Make it easy and it will happen
Predictions are that 24 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020. The Internet of Things, also known as the industrial Internet, is growing fast. In a recent survey of global IT professionals, nearly all of them said that LTE is vital to the success of the Internet of Things. Why? Because LTE has the potential to become like “super-Wi-Fi” in that it is fast becoming universally available to connect millions of devices to the internet that have never been connected before.
LTE is much more spectrally efficient than predecessor technologies, enabling operators to reduce the cost of delivering data services below that of 3G and 2G. Since spectrum is an operator’s most precious resource, this efficiency is driving operators to aggressively deploy LTE networks so they can move subscribers off their 2G and 3G networks and on to LTE as quickly as possible. Some countries, including USA, Japan, and Korea, have already achieved nearly 100 percent LTE coverage. This wide LTE coverage moves the industry beyond smartphones and creates a new paradigm for the creation of new machine-to-machine and consumer electronics devices. More and more of these devices, in a trend similar to what occurred with Wi-Fi, will become LTE-enabled right out of the box as LTE becomes available everywhere. LTE is destined to become the universal connector.
The Internet of Things presents a huge opportunity for LTE applications
Numerous new devices are already becoming LTE-enabled. In consumer electronics, imagine digital cameras, portable game systems, e-readers, tablets and media players. In M2M, imagine a wide variety of telematics and telemetry applications, such as asset, inventory, and people tracking, mobile health, smart grid, digital signage, home security, remote monitoring, and video surveillance, to name just a few. These applications perform better and are more economical on LTE than on 2G/3G and present a huge opportunity for the introduction of thousands and tens of thousands of new revenue-generating devices. Pervasive LTE is a catalyst for innovation, and new applications are being invented almost daily.
Sequans has made it easy and affordable to LTE-enable just about any device. We offer a line of LTE modules with everything needed to provide a complete LTE modem system all in one small “drop in” package. These new EZLinkLTE™ modules provide tremendous benefits to LTE device makers of all types, but especially to makers of non-traditional M2M and CE devices, who may not have particular wireless expertise and need an easy solution. EZLinkLTE modules are pre-integrated, pre-tested, and pre-certified by operators, assuring faster time-to-market, lower development costs, and a more favorable ROI.
The first Sequans EZLinkLTE modules were built and certified for the Verizon Wireless LTE network. The modules support LTE bands 4 and 13 and include Sequans’ high performance baseband chip, an LTE optimized transceiver, and key interfaces all in one compact package.
