The Internet of Things refers to the technology of communication between machines. With the improvement of mobile network coverage and the reduction of GPRS data communication costs, the Internet of Things is gradually adopting mobile network technologies such as GPRS and is booming in various industries. In 2011, the development of the mobile Internet of Things was strong. The number of mobile connections has exceeded 100 million, of which the growth of the number of mobile Internet of Things in Asia is particularly prominent, reaching 35 million. According to expectations, the number of IoT mobile connections in the Asian market will reach 200 million in 2016.
At present, the main driving force of the mobile Internet of Things comes from the automotive industry, energy industry and electronic consumer industry. In their own development, these industries are moving towards providing industry applications and services with two-way communication capabilities. This development trend has driven the rapid increase in the number of mobile connections in the Internet of Things. For example, General Motors launched the Anjixing service. Vehicles enjoying this service are pre-installed with in-vehicle communication devices with embedded SIM cards before leaving the factory. In use, through the mobile network, Anjixing Service Center can provide car users with online navigation, emergency rescue calls, car positioning, remote door opening and other services. Automobile companies have opened up new business models by obtaining the annual service fees of Anjixing owners. The business is in a stage of steady growth year by year. As of the end of 2011, this business has reached 6 million users worldwide and has reached 530,000 users in China.
In short, the development trend of the Internet of Things is as follows: driven by industry users, providing more complete industry services based on mobile networks. The industry has not yet entered the mature stage of scale development and is in the sowing period of rising development.
How mobile operators win business opportunities
The vigorous development of the mobile Internet of Things has also brought new thinking to mobile operators: in such a new field, how to seize business opportunities and occupy a place? This requires a review of the mobile IoT industry chain. Generally speaking, the mobile IoT industry chain includes the following links.
Chip module suppliers: mainly provide modules with mobile communication functions. Because of the complexity of mobile communication, terminal manufacturers in various industries usually do not have the development capability of mobile communication modules, and mainly adopt the general IoT communication modules provided by Communication Module manufacturers for secondary development and terminal integration. Typical IoT module suppliers are Sierra wireless, Cinterion, Telit, and U-Blox.
Terminal suppliers: Terminal equipment is completely different in different industries. For example, in-vehicle communication equipment used in the automotive industry, smart meters used in the energy industry, and electronic blood pressure monitors with communication capabilities used in the medical equipment industry all belong to the Internet of Things terminal. In various industries, IoT terminal manufacturers are also diverse. The pre-installed in-vehicle communication equipment in the automotive industry is mainly provided by car manufacturers, such as the Anjixing in-vehicle system provided by General Motors; and the post-installed in-vehicle communication equipment in the automotive industry is provided by completely different companies, such as Octo telemaTIcs, Digicore the company.
Mobile network service providers include GPRS and CDMA network operators. This is the undisputed basic role of operators in this industry chain.
Industry application and solution provider: This is also related to the industry, and each industry and region is different. Most industry application providers and industry terminal manufacturers are the same, for example, automobile manufacturers may also be integrators and providers of in-vehicle information system services; some industries are provided by B2C service providers, such as Amazon is an integrator of electronic reading And service providers.
In addition to being a network service provider, mobile operators also hope to explore service providers that can be used in certain industries. For most industries, operators lack leadership and driving force in the industry and are not suitable as service providers for industry applications. For example, operators provide their own in-vehicle information service business. After developing the basic navigation function, the obstacles immediately faced are how to sell and deploy to the car, how to provide follow-up support services to car users, and how to deeply explore the car-related At the same time, operators themselves have become competitors of their SIM card major corporate customers (automotive enterprises), and may indirectly lose high-quality corporate customers and lose SIM card orders.
Looking at the strategies of global mobile operators in the Internet of Things, the first thing to do is not to plunge into an industry application as an end-to-end service provider, but still focus on the advantages of their own network service providers; focus on how to provide More mobile communication management solutions for IoT enterprise customers, so as to attract and lock IoT enterprises to develop industry applications based on their own networks; pay attention to how to inject mobile IoT traffic into the network and still maintain the strong operation of the network.
Based solely on the existing traditional network structure, simply wholesale SIM cards to Internet of Things enterprise customers through price concessions. Although operators can still benefit from the growth of mobile connections brought by the development of the Internet of Things in the short term, they lack long-term continuous competition. force. At present, the mobile Internet of Things is mainly provided through GPRS network technology, and the data volume of most Internet of Things industry applications is very small (for example, the data volume per connection in smart grid applications is 2Mbyte per month), so the GPRS international roaming fee is no longer insurmountable As a result, some international companies are more willing to sign a service contract for a global mobile connection with an operator than to sign a number of contracts with operators in several countries. Therefore, domestic operators will not only compete with other domestic operators but also face competition from operators in other regions and countries when they are striving for IoT enterprise customers. This has never been in the field of traditional telecommunications services.
In the long run, operators need to consider improving their mobile network data communication services to make them closer to the needs of IoT enterprise customers for mobile connectivity, and then attract and bond IoT enterprise customers (such as General Motors and Toyota) to themselves At the same time, we must still pay attention to avoid the negative impact on the quality of the existing wireless core network due to the inappropriate communication behavior design of the IoT devices in the network. Generally, operators generally take the following measures.
First, add a dedicated connection management platform for IoT customers in the network, develop and provide connection management functions required by enterprise customers, such as SIM card customization automation, SIM card status automatic management, real-time monitoring of SIM card connection status, and providing a single bill for enterprises Wait. This platform is not intended to control IoT companies, not to add complexity to the development of industry applications, but to meet the needs of Internet-connected companies, making them more willing to purchase SIM cards and mobile connection services from here for a long time.
Secondly, it has reached closer cooperation with operators in different countries and regions on the Internet of Things enterprise user market. When providing global IoT coverage for multinational companies with large data traffic, existing roaming solutions are not enough, so operators are also actively reaching IoT alliances with operators from different intercontinents. For example, Vodafone in the United Kingdom, T-Mobile in Germany, Telefonica in Spain, and Orange in France formed an IoT alliance to strengthen their respective IoT data communication capabilities to meet the needs of multinational IoT enterprise customers.
In addition, mobile IoT terminals bring new traffic to existing networks, but at the same time bring new content to the stable operation of existing wireless and core networks. IoT terminals are usually some machines. When the machine establishes a data connection, there is no manual participation process. Improper terminal software may bring adverse effects to the network and reduce the network quality. Therefore, operators need to establish authentication of Internet of Things terminals for communication.
Finally, in addition to perfecting its own mobile connection services, operators can still choose the right industry to be an end-to-end service provider. Usually the consumer electronics industry is more suitable. For example, one of Japan ’s Softbank ’s strategies in the Internet of Things is to target consumer electronics users and sell other consumer electronics products besides mobile phones with connected service functions, such as the PhotoVision electronic album series and the Mimamiri home video monitoring series.
Ericsson's mobile IoT solution
Ericsson has always been committed to providing mobile operators with network solutions and products that advance with the times. Ericsson's "50 billion connection plan" expects the most important growth in mobile connections in the next 20 years will come from the Internet of Things. According to the characteristics of the industry chain and operators, Ericsson provides operators with the solution shown in Figure 1.
"IoT Mobile Connection Management" Cloud Service (DCP SaaS)
The IoT mobile connection management requires a dedicated network platform. Usually, operators can build their own platforms or use external (such as Ericsson) cloud services. The characteristics of the self-built method are: large investment, long online time, usually 18 months, and the investment risk is relatively large for the initial non-scale development stage of the mobile Internet of Things market. The characteristics of the purchase and use of cloud services are: small investment, no hidden dangers of non-performing assets, short online time, usually only 3 months. Operators can also take two approaches at the same time. On the one hand, they can quickly seize market opportunities by purchasing cloud services, obtain valuable enterprise customer resources, and learn and master them in actual use; Study the needs and technical characteristics of the Internet of Things business, and gradually optimize and adjust the operation mode, such as whether to build a proprietary Internet of Things platform.
Judging from the case of global operators, according to the actual needs of different IoT services, it is possible to adopt self-built, purchase cloud services, or both.
The DCP SaaS provided by Ericsson is shown in Figure 2. After connecting Ericsson ’s cloud equipment to the operator ’s mobile core network through an IP network, mobile operators can provide data channels, Web, API and other resources for their enterprise customers. Provide more intimate IoT mobile connection management functions, such as automated SIM card ordering for enterprise users, rich flow rate charging strategies for enterprise SIM card groups, self-monitoring management of IoT mobile connections, and single billing of data communication for enterprise SIM card groups .
Consultation services to promote operators to explore the mobile Internet of Things market
With the cloud service of "Internet of Things Mobile Connection Management", the main problem encountered by operators is how to promote their connected services to IoT enterprise customers. The most important content of the consulting service provided by Ericsson to develop the mobile IoT market is to work with operators to find and develop the operator through continuous consulting activities with the help of Ericsson ’s global market capacity and experience in the mobile IoT market. Of corporate customers have contributed to the steady growth of mobile IoT connections.
Authentication service for IoT terminal modules
Because the misbehaving mobile IoT terminal may pose a hidden danger to the operator's existing mobile network, efficient authentication of the communication capabilities of the IoT terminal is essential. Ericsson can provide support from mature certification laboratories and expert teams to help operators complete certification in the most cost-effective manner.
Ericsson began to provide cloud services for IoT mobile connection management at the end of 2011, which was well received by operators. In addition to operators under Telenor, operators in the United Kingdom, Russia, the United States, Southeast Asia and other regions are also cooperating with Ericsson to jointly expand the mobile Internet of Things market.
With the further development of the industry, the mobile Internet of Things brought more than 100 million mobile connections to operators by the end of 2011. In order to maintain competitiveness in emerging markets, mobile operators are actively taking measures, including providing connection management services for IoT enterprise customers through dedicated platforms, establishing IoT alliances with other regional operators, and perfecting certification of IoT terminals to Consolidate the further development of the network.
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