Security and battery life are major thrusts of NB-IoT partnership
Gemalt and Huawei’s silicon business, HiSilicon, have partnered up to develop a narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) module with the focus of helping device manufacturers cut cost and size while leveraging the low throughput of NB-IoT to get the most out of battery life.
According to Gemalto, field-deployed devices connected to an NB-IoT network will be able to run off of a single battery for up to a decade; this is key in IoT deployment scenarios wherein devices might be difficult to access.
“The combination of our expertise in IoT cellular connectivity, and digital security, and Huawei’s high-performance NB-IoT chipsets will help device manufacturers and service providers take the plunge into cellular IoT mass deployment thanks to a standardized solution,” said Suzanne Tong-Li, SVP Greater China and Korea for Mobile Services and IoT and China President, Gemalto. “Our collaboration simplifies the implementation of NB IoT projects combining solid security and flexibility.”
Accroding to Huawei’s President of LTE Solutions, Huawei has big plans to grow its reach into the NB-IoT space.
“2017 is the year of commercial NB-IoT rollouts for us, and we will be building 30 such networks in 20 countries worldwide by the end of the year. Huawei has been a major player in this arena, and we continue to capitalize on this vast opportunity,”Xiong Wei said. “We look to supply the market with solutions that provide stable connectivity, low energy consumption, and cost efficiency. The network roll-out will now come with an enhanced integration and flexibility thanks to this collaboration with Gemalto.”
For instance, Huawei and the government of Weifang City, in China, have launched “IoT Weifang”, an IoT city demo based on narrowband technology and Huawei OceanConnect IoT platform.
Under this project, Weifang City government and Huawei created an NB-IoT network utilizing IoT, cloud computing, big data, and other next-generation technologies. Weifang will use Huawei’s city-level IoT platform to access, manage, and collect data from sensors spread across the city.
