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• IoT devices will overtake mobile by 2018 with Europe leading the way – Ericsson

  Jun 1, 2016 by Telecom News / 599 Views

  By Scott Bicheno            Telecoms.com

  The latest Ericsson Mobility Report forecasts such rapid growth in the number of global IoT devices that they will overtake mobile phones as the largest category of connected device by 2018. Ericsson reckons Western Europe will be the biggest growth driver for IoT devices, forecasting a 5x increase by 2021. This won’t necessarily be the result of a greater appetite for IoT by European consumers, however, with Ericsson saying directives such as eCall for cars and smart meters compelling the continent to increase its number of connected devices. “IoT is now accelerating as device costs fall and innovative applications emerge,” said Rima Qureshi, Chief Strategy Officer at Ericsson. “From 2020, commercial deployment of 5G networks will provide additional capabilities that are critical for IoT, such as network slicing and the capacity to connect exponentially more devices than is possible today.” While the majority of IoT devices will be connected via non-cellular means (presumably wired or wifi), cellular IoT devices are forecasts to be the fastest growing category. Ericsson reckons a major reason for that growth will be 3GPP standardization of cellular IoT technologies, by which it’s presumably referring to NB-IoT. Other notable findings from the latest report include the fact that global smartphone subscriptions are expected to overtake those of basic phones in Q3 of this year and that the use of cellular data for smartphone video has doubled among teens in the past year, in contrast to a significant fall in the amount of time they spend watching traditional TV. Additionally the first devices supporting 1 Gbps LTE download speeds are expected later this year. Lastly Ericsson used the report to bring attention to the need to harmonise 5G spectrum in the frequencies above those currently licensed for mobile but below the 24 GHz+ range that was addressed at WRC-15, including better accommodation for microwave backhaul. It said the 3.1-4.2 GHz range is considered essential for early deployments of 5G and offered the chart below to illustrate how un-harmonised the global microwave backhaul picture currently is.

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• Atari bringing back devices with Sigfox IoT agreement

  Jun 1, 2016 by Telecom News / 603 Views

  By Tim Skinner           Telecoms.com

  Retro gaming giant Atari will soon be entering the IoT arena following a partnership with Sigfox, the low power WAN provider. Famed for its trailblazing old-school computers and gaming consoles in the 1980s and 1990s, an announcement from Atari said it will soon be developing and launching consumer IoT services. While tangible details weren’t particularly forthcoming, and won’t be for the time being, Atari did hint at a move back to hardware having been primarily, if not solely, focused on software and gaming for the best part of the last 20 years. Atari said the initial product line will include offerings in areas such as home, pets, lifestyle and safety. By combining with Sigfox, Atari plans on developing a wide range of new products, from the very simple to the highly sophisticated, which users can track at any time. Sigfox says that by connecting to its network, products will benefit from an extended battery life and no need for paring or connectivity configuration. “By partnering together and using SIGFOX’s dedicated IoT connectivity, we are going to create amazing products with our brand,” said Fred Chesnais, Chief Executive Officer, Atari. “We look forward to our collaboration with SIGFOX and releasing new products to the mass market on a global scale.” It’s fair to assume Atari is targeting a move back into hardware and away from gaming, although more information will be released in due course. Atari says development of the new product line will begin in 2016.

   

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• Qualcomm goes big on wifi and IoT with multiple chip launches

  Jun 1, 2016 by Telecom News / 527 Views

  By Tim Skinner        telecoms.com

  

  Qualcomm has announced new chips and technologies designed to boost domestic wifi coverage, at-home IoT connectivity, wearable tech capability and next generation broadband delivery.

  Starting off with domestic wifi coverage boosting, and Qualcomm launched a new family of 802.11ac platforms designed to optimise device wifi usage by intelligently allocating radio spectrum in the home. It says its new three radio solutions combine two 5 GHz radios and a 2.4 GHz radio to help improve connectivity; and its platform, used on new routers and repeaters, can appropriately dedicate radio in the legacy 2.4 GHz band to devices only compatible with the 802.11n standard. This, in theory, can alleviate congestion on domestic networks and ensure more bandwidth availability for devices compatible with the newer 802.11.ac band.

  Qualcomm says the self-organising features integrated into the new platform means it will become much easier to register and configure new devices on the network; while automatically allocating capacity for devices based on real-time conditions.

  “As people rely on their home network to support more devices accessing the internet and streaming media, Wi-Fi is being stretched to the limit,” said Gopi Sirineni, vice president of product management, Qualcomm Atheros, Inc. “We are changing the game with features designed to deliver the best possible Wi-Fi experiences and now, uniquely, we are driving those technologies into more cost-effective products to extend the benefits to a wider swath of consumers.”

  IoT is also in Qualcomm’s sights, as it unveiled a new chip set targeting low-power smart home devices. It says the QCA4012 chip brings dual band wifi, enhanced security, low power and small form factor for connected devices. Companion SDKs and services from partners Ayla, Exosite and Iota Labs include API interfaces and other tools to support IoT device and cloud integration.

  “IOTA Labs has developed cutting edge IoT solutions integrating Qualcomm Technologies’ latest products with the IOTA Labs platform,” said Amit Singh, director and co-founder, IOTA Labs. “IOTA Labs’s leading edge IoT platform and experience acts as an accelerator for clients to transform their offerings into leading smarter products and services with a lower cost of ownership.”

  The Snapdragon Wear 1100, included in the raft of announcements, joins the product line and targets consumer-led IoT products, including smart-accessories and wearable tech. Qualcomm says it has been designed to target  the wearable segment where a smaller size, longer battery life, smarter sensing, enhanced security. It also comes with a modem capable of LTE, wifi and Bluetooth support.

  “We are delighted to add Snapdragon Wear 1100 to our Snapdragon Wear family, thus making it easier for customers to develop connected wearables with targeted use cases such as kid and elderly tracking,” said Anthony Murray, SVP of IoT for Qualcomm Technologies. “We are actively working with the broader ecosystem to accelerate wearables innovation and are excited to announce a series of customer collaborations today.”

  Finally, Qualcomm also announced a fixed networking launch which it claims will help operators deliver up to 1 Gbps data rates on existing infrastructure up to 100 meters. The GigaDSL chipsets are intended to support gigabit data rates on existing telephone lines providing a high-speed extension for VDSL without losing spectrum capacity. It says existing infrastructure can be upgraded to the new processors without having to rip up the network and start again. The product line will become available from June for both fibre to the building and customer premises equipment.

  “With these new GigaDSL product offerings, we are able to meet carriers’ broadband goals, complementing fiber deployment in time for major events, such as the 2018 Winter Games in Korea and the 2020 Summer Games in Japan,” said Irvind Ghai, VP of product management at Qualcomm Atheros.

   

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