Dutch intelligent signalling software company BroadForward has deployed multiple core network routing functions at 1NCE, a German provider of connectivity and software for IoT at a global flat rate.

1NCE is sing BroadForward’s technology to deliver cost-effective and flexible routing services for its worldwide cellular IoT network, and making its network ready for future demands of 5G and beyond.

According to analyst GSMA Intelligence, the global IoT market will be worth $900bn in revenue by 2025. 1NCE has more than 7000 customers and ten million managed connections. The firm provides direct access to its networks and roaming partners via 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE, NB-IoT and LTE-M in over 100 countries worldwide, and offers a flat rate IoT data plan.

The routing functions that run on BroadForward’s converged signalling support on-the-fly management of signalling scenarios across all SS7, Diameter and HTTP/2 IoT traffic. It combines these network functions on the same platform with other BroadForward network products, such as the SS7 and Diameter Firewall as well as the 5G SCP and SEPP.

Operators cite various reasons for replacement of their legacy equipment, such as products declared end of life, network rationalisation and cost reduction, as well as high-risk vendor programmes enforced by governments and regulators.

“Although 5G is growing fast, most of our cellular IoT business is still on 3G and 4G,” said Younes Allaki, chief technology officer at 1NCE. “However, BroadForward helps us to meet future demands by allowing us to easily shift the traffic where it is needed. The cooperation is giving us more flexibility and enables us to rationalise and modernise at the same time.”

BroadForward CEO Taco Schoute added: “1NCE runs a completely virtualised core network and prides itself on being able to support customers swiftly on all supported network technologies. Whereas the life cycle of legacy products that are designed for specific technologies and use cases are by nature limited, the development of the BroadForward converged signalling is open-ended and continuous. Next to support for 2G, 3G and 4G containerised network functions, our solution already supports 5G and will continue to evolve to meet subsequent technology requirements.”

All BroadForward products are hardware-agnostic and support network virtualisation, OpenStack and cloud deployment. Software development is entirely done in the Netherlands.

1NCE was founded in 2017 by CEO Alexander Sator together with Deutsche Telekom. It is headquartered in Cologne, Germany, and has 200 staff in Cologne, Hamburg, Amsterdam, London, Miami, Rome, Paris, Warsaw, Hong Kong and Riga.