An IoT MVNO killer? It sure sounds like it, almost – if the whole rest of the global operator market could just pick it up. But no, says the global enterprise arm of US operator Verizon; IoT-geared MVNOs will plug into its new global eSIM platform, as well. Right; so an MNO land-grab for massive IoT, then? Yes, suggests Verizon; its new product, a joint effort with up to 30 tier-one carriers, provides a flexible way for massive-scale corporations to deploy and manage massive-scale IoT fleets. But we are editorialising; what’s the actual story?
Verizon Business has launched a global cellular IoT platform for enterprises to deploy and manage IoT devices across international borders, leveraging both native eSIM and local roaming capabilities via an expanding stable of so-called ‘tier-one’ mobile network operator (MNO) partners. Verizon Business has so far signed deals with Bell in Canada and Telenor in Norway, to offer local eSIM profiles in their operating markets, stretching into Europe and Asia Pacific.
Speaking with RCR Wireless, Verizon Business said the new service is aimed at developers and ‘makers’, in the business of building IoT solutions, and also at system integrators and multinational enterprises, tasked with deploying them. He said the solution solves the traditional “high-touch” headache to negotiate different roaming deals with different carriers in different markets – for the various construction, distribution, and management of IoT devices.
The solution called Verizon Global IoT Orchestration, replicates its domestic ThingSpace IoT platform in partner markets via an intermediary application programming interface (API), so non-US operators can effectively plug local connectivity eSIM profiles and network SLAs into a single (“pane-of-glass”) platform to cover large IoT footprints that cross into multiple territories. Currently in trial with US customers, the product covers “200 countries and regions”.
Verizon Business said it will add up to 30 tier-one operators to the scheme, with a second tranche already in the wings. Shamik Basu, head of IoT and automotive products at Verizon Business, said it will target global-scale IoT deployments by large US-based multinational firms; its partners, starting with Bell Canada and Telenor, will use the platform to target locally-headquartered multinationals seeking to go the other way, into the US on Verizon’s network.
New partners outside of the US will add density in local markets, plus extended coverage into new geographies. This will provide enterprises with connectivity options in local markets, said Basu, so they can work with preferred parties, set connectivity parameters, and meet various performance SLAs. He made clear that Verizon will not work with US-based operators on the scheme; operator choice will only be available to IoT devices outside of the US.
Basu suggested the innovation hinges on certain key things: the global over-the-air capability of embedded SIM (eSIM) technology, the extension of its ThingSpace platform to manage IoT devices in global markets, and the tie-ups with top-tier mobile operators. Until now, the “in-the-box” IoT functionality of ThingSpace – troubleshooting, diagnostics, management – has “fallen off a cliff” when IoT devices have turned up outside of the US.
“Historically, the answer has been very high-touch deployment models, bespoke to every market. IoT devices have gone into international markets as ‘visitor’ or ‘tourist’ devices – which has never been well-appreciated by customers. The shift is with this access to local pricing, flexible in-life management, and centralised visibility. Those are the cornerstones; that is why this is transformative – for makers, and also for large integrators and enterprises.”
He added: “It covers the innovation cycle, the deployment cycle, the scale-up cycle, and lifetime management cycle. That’s the a-ha moment with this – that, at every stage, you have a platform that shepherds your deployment along the way, and allows you to start small and scale-up to multiple geographies. It gives flexibility which no other operator has been able to offer until now.”
The big draw, he said, is to bring network support for local deployments – throughout the ‘lifecycle’, rather than just to enable easier roaming between markets. “An asset going between countries is covered by [inter-operator] roaming – because the asset only stays for a period. This solves extended deployments – bringing flexibility to change operators over time and over the air, without having to touch that equipment. That’s where the pain point has been.”
Verizon is interested, mostly, in massive-scale deployments by large-scale corporations; but the maker community holds the key, it seems. “Ultimately the game is to go to large enterprises, because those are the biggest-volume deployments. At the same time, the innovation happens in a small citizen group within the enterprise – which is located somewhere in California, and ultimately advises these big groups about the operator and the platform.”
Basu explained: “So creating this simple programmatic experience to cover the early pre-manufacturing phase, and be satisfied it is a relationship to keep, is essential to get these large deployments. Which steered us to create a solution for the small creator-developer, which eventually steers the enterprise as well. The problem is with moderate-to-large deployments, intended to last a long time. With this a US multinational, with aspirations to go global, can work with a tier-one they already know to build a bridge to up to 30 other operators worldwide.”
On working with local rivals in the US, to give US enterprises the same IoT options at home that they have abroad with this promise of 30-odd operator partnerships, Basu responded: “I would not say [we] will share a platform… Each operator has its own strategy, and ours is to work with tier-ones outside of the US to create a global platform for US-based multinationals. But no; I don’t envision this will be an interoperable platform domestically in the US.”
Does this potentially – potentially, maybe, if the whole cellular IoT sector went all-in on such a platform – kill the IoT MVNO gambit, that they can offer a single global eSIM on the back of clearing-house roaming deals to enable IoT devices to be connected anywhere in order to be built anywhere, deployed anywhere, and moved anywhere? Curiously, Basu said Verizon’s new global IoT platform will help the MVNO market, rather than kill it.
He commented: I don’t think so. I expect that MVNOs will sit on the top and participate on top of this platform. MVNOs have some very niche customer relationships, where they don’t just provide connectivity – where they are long-time SIs to customers. Which we don’t have aspirations to be. So I expect the MVNOs to participate in this platform with us, to have the flexibility of the connections while they provide certain managed services on top.”
Weird, also, because RCR Wireless has been writing about Verizon Business – and the globally-active enterprise divisions of most tier-one operators – like it is just that: a global system integrator, of sorts. The conversation shifts to discuss whether Verizon Business will pitch global-local “pane-of-glass” IoT with its private-networks push, which includes a high-profile non-domestic 5G installation for Associated British Ports at the Port of Southampton in the UK.
Basu said: “IoT has always been the bridge to private networks. Our deployments outside of the US, like with British Ports, have been very IoT-centric. So I expect this to aid that. If a customer wants to fall back on a local operator to track assets between a private network in one warehouse and a private network in another, then that’s the power this unleashes. It is a bridge between the private and public network, and the kind of differentiation only an operator can bring to the table. And we can offer that not by becoming an operator in the market, but by aiding the local operator partners in the market to solve that use case – and adding our own private network in the country as well.”
Last question. How important is this for Verizon Business, actually? How big and important is this? Because it feels like the start of something, where the carriers might get their act together on IoT finally. It sounds promising, but can you put it in words for me how important you think this is? “Based on all the discussions with customers, and all the focus groups, and all the various deployments, the key thing is about future-proofing these IoT deployments.”
He explained: “That is why it is important. Because you are no longer a visitor in a market, and you have flexibility over a deployment for 20-30 years, or however long you need. The scale of this, with a roadmap to 30 operators, could be the go-to platform for larger enterprises with prolonged deployments. In fact, it will be the go-to platform. This is their means to scale. This is why we think it is so big, and not just disruptive but evolutionary.
“Because the IoT is going beyond single-SIM tourist roaming [with eSIM], and this takes eSIM to a new level. The problem with eSIM has always been that there has never been an easy way to manage it; this [resolves] that, and it does so – not with a tier-four or -five operators, but – with tier-one participants in each market and region, which are all interoperating on the same eSIM management platform.”
