Verizon’s platform for IoT developers, the ThingSpace is now launched after being in development for two long years. This platform is supposed to ‘ease’ the developers’ job to create IoT solutions by providing them with the most commonly used set of APIs, and analytical tools to extract meaningful information from collected and stored data. In other words, Verizon is providing the end-to-end ecosystem to all stakeholders, including developers, customers and services/businesses. This is a remarkable opportunity, as Verizon claims that this scalable web-based platform can connect over ninety countries, and therefore the number of connections is poised to skyrocket in 2016 and after.
AT&T’, on the other hand, launched M2X, a cloud-based data storage, management and analysis tool, without providing a platform or APIs for the actual development of the application solution. M2X APIs, however, can be integrated with other AT&T APIs, such as Advertising, In-App Messaging, SMS, MMS, Speech, U-Verse, and more. I am not sure if Verizon’s platform APIs can be integrated with their other APIs. But I suspect integration will be implemented soon if it is not available already.
It is noteworthy that by nature, the machine to machine connections, which are very similar to the Internet of Things, do not require high-speed (or even real-time and synchronized) data throughput, except for specific use cases. Therefore the very great capabilities of the LTE network which are now optimized for Category 3 and higher devices -with high data throughput and low latency- will be unnecessary for IoT. Verizon is therefore aiming to launch a core network, LTE Category 1, optimized for the IoT for further efficiency. Other telecom companies are also following the same strategy, and standardization bodies are working on further definition and standardization of the network environment and characteristics for IoT.
In short, telecommunication companies have been fearing from two major issues for many years now; first the fact that penetration through mobile devices will be limited to the population and cannot go much further. Second, telecom companies were becoming only a data pipeline for consumers who were demanding more and more data throughput to support high-quality streaming video and multimedia solutions. Now the Internet of Things addresses both issues. AT&T, for example, added 1.6 million subscribers, including 1 million connected cars in their third quarter report. Verizon is launching an IoT core network, which is nothing more than an LTE category 1, to ensure the valuable network resources will be used efficiently. All telecom companies are now embracing IoT solutions, which means that they will be selling “solutions” and not just “bandwidths”.