This is an excerpt from our white paper Hyperscale Cellular IoT. If you like what you read, the full white paper is available here. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
The focus in our industry is always whether the network equipment has the features to perform a certain task and allow the network to scale with millions of subscribers. But is this the right discussion to have for complex IoT services?
Maybe the question below is a better question to ask yourself as a mobile operator.
“Will my organization be able to deliver on the agility, speed and cost-efficiency needed in the IoT era?”
WHAT MOBILE OPERATORS HAVE VERSUS WHAT THEY NEED
What Mobile Operators Have
Mobile operators have a mobile core that, for good reasons, has been built for stability, not agility. They have IoT connectivity platforms capable of handling SIM management and producing billing data. They can provide global connectivity through roaming partners. Some may also use eSIMs to localize the connectivity to partner MNOs networks and provide a service that is compliant with regulations.
What Mobile Operators Need
But we believe there is a missing layer. A layer that provides the flexibility and security that IoT connectivity services crave. This layer offers adaptive agility by making it as much as possible into a self-playing piano with automation and customer self-management. The connectivity must also be secured by VPNs and next-generation Firewalls that each customer can configure according to their needs.
HYPERSCALE INNOVATION
We must all respect that the mobile core and OSS/BSS teams always will prioritize stability before being fast on their feet, implementing every change requested by demanding customers. Wouldn’t it be great if mobile operators could ‘have their cake and eat it too’?
We think they can!
Mobile operators must unchain themselves from the strict consideration of 3GPP and the implementation and upgrade cycles of their mobile core nodes.
“What Enea suggest is that mobile operators leave their core networks untouched and then use hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) to add the necessary IoT functionality “
There are three corner stones in such a cloud-native hyperscale IoT connectivity solution:
1. Adaptive agility
Automate common customization tasks, such as VPNs and customer-specific policies.
A high degree of customer self-management.
Extensive APIs for smooth cloud and edge integration.
Control of all important settings such as IP-assignment.
Ability to keep these settings over partner networks to provide a unified IoT service.
2. Security
End-to-end IoT security.
Secure software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) customer experience through next-gen firewalls.
Automatic setup of customer VPNs.
Advanced routing of the traffic, some through VPNs and all other directly to the Internet.
3. Global Access
Roaming and in some countries use eSIM/eUICC technology to localize the connectivity to comply with local regulations.
Important to still provide a unified service experience across partner networks (keep IP address etc.)
Don’t miss our blog post in two weeks, where we will talk about the different layers of functions needed in a Hyperscale IoT Connectivity solution and the role of Enea Aptilo IoT Connectivity Control Service (IoT CCS) in such a solution.
This is an excerpt from our white paper Hyperscale Cellular IoT. If you like what you read, the full white paper is available here. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
In the Hyperscale Cellular IoT white paper, we focus entirely on cellular IoT connectivity. Although cellular IoT will only stand for 22% of all connections at the end of 2026, around 5,9 billion devices will be connected through cellular networks!
The vast majority of IoT connections will be short-range devices using radio technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Z-wave, and Zigbee. But, just like most radio technologies for IoT, cellular connectivity will have rapid growth.
The actual and forecasted number of IoT devices using different technologies. Source: IoT Analytics
Each technology has its own use case. Cellular is the technology of choice for devices requiring mobility. Short-range technologies such as Wi-Fi are mainly for indoor connectivity. The Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN), including the cellular NB-IoT and technologies such as LoRa, are focused on battery-powered devices with a battery life of up to 10 years.
MANAGEMENT IS KEY FOR IOT
Cellular is the only technology that enables global central management by using the mobile operator’s existing roaming portfolio, typically in 200 or more countries. However, as discussed in our white paper, there are markets where permanent roaming is not a viable option (regulations and/or commercial reasons).
Today, many IoT applications are using the existing 4G (LTE) broadband, which has been improved for IoT. In the last few years, 3GPP has created new standards to better support specific use cases. The largest volume of new IoT devices will come in the Massive IoT area designed to support low-cost wearables, sensors, and meters over long distances. 5G provides the ability to support Critical IoT use cases for real-time mission-critical applications such as connected cars and remote surgery.
Comparing Cellular Radio Technologies for IoT
The Massive IoT market segment includes devices that are widely used in our society, mainly different sensors and meters. The NB-IoT and LTE-M technologies are the dominant technologies for Massive IoT. Compared to 4G, they are designed to deliver extreme coverage with much smaller data volumes and mainly periodical transfer of data. This means a battery life of up to 10 years which is ideal for low-cost devices such as smart meters.
NB-IoT is useful for simpler devices that don’t require connected mobility and tolerate low data rates in tens of Kbps and high latency of up to 10 seconds.
For tracking devices where connected mobility is crucial, CAT-M is a better choice. Cat-M also offers support for voice, higher data speeds of up to 1 Mbps and lower latency (100-150 ms).
According to the Ericsson Mobility report November 2020, massive IoT (NB-IoT and Cat-M) will have an explosive growth going from almost 200 million connected devices in 2020 to approximately 2.6 billion or 45% of all cellular IoT connections by the end of 2026. At the same time, the total number of cellular IoT devices will be approximately 5.9 billion and 44 percent of those will use broadband IoT and Critical IoT (first devices expected in 2021), with 4G connecting most devices.
The non-cellular long range technology low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) will, according to the same report, go from 200 million to 400 million between 2020-2026.
Actual and forecasted number of IoT devices using different cellular technologies. Source: Ericsson Mobility Report November 2020
This is an excerpt from our white paper Hyperscale Cellular IoT. If you like what you read, the full white paper is available here. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Mobile Operators that think they can create Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity services by re-packaging existing cellular consumer services need to think again. It’s not just a matter of adding IoT SIM management capabilities to an existing mobile core. Enterprise IoT customers need so much more in terms of flexibility and security.
It’s a giant step to go from offering consumer services, with a handful of subscriber-types and associated policies, to providing complex IoT connectivity services. In IoT, each customer has their own unique requirements.
Some IoT customers need all or part of the traffic delivered in Private APN connections (APN + Enterprise VPN). IoT device security is crucial, and customers want to protect the traffic through firewalls. Other customers want to manage their own connectivity and security policies per device / device groups from a web portal. Others need local subscriptions in specific countries, not the least where they prohibit permanent roaming. And they want a unified experience across these international networks. This means that operators are facing challenges to keep settings, such as policies, security and IP-addresses, across partner networks, even when an eSIM has been localized.
“The bottom line is this, customers need a programmable and secure global IoT connectivity service that they can deploy instantly. Mobile operators will realize that they cannot deliver this from a mobile core created for consumer services.”
So, what is then the way forward? How will operators be able to deliver what their IoT customers need?
The matrix shows two perspectives that operators need to consider when creating IoT connectivity services. On the X-axis, we have the business value the service brings to the Enterprise IoT customer. On the Y-axis, you find the profit the IoT connectivity service brings to the operator.
Mobile operators will end up in the bottom left corner, if they just re-package an existing consumer standard service for IoT.
Most operators also add SIM-management and offer private connections on top of this. The keyword here is ‘most’. They will deliver a commodity with little value add for their customers. Those operators will only compete on price, and the lowest bidder will replace them. They are in what we call the “churn zone” colored red in the matrix.
In the left half of the matrix, operators will only be able to create a profitable IoT business if they become the price and volume leader in their market.
The further you move towards the right, adding value-added services, the stickier customers become. Higher revenues come with value-added services such as analytics, managed security, global connectivity and ability to provide granular policy control.
For most operators, the high profit will not follow when adding value added IoT services. They will be stuck in the bottom right corner, in what we call the “Every customer is a project zone”, with expensive development projects to create what customers need.
In the upper right corner, we have the green high profit zone with a high value for customers combined with high profit for operators. To go there, mobile operators must add as much automation as possible when it comes to customization and also provide customer self-management. This serves two purposes. First, operators will get a lower cost of operation. Second, customers will not be so cost sensitive as the service feels like their own when integrated tightly with their operations.
IN IOT THERE IS JUST NO SUCH THING AS ONE SIZE FITS ALL
As discussed, most operators offer basic IoT connectivity services. The next step up from that is often a completely customized IoT connectivity service, where each customer deployment becomes a costly project. IoT customers are more demanding when IoT goes from initial proof of concepts to become critical to their operations.
“The bottom line is this, customers need a programmable and secure global IoT connectivity service that they can deploy instantly. Mobile operators will realize that they cannot deliver this from a mobile core created for consumer services.”
This mass-market comprises customers that are prepared to pay for value-added services, but not for tailor-made development in costly projects. A key success factor for this segment is that the mobile operator can automate most of the customization. Another is that customers can tailor the connectivity further to meet their needs from self-service portals.
These services include the capability to set up secure VPN connections, get a managed firewall for increased security, set granular policies, get analytics and being able to localize eSIM internationally. All the features we recognize from the green sector in the matrix on the previous page. This requires a new approach, a new kind of IoT connectivity service.
WHAT CUSTOMERS SHOULD EXPECT
Besides their core operations, most enterprises are also in the “trust business”. Thus, the cost of a security breach goes further than the direct impact. There are examples of companies that even have gone bankrupt after a serious incident.
Now, with the rapid growth in IoT, the risks have increased by magnitudes. IoT is a victim of its own success, with the enormous volume of devices. This is putting more pressure than ever on IT departments. Most IoT devices are also headless and thus not handled and monitored by users, making IoT security even more challenging. In addition, some of these devices are not physically protected and can be tempered with.
So, IoT customers should not settle with a basic service just providing IoT connectivity with basic SIM-management. They should challenge their service provider to deliver an IoT connectivity service that fits their needs:
Rapid deployments with features tailored to create great value just for them.
Low total cost of ownership over the IoT service life cycle.
Pro-active IoT security.
Granular analytics based on IP destination, port & protocol, type of traffic, etc. This is critical for the Enterprise to identify expensive data usage, trouble-shoot and get insights into how devices behave.
Connectivity protected by a firewall with settings in their own control.
A private connection (VPN), protecting their traffic from device to back-end services.
Ability to route selected traffic through the private connection and the rest of the traffic to the open Internet protected by the firewall.
Decide and control devices’ connectivity and target destinations.
Filter traffic on protocol / ports and set location- and time-of-day based policies.
Make use of eSIM and buying access wholesale in remote networks with a unified IoT service experience.
And, yes, you guessed right! 😉 There is an Enea offering that enables mobile operators to deliver all the above to meet these demanding expectations from their IoT customers. Learn more about the Enea Aptilo IoT Connectivity Control Service (IoT CCS).
What makes IoT so different from traditional mobile services?
Why mobile operators must rethink IoT – every customization mustn’t be a project.
Hyperscale innovation – the business case of a hyperscale approach.
Granular policies to meet the needs of B2B customers.
Unified global IoT Connectivity
IOT SECURITY
Ronen Shpirer, Director 5G Solutions Marketing, Fortinet
Security threats IoT platform.
Security threats IoT devices.
Security requirements.
APTILO IOT CONNECTIVITY CONTROL SERVICE (IOT CCS)
Jonas Björklund, SVP Head of Business Unit Aptilo & CTO, Enea
Adding a programmable layer of IoT policy and security as a service.
Aptilo IoT CCS architecture.
Aptilo IoT CCS – Enabling Enterprise verticals.
SUMMARY
THE SPEAKERS
Jonas Björklund
SVP Head of Aptilo Business Unit & CTO at Enea
Jonas Björklund has developed broad technical knowledge within IT, networks and telecom through his more than 20 years in the wireless industry. As co-founder of Aptilo and with a background in various roles including product management, Jonas has played an important part in developing the Aptilo solution into what it is today. In his role as Aptilo’s CTO he continues this mission of developing and articulating Aptilo´s strategic technical direction through close dialogue and relationships with customers, partners and other industry influencers. He is deeply involved in the everyday process of developing and designing the solution, and meeting the complex requirements of new and demanding markets. Jonas has an M.Sc. in System Engineering and background within technical pre-sales, project management and software development. Jonas has extensive international sales experience with EMEA, APAC and the Americas.
Aptilo Networks
Johan Terve
VP Marketing at Aptilo Business Unit at Enea
Johan Terve has more than 35 years of experience working in the IT industry, and spent the last 25 years in various CEO, VP and Director positions. Prior to Aptilo he served as VP Marketing & Sales at Ingate Systems and in that position, he succeeded in putting the company on the map as a leading global player in SIP-capable firewalls and SIP trunking solutions for enterprise Voice-over-IP. As Marketing Director for Nordic Datadistribution, a $130M company, he was responsible for all business divisions and corporate marketing and helped this major IT equipment distributor become the fastest growing company in Sweden for four consecutive years. Johan started his career as a software developer and has a broad university-level education in business administration, psychology and economics.
Aptilo Networks
Ronen Shpirer
Director, 5G Solutions Marketing at Fortinet
Ronen Shpirer is leading Fortinet’s solutions for the mobile networks operator (MNOs) segment, with emphasis on security’s role and solutions for innovative 5G infrastructure and services. Ronen has over 25 years of international pre-sales and marketing experience in networking and security in the service provider and enterprise markets.
Prior to joining Fortinet, Ronen worked for several leading networking and VAS companies including Motorola, Nortel Networks, and Cisco Systems.
Ronen holds a degree in Business Administration and Sociology.
Mr. Shpirer is based at Fortinet’s EMEA headquarters in Sophia Antipolis, France.
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