2018 that enabled data connections up to 100km, 60kms more than 3GPP standards-based limits and increased Telstra’s NB-IoT coverage to more than 3.5 million square kilometres.
Enterprises wanting to use the service will be able to embed NB IoT capability into their devices without the need for a SIM thanks to eSIM support provided by Ericsson’s IoT Accelerator partners.
What is Ericsson IoT Accelerator?
Ericsson says IoT Accelerator, formerly known as the Ericsson Device Connection Platform “offers enterprise customers reliable connectivity based on service level agreements and a common, unified view of devices and access networks.”
According to the IoT Accelerator web site, IoT Accelerator services are already available in Australia through more partners than any other country. In addition to Telstra it lists: Bridge Alliance, China Mobile International, China Telecom Global, FarEastOne, Indosat Ooredoo, Taiwan Mobile, Telkomsel, XK Axiata, AIS, Globe, Dialog, Digit, Dtac and Singtel.
NetComm Wireless joined the program in May 2018, saying its LTE M2M devices using lightweight M2M (LwM2M) — an open device management protocol that enables the transfer of small amounts of data between devices and their management platforms — would be able to interoperate with the platform.
Ericsson launched the IoT Accelerator at Hannover Messe in April 2016, saying it would be offered as a service to enable customers to overcome the barriers of cost and complexity and rapidly develop and deploy new IoT solutions.
“It combines horizontal, feature-rich IoT platforms with Ericsson’s services and a marketplace where customers from sectors such as public safety, utilities, transport and smart cities can connect with partners and monetise their solutions,” Ericsson said.
Ericsson listed the platform’s capabilities as including: data management, billing, device management, connectivity services and analytics, and said it would leverage the Ericsson Cloud System to support hybrid cloud deployments and meet data sovereignty and security requirements.
IoT Accelerator Marketplace
A year ago, at MWC 2018, Ericsson added an IoT Accelerator Marketplace “to help address the need for collaboration within the digital ecosystem community and benefit developers and service providers alike.”
Ericsson’s head of IoT, Jeff Travers said the marketplace would unlock the potential for different players in the value chain to deliver value.
“It is another stepping stone to make 5G a reality by enabling massive adoption of massive IoT … [supporting] service providers as they seek to expose network connectivity IoT APIs and monetise these assets.”
Ericsson said the marketplace would give service providers a catalogue of IoT apps from the global ecosystem that they could offer their enterprise customers.
For application developers and application partners it represents “a window to an IoT ecosystem to connect with service providers through one single platform, exposing global cellular connectivity APIs,” Ericsson said.
It also includes monetisation and settlement capabilities to facilitate monetisation and billing across the ecosystem.
