AT&T Laying Groundwork
for Projected Ramp in IoT Deployments
Blues
Wireless Device Enabled by AT&T to Seamlessly Connect IoT Devices Globally
is Now Available from AT&T
What's the news? AT&T* is bringing to market a
solution that can accelerate and streamline massive deployments of Internet of
Things (IoT) devices and applications globally for enterprise and government
customers through cellular connectivity. Notecard, by Blues Wireless, allows just about any asset to
be connected to the cloud with carrier-grade security. The solution takes away
significant complexity and cost through pre-paid connectivity and allows
solution integrators and product builders to accelerate time to market and
scale.
Why is this important? The global market
intelligence firm IDC estimates that by 2025, the overall number of connected
Internet of Things devices worldwide will reach almost 40 billion, an increase
from 31.1 billion in 2020.1
The need
is clear for businesses to take full advantage of the potential of IoT
innovation, become more efficient, reduce their environmental impact, and scale
their operations. Commercial appliances like washing machines, dishwashers, and
beverage dispensers, as well as construction rigs, refrigeration equipment, and
containers are all envisioned to be coming off the assembly lines fully
equipped for connectivity. To date, the development, scaling and adoption has
been low due to the complexity of scaled operations due to management and
operational constraints when relying on Wi-Fi for connectivity. Cellular
connectivity overcomes these challenges, making it the best option available
for remote monitoring, control, and tracking use cases.
What's the solution? Notecard was developed by
Blues Wireless, founded in 2019 by Ray Ozzie, former CTO and Chief
Software Architect at Microsoft. Notecard is a System-on-Module
(SOM) that enables connections using just two lines of code. The solution
enables developers of a broad range of commercial and industrial products to
embed highly secure prepaid global connectivity through AT&T's LTE-M and
NB-IoT Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) networks designed for IoT applications,
without the complexity of Wi-Fi connections. Data is routed to cloud providers
or application end points of customers choosing. Notecard makes it easy
to manage devices, connectivity, and data remotely, empowering the manufacturer
to better understand how their assets are used in the field, and open new
revenue streams for services like proactive maintenance and usage-based pricing
models. The simplicity of Notecard enables rapid scaling for businesses to move
from prototypes to full deployments. Notecard just works – right out of the
box.
Who can use this? The automotive, healthcare,
industrial, manufacturing, supply chain, transportation, or just about any
industry. Notecard enables cellular connections for applications requiring
longer battery life, improved coverage and lower costs that are enabled by
AT&T's Low-Power Wide-Area networks, in addition to traditional 4G LTE
networks. These include wearables, asset tracking, home appliances and
utility meters. Notecard is suited for low, to medium data rate
transmissions.
Where is this available? Notecard is available in the
AT&T IoT Marketplace https://marketplace.att.com/products/blues-wireless-notecard-655245
What are people saying?
"AT&T is a recognized
leader in the IoT solutions space with significant and growing deployments with
customers in many verticals. They have been a great collaborator with our
innovative business model of cost-effective embedded cellular solutions for
mass developer adoption," said Mobeen Khan, Chief Operating
Officer of Blues Wireless. "We are working with them to bring this
game-changing solution to AT&T enterprise and government customers and
accelerate adoption of IoT network services with thousands of customers across
the globe."
"Businesses increasingly
recognize the potential for IoT technology to materially improve their
operations, create entirely new revenue streams, reduce their environmental
footprint and realize the efficiencies of scale," said William
Stovall, vice president, Mobility, IoT and 5G, AT&T. "Notecard, as an
all-in-one solution, will help unlock the potential of IoT and accelerate
customer adoption."
"Internet of Things
deployments require hardware, software, and wired or wireless connectivity, and
most require some level of services to implement," said Sandra
Wendelken, senior research analyst, mobile services and software at IDC. "The
reality is that IoT at the enterprise scale is still complex. Notecard, with
embedded AT&T cellular connectivity, can help companies manage expenses by
including data costs in up-front device pricing and simplifying the connection
process."
Safecast recently released
Airnote, an air quality sensor using the Notecard for cellular data
transmission. "At Safecast.org we
are dedicated to providing open data about our environment to the global
community. Collecting air quality data has been costly and cumbersome through
dedicated cabling and internet access. Notecard, with embedded AT&T's
connectivity, has changed all that. It makes our Airnote affordable,
takes just a few minutes to install and will help us measure our
environment through our global network of volunteers," said Pieter Franken,
Co-founder and Japan Director of Safecast.
Source: AT&T media announcement