Platforms and security central to ZTE internet of things strategy
Chinese vendor ZTE has been very active in the IoT field, developing a wide range of services and applications. The company has developed its smart IoT operating system that provides intelligent capabilities for IoT terminals and acts as an IoT management platform.
ZTE has also formulated end-to-end security solutions to provide customers with security services for simultaneous planning, construction and operation. The company is currently cooperating with partners to provide an overall IoT solution for governments and enterprise customers.
ZTE senior vice president Jane Chen highlighted that ZTE’s IoT strategy moving forward focuses on four key areas: smart cities, smart homes, the industrial IoT and connected vehicles.
“Cities are getting busier and smarter, so connected technologies that apply to traffic management, energy conservation and environmental monitoring are crucial,” the executive said.
Chen also stressed that ZTE has deployed its IoT solutions in over 140 cities in 40 countries globally. She stated that a wide range of solutions using smart meters have helped optimize city infrastructure with smart street lighting, parking as well as water and air monitoring.
Some examples include the deployment of 20,000 smart street lamps in Paris’ smart city project. These smart street lamps are outfitted with sensors that help manage its energy consumption and maintenance optimization, the vendor said.
Also, to help alleviate traffic jams in congested cities, ZTE has smart parking solutions that notify users where they can park their vehicle without having to search for hours on end for parking spots. In February, ZTE unveiled its narrow band Internet-of-things (NB-IoT) smart parking system, which includes an internet-of-things data unit (IDU), an internet-of-things operation platform (IOP) and a mobile app.
The vendor is also engaged in the development of solutions for smart building and environmental monitoring. Through these solutions, building managers would be able to better manage power distribution within the building, according to the Chinese company.
The vendor also highlighted that smart home solutions account for about 30% of IoT applications and requirements. To this end, ZTE has its future-oriented smart home solution called ZTE Alighting that acts as a control center to help control interconnected smart home appliances device from anywhere in the home with just a smartphone. ZTE’s smart home portfolio includes wireless water leak detectors which alert users of potential leaks. Other solutions include infrared motion sensors and audible as well as visual alarms help keep the home safe.
Chen also said that connected vehicles will be another big area of IoT as cars and trucks get an upgrade to become smarter and safer. ZTE has worked with Chinese car maker Geely to make safer and better-maintained vehicles both for private and commercial use.
Chen said smart sensors will be key for future connected vehicles. “These sensors would be able to gather data on a driver’s driving habits which can be used by insurance companies to accurately price their premiums and incentivize drivers to adopt safer driving habits to enjoy greater savings,” the executive said.
Smart trucks would be able to monitor a driver’s driving habits and report if they are driving dangerously, she added.
In February this year, ZTE and Intel signed a strategic cooperation agreement through which the two parties will jointly establish an innovative lab for research and development of future key IoT technologies, including experimental verification, evaluation, and research and development of related technologies. ZTE and Intel have previously cooperated in many fields, such as IoT access technologies, open-source collaboration, IoT platforms, and solution integration.
ZTE provides internet of everything (IoE) solutions involving narrow band IoT (NB-IoT), long term evolution (LTE), LTE-M ASICs, modules, OSs for smart devices and software development kits, accelerating the development of various sensor technologies and facilitating the research and development of IoT application gateways, sensors, and modules.
