American wireless operator AT&T and cable major Comcast are in the process of boosting  network to enhance presence in the Internet of Things (IoT) business, well ahead of the 5G launch.

The number of global M2M connections will grow from 6 billion in 2015 to 27 billion in 2025, with 20 percent of these connections originating in the United States, according to a telecom research report by Machina Research in 2016.

The IoT market is estimated to generate $3 trillion in revenue by 2025 with 22 percent or $660 billion sourced from United States, with 11 percent of the connections by 2025 using Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) connections.

AT&T and rival Comcast announced several developments in IoT this week. Earlier this year, AT&T announced its target to switch 30 percent of the network across to virtualization technologies.

# LTE-M

AT&T is working with technology leaders to showcase LTE-M technology for advancement in Internet of Things.

AT&T will launch the LTE-M network in the San Francisco market in November, and will launch the technology across our commercial LTE network in 2017.

LTE-M technology interconnects IoT solutions such as smart utility meters, asset monitoring, vending machines, alarm systems, fleet, heavy equipment, mHealth and wearables.

Lower costs for modules, longer battery life up to 10 years, better coverage for IoT devices etc. are the expected features of the launch.

Pilots

# Badger Meter to analyze  the LTE-M network
# CalAmp to explore the LTE-M network
# Capstone Metering to demonstrate LTE-M improvement in Smart Cities sensor technologies
# PepsiCo to examine and test ways that sensors can improve the in-store experience with smart vending solutions for the thousands of PepsiCo products
# Samsung to evaluate LTE-M-based solution to enhance performance for consumer solutions etc.

The pilot will also include solutions from Altair, Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies, Sierra Wireless, u-blox, Wistron NeWeb and Xirgo Technologies.

# IoT data plans

AT&T has launched data plans for developers and businesses to connect with IoT projects. This will enable purchase of a bucket of prepaid data for thousand devices on the AT&T network and will be available later this month. AT&T claims to offer efficient deployment alongside an entry point into IoT solutions.

AT&T’s IoT data plans:

1 GB for $25.00 (valid up to 12 months) and includes 500 SMS

3 GB for $60.00 (valid up to 12 months) and includes 1000 SMS

5 GB for $100.00 (valid up to 24 months) and includes 1500 SMS

AT&T also launched an all-in-one IoT Starter Kit to trigger IoT projects by offering LTE hardware, platforms, cloud storage etc. in one place, in July 2016, available from AT&T or Avnet for $99 plus applicable taxes and fees since August 2016.

# AT&T SD-WAN

AT&T alongside VeloCloud launched AT&T Software-defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN)to evolve networks from hardware to software.

The AT&T SD-WAN portfolio has a network-based solution with hybrid networking featuring multiple types of network access, and will be available in 2017.

AT&T focused on incorporating software-centric technologies into integrated solutions, allowing customers to manage their networks, mix and match based on application, performance and reliability needs.

This is the third offering after software-defined networking and network-function virtualization.

AT&T SD-WAN sports split-second routing capability to optimize application performance based on the parameters selected by customers, and offers choices to manage bandwidth.

In addition to VeloCloud, AT&T plans to collaborate with more SD-WAN technology companies for the same.

# Connectivity to Dragontail Systems, Israel

AT&T will provide connectivity for Israeli-based technology company, Dragontail Systems.

Dragontail Systems, a food service system company, will use the AT&T mobile network for its Algo Dispatching System to enhance operations in fast food and quick service restaurants. The Algo will apply a sophisticated patented algorithm from food prep to customer delivery, in a streamlined process.

The Algo will manage order location, driver location, meal status, pack station, order of the items that need to be prepared, and dispatching recommendations, to offer Just-In-Time Baking for which it will use the AT&T IoT platform and AT&T Control Center.

# IoT for Farmer’s Fridge

Farmer’s Fridge will deploy AT&T IoT services to make fresh, wholesome food options easily accessible to those on-the-go.

Farmer Fridge drivers will deliver freshly prepared food in temperature-monitored vans, and place the meals in connected fridges in locations like office buildings, convenience stores, hospitals, schools and more, with AT&T being the primary provider connecting all smart fridges on one scalable platform.

AT&T Global SIM card and IoT services will come with the fridges, to monitor and adjust temperature, and ensure fresh food. Also the fridges will automatically shut down after 2 hours in case of a power outage.

AT&T IoT technology will also monitor inventory, report in near real-time, prepares report on foods for the next day, improves life of equipment, monitors the status of fridges etc.

# AT&T and IBM collaborate on IoT

IBM and AT&T are teaming to aid networking service management, to meet the demands of hybrid cloud and IT-as-a-service deployments. AT&T and IBM will expand their strategic relationship, using the new AT&T FlexWare.

Formerly called AT&T Network Functions on Demand, AT&T FlexWare is a transformative solution, using both SDN and NFV, announced this summer to ease set up and manage VNFs on a single device, and is available globally through the AT&T Network on Demand platform.

Applying IBM sales and marketing team to it, the two companies plan to expand the global span on the technology that claims to enable businesses to quickly respond to needs and have the right adjustments made in near real-time.

Comcast

At the same time, Comcast announced machineQ, a business trial venture to build business-to-business solutions and IoT platform, alongside Semtech.

Comcast will work with select commercial partners in proof of concepts to use its network to enable partners to gather, transmit, and analyze data from connected devices distributed throughout their organizations.

Comcast has invested tens of billions of dollars to build a network in 20 of the nation’s top 30 markets including more than 149,000 route miles of fiber optic cable and more than 500,000 miles of HFC plant.

Comcast intends to commercially deploy LoRaWAN networks and LoRa-related services across its markets, with the goal of completing commercial deployments within the next 18 to 30 months.

Vina Krishnan
[email protected]