PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Orange Business Services has accelerated its LTE-M strategy to support the development of internet of things (IoT) solutions for the enterprise market. This follows the announcement by Orange in February 2017 that the Group would be prioritizing LTE-M across its footprint in Europe, and today it announces significant progress.
Orange has launched several LTE-M field trials:
- In Spain, Orange has started several tests with strategic customers and device manufacturers in an open ecosystem of participation. The trials cover different sectors and applications, including smart utility, smart cities and facility management.
- In Belgium, Orange is preparing the opening of an LTE IoT City in Antwerp, open for customer pilots in Q4 2017.
- In France, Orange is planning internal trials on both technical and usage aspects starting in Q4 2017.
All of these trials are being carried out ahead of the LTE-M network launch in 2018.
Orange reinforces its test program for LTE-M device makers
The
availability of LTE-M is part of the Group’s dedicated program to
support connected object and module makers. Orange welcomes object
makers in its “Open IoT Lab” (compliant with GSMA) located at Orange
Gardens. At this innovation site, the Group provides technical resources
and expert support.
The availability of three LTE-M devices marks a new milestone in Orange’s continuous commitment to boost the IoT ecosystem. The first equipment Orange has tested on its LTE-M network includes:
- rugged products designed to be used in asset tracking and Industry 4.0 use cases;
- a GPS personal tracker with a waterproof casing that is targeted at lone worker applications;
- a small GPS tracker developed for tracking valuable items.
The first samples of these products are now available for testing in customer pilots.
LTE-M is an evolution of the LTE (or 4G) mobile network, which is designed to meet the lower consumption required by IoT applications. The network will be integrated into the Orange IoT strategy through the Datavenue IoT and Data Analytics offer. It will enrich the connectivity solutions, such as LoRa®, 2G/3G/4G and Wi-Fi, which connects objects securely. The LTE-M tested modules also enhance the Datavenue connected device catalog, which now has 80 objects.
“The development of the LTE-M network is part of our strategy to provide a full range of IoT connectivity options for our customers through Datavenue. The availability of the LTE-M devices enables our customers to start developing their LTE-M applications before the full networks are launched in 2018. We believe that LTE-M is a perfect match for a wide range of IoT use cases in Industry 4.0, fleet management and asset tracking,” said Olivier Ondet, Vice President of IoT and Analytics, Orange Business Services.
There are many enterprise IoT use cases linked to LTE-M, such as asset tracking, remote monitoring, predictive maintenance, smart metering, telematics and automotive insurance. Demonstrations of the Orange LTE-M network (running live on the Orange Spain network), equipment and use cases will be on display at the IoT Solutions World Congress in Barcelona. An industry first, the live LTE-M demo will leverage the Orange data management platform Live Objects. Visit the Orange booth, #E581, to see IoT in action for the manufacturing, logistics, utility and retail industries.
Note to editors:
The first wave of equipment tested by
Orange on its LTE-M network includes products and modules designed and
sold by the following partners:
- rugged products from Ercogener, including a u-blox module;
- a GPS personal tracker designed by Meitrack, based on a Quectel module;
- a small GPS tracker developed by Sercomm with a Sequans Communications module.
About Orange Business Services
Orange Business Services, the
B2B branch of the Orange Group, and its 21,000 employees, is focused on
supporting the digital transformation of multinational enterprises and
French SMEs across five continents. Orange Business Services is not only
an infrastructure operator, but also a technology integrator and a
value-added service provider. It offers companies digital solutions that
help foster collaboration within their teams (collaborative workspaces
and mobile workspaces), better serve their customers (enriched customer
relations and business innovation), and support their projects (enriched
connectivity, flexible IT and cyberdefense). The integrated technologies
that Orange Business Services offer range from Software Defined Networks
(SDN/NFV), Big Data and IoT, to cloud computing, unified communications
and collaboration, as well as cybersecurity. Orange Business Services
customers include over 3,000 renowned multinational corporations at an
international level and over two million professionals, companies and
local communities in France.
Learn more at www.orange-business.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and our blogs.
Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with annual sales of 40.9 billion euros in 2016 and 269 million customers worldwide at 30 June 2017. Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange or Orange Brand Services Limited.
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