At a special event for reporters and analysts at its San Francisco Innovation Center, Verizon unveiled an IoT strategy that includes partners, cloud services, cheaper modems, and new data plans. Sequans, a leader in LTE for the IoT and the developer and provider of the world’s first CAT 1 LTE chipset platform, was announced as a Verizon LTE modem partner. Verizon’s strategy revolves around providing the tools that developers need to easily and cost-effectively design and build IoT devices that connect to Verizon’s LTE network.
During his speech unveiling the strategy, Verizon’s Mike Lanman, SVP of IoT products, highlighted Verizon’s partnership with Sequans when he held up in front of the audience a tiny box with an even tinier Sequans LTE chip inside. While holding the chip he talked about what Verizon is doing to remove the main objection to connecting IoT objects via LTE—high module cost.
He said, “Today I’m announcing the availability broadly of our new Sequans chipset that halves the cost of connecting to the 4G LTE network. This is a significant reduction in the cost of developing a device for launch in IoT. This is available immediately and being deployed in the marketplace. This changes the game.”
The chip Lanman held up was Sequans’ Calliope CAT 1 LTE chipset. It is the world’s first CAT 1 LTE modem, optimized for IoT, available now, and certified by Verizon. “Next year, we will halve the cost again,” said Lanman.
Lanman also announced the launch of a new CAT 1 optimized IoT core coming in early 2016 that meets new IoT profiles at a much lower cost. It is “super efficient,” he continued, and he also noted that with competing connectivity solutions such as Wi-Fi, ZigBee, and Bluetooth, some level of customer involvement is required and utility is lost. If you connect via Verizon’s 4G LTE network, however, “we take all that stuff off the table and give you a network that is easy.”
Go online to see a video of the Verizon event and hear Mike Lanman’s entire presentation:
Verizon IoT Announcement
See press coverage of the Verizon IoT event in these media outlets:
Verizon Wants to Improve the Economics of the Internet of Things
Wall Street Journal
Inside Verizon’s Big Plans for the Internet of Things
Fortune Magazine
LTE can compete with upstart IoT networks, say Verizon
Network World
