First there was telemetry, followed by Machine 2 Machine (M2M), then the Internet of Things (IoT) and now we have the Internet of Everything (IoE). Industry analysts count seven billion connected devices currently (mostly cell phones), and predict growth to 50 billion over the next decade. Virtually every machine will someday soon be connected to the cloud, a trillion dollar market for enabling technology and services. Finally, this sector is set to launch, with Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR) in excess of 25% for the next decade.
Challenges Involved in Global Deployment of M2M Systems
Connected Mobile Smart Machines and devices of all kinds are no longer a promise of the future, but an expectation of the present. With today’s global ubiquity of mobile broadband, Enterprise assumes they can reuse the systems and processes previously used to deliver applications & services via the wired & wireless Internet.
However, deploying global connected systems come with several challenges that need to be addressed upfront to lower deployment time and cost while improving quality of service.
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Regional telecom companies operating independently - no global mobile internet but rather a series of mobile extranets (individual Mobile Network Operator footprints) linked via expensive and unreliable roaming;
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Each extranet also requires a unique manufactured device SKU to support its unique, embedded subscription, or restaging to insert a local Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) at point of distribution;
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Further, each extranet requires that applications and management systems be integrated to its own subscription and management platform;
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Certification issues vary from network to network.
The end result is a complex system of country-based SIMs, numerous network interfaces, differentcertification requirements and APIs and regional regulations that need to be modernized.
Connectivity of Any Machine, Anywhere
Until now, provisioning and managing connectivity throughout a machine or device’s full lifecycle is very complicated, made more painful, frustrating and difficult by having to deal with multiple Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) along with each of their dedicated M2M device management platforms and SIM cards. Device Cloud Networks, Corp. (DCN) addresses the challenges listed above and simplifies connectivity of any machine, anywhere.
The technologies that underlie this capability are:
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Programmable “soft” SIM card;
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Cloud-based, high-volume, automated self-provisioning system for wireless connectivity;
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Cloud-based platform for device and machine diagnostics, management, programming and
remote control;
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Local connectivity in a growing number of countries;
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Multi-currency, multi-lingual billing engine;
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All offered as one SKU.
Key to this revolution is a new SIM card form-factor set to launch in 2014 -- the e–UICC. This SIM is designed to be embedded in machines permanently, and can be provisioned over-the-air (OTA) after the machine is delivered anywhere.
DCN has built a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) delivery model that enables distributors, manufacturers, enterprises and consumers to self-provision and control their machines through a powerful unified cloud- based iMAP (Internet Management and Application Platform) portal, connected directly to DCN’s globally connected cellular network, and a world of local cellular connectivity. DCN’s platform is designed to facilitate access to other bearer networks as well, including satellite, Wi-Fi and wired.
Through DCN’s iMAP platform solution customers can accomplish the following:
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One SIM for global mobile communications deployments resulting in one manufactured SKU;
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One platform controlled by the enterprise for provisioning, diagnostics, and management of all devices globally;
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The ability to source and change local commodity mobile connectivity suppliers in individual countries making MNOs analogous to ISPs;
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One point of interconnection for global ERP and application servers as you would have in the Internet;
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One set of Enterprise defined and controlled business processes for the delivery of services and applications globally.
This revolutionary M2M/IoT platform makes it simple for small, medium and large enterprises to deploy and manage all of their devices globally from one centralized platform. This is accomplished through a proprietary platform and stack of enabling services that provide remote connectivity provisioning and management for any device anywhere, via any communications bearer. For mobile applications, DCN’s platform and services disrupt the existing M2M business model, decoupling local connectivity services from proprietary last-generation mobile operator M2M platforms.
Growth in the M2M segment has been impeded by a last-generation mobile M2M business model that requires businesses to manage mobile connectivity & device status via platforms specified by the MNO providing mobile service in the countries where the devices are deployed. This failing has resulted in enterprises having to integrate to multiple platforms across the globe and, worse, makes it virtually impossible to change MNOs once a subscription (SIM) has been embedded in a device.
With DCN, local connectivity is automated and economized, much like ISP services in the traditional internet. DCN’s Remote Subscription Management (RSM) service affords enterprises remote provisioning of mobile subscriptions to the MNO of their choice at any point in a machine’s lifecycle. With the DCN Platform, enterprises are now free to select and change mobile Cellular Service Providers (CSP) without the hassle of mass device migration to a new M2M platform.
DCN’s platform allows for the provisioning & management of devices by the enterprise independent of specific MNO or even bearer technology, eliminating the need for multiple device SKUs tied to specific embedded MNO subscriptions, and the integration to MNO-specific M2M platforms. DCN provides a SIM with a provisioning subscription from its sister MNO, IMC Iceland. This SIM & provisioning subscription, along with the DCN platform enables the changing of the subscription to that of any MNO contracted by the enterprise, via over-the-air (OTA) technology at any point in the device’s lifecycle. This offering changes the M2M / Mobile IoT business model by decoupling the provisioning and management platform from the local mobile CSP. This decoupling empowers the enterprise by giving it power over all of its devices’ subscriptions & management even after deployment.
DCN Partnership with Arrow
DCN has partnered with Arrow Electronics to simplify global M2M deployments for its mutual customers. Arrow customer’s build finished products and solutions that ship across the globe and need to be connected locally wherever they are deployed. The Arrow/DCN partnership will support connectivity and device management across all vertical market segments, opening up new service related revenue opportunities for Arrow’s customers. Arrow plans to launch the new solution in Q2, 2014 in North America, followed by extension to Europe and Asia later in the year.
Arrow will stock and distribute the new single SKU element along with the broad range of communications modules already available in the Arrow catalog.
Together, DCN and Arrow will simplify the end-to-end process of managing devices by providing enabling technology that simplifies global connectivity, device management, diagnostics, billing, and one SKU out- of–the-factory for Arrow’s customers.