German electronics company Infineon has partnered Tata Communications to offer pre-integrated cellular IoT network coverage in more than 200 countries.
 
Cellular networks will be the communication backbone for billions of mobile devices and machines connected to the IoT. At the core of this development is the embedded SIM (eSIM), which securely connects devices to networks. To shape this development, Infineon is launching a turnkey eSIM for the plethora of IoT devices and applications.
 
Infineon’s Optiga Connect eSIM based on security hardware comes with pre-integrated carrier-agnostic cellular coverage in more than 200 countries and territories. Infineon has partnered with Tata Communications to offer its customers global reach, leveraging the Tata Move mobility and IoT platform.
 
“With the progressive rise of IoT devices and the pervasiveness of cloud-based platforms and 5G deployment, cellular IoT connectivity will become a leading technology within the next few years,” said Lars Wemme, head of IoT security at Infineon. “Infineon’s comprehensive eSIM portfolio of easy-to-integrate solutions perfectly meets the specific demands of IoT device manufacturers.”
 
According to ABI research, total eSIM shipments for M2M applications such as asset tracking, energy management or mobile healthcare are expected to grow with a compound annual growth rate of 18 per cent from 101 million units in 2019 to 232 million by 2024.
 
The Optiga Connect enables easy deployment and management of cellular-enabled IoT devices at scale. By implementing eSIM, device manufacturers can deliver products capable of worldwide use, instead of having to deliver specific versions for particular markets. This results in economies of scale, cuts costs through simplified product management, and reduces time to market.
 
The product is pre-integrated with a bootstrap Tata Move eSIM profile, allowing manufacturers to capture, move and manage IoT data seamlessly, reliably and securely across the globe. Additionally, thanks to Tata Communications’ relationships with more than 640 mobile network operators (MNO) worldwide, manufacturers can overcome the complexities of managing potentially hundreds of local connectivity agreements with MNOs in different countries, and instead connect their devices with a single global connectivity agreement with Tata Communications.
 
Use cases include smart metering deployment or telematics and fleet management applications where devices are deployed across broad geographic areas.
 
The eSIM conforms to the Remote SIM Provision specification from the GSMA. Connecting a device or even a fleet of devices to the internet can be entirely managed remotely via an online portal. This remote activation and configuration of IoT devices over the air enables a more automated, secured approach to bringing large numbers of devices online.
 
Furthermore, manufacturers can select connectivity providers after production, shipment and deployment of the device and change them throughout its lifecycle, increasing ease of use as well as flexibility regarding selecting MNOs and data plans.
 
At the core of the eSIM is Infineon’s SLM97 security controller. It provides a GSMA eSIM M2M v3.2 compliant operating system, as well as worldwide coverage of 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, LTE-M and NB-IoT. The security hardware has been deployed for SIM-enabled IoT applications since 2008, with more than 200 million units in the field to date. The eSIM portfolio comes in different quality grades and form factors.
 
The Optiga Connect IoT eSIM is available in a VQFN-8 (MFF2) package and industrial grade quality.