Make the most of 4G for IoT – It already meets most use cases
5G offers a great deal of promise for IoT, but the hype and excitement mask the fact that today’s networks are capable of delivering most current use cases and supporting profitable business models. Instead of waiting for 5G, you can start to address IoT opportunities today.
There’s a lot of hype about 5G and the way in which it can unlock new use cases, particularly for IoT applications. This may well be true, but there’s a risk that service providers will spend too much time looking ahead at promised capabilities and neglect current opportunities. A recent article is a perfect example of this. While it’s certainly true that new radio and network slicing capabilities will unlock new applications, many of the services that people actually need today can be based on existing LTE technology.
What this means is that service providers should, instead of thinking about future capabilities, spend more energy on meeting today’s customer demands and leveraging what they have already in terms of LTE access, devices and IoT management systems. The same article also points to new 5G data that can provide analytics, but the fact is that the same data is equally available from today’s networks.
So, with MVNOs World Congress once again highlighting how service providers can deliver valuable IoT applications, surely it’s time to think about what can be achieved today? Our customers and partners have been busy with IoT for a number of years. We’ve been helping them with the BSS infrastructure they need to secure revenue from complex applications and a wide range of target customers, so the infrastructure already exists to support an even more diverse set of IoT applications.
That’s why there’s no reason to wait. If you have an interesting or innovative idea for an IoT service and can create a business model, the simple fact is that there’s probably no need to wait until 5G. With the right mobile network partner and Partitionware to support you, we can almost certainly realise your ideas, today.
Waiting for 5G is pointless – yes, there will be a host of future opportunities, but most of these are several years away. You can begin today to make the most of IoT, using existing 4G (or even 3G and GSM) technologies. All you need is the right partnerships to drive your innovation to market and to reach customers. Our deep experience also provides valuable IoT deployment and product insight knowledge, which will allow you to exploit future 5G IoT opportunities when the time comes.
Get in touch with Partitionware to help you make sense of IoT opportunities and to find the right path to launch the services you need.
