Spanish telco Telefónica has developed a cloud native IoT connectivity service using Mavenir’s packet core and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Telefónica, Mavenir and AWS are working on a pre-commercial managed IoT connectivity service to be offered by Telefónica using Mavenir’s packet core and AWS’s cloud infrastructure.

The objective is to reinvent the way IoT connectivity services are delivered, reducing cost and latency by combining cloud technology with cellular connectivity to provide Telefónica customers in any country with a local shortcut to the internet from the nearest AWS region.

The service is managed through Telefonica Tech’s IoT Kite platform, which provides a simple interface accessible from anywhere via the web or APIs so industrial, manufacturing, public sector and automotive users can better manage and control their IoT connectivity.

The use of the cloud enables functionalities for end users that were not previously possible: local data processing and storage, direct connectivity to other cloud services, and global low latency. Combining cloud native infrastructure, network functions and operations has changed the way Telefonica develops and delivers services for its customers.

By running Mavenir’s cloud native functions on AWS, Telefónica gains agility to introduce features rapidly and can provide its customers with a consistent experience anywhere in the world, reducing time to market compared with traditional manual deployments and creating a service that scales much better both up and down, which is critical for IoT applications.

“Mavenir’s converged packet core built upon web-scale technology and cloud native principles provides support for 4G functionalities and facilitates easy deployment on AWS, offering a compact and efficient model in terms of cost and resources,” said Ashok Khuntia, executive vice president at Texas-based Mavenir. “We are excited to work with Telefónica to integrate our packet core with Telefónica’s Kite platform over AWS.”

Telefónica uses CICD tools to manage the service from end to end and automate how its components are integrated, deployed and operated. Users around the world can scale their use of the service as needed with global coverage.

“Telefónica is developing this disruptive innovation project, convinced that it will help us to maintain the IoT leadership reached with Kite platform,” said Carlos Carazo, CTO at Telefónica Tech. “Kite is much more than an IoT connectivity management platform and improves the whole IoT ecosystem dimensions, from the device to the cloud. Cloud-native point of presences will give a complete response to IoT customers with large bases of globally deployed devices.”

The project is being developed by the Telefónica’s Core Innovation team in collaboration with Telefónica Tech’s IoT and big data unit. The pre-commercial activities cover the deployment of the Mavenir packet core on AWS, integration with Telefónica Tech’s Kite platform, and automation of the end-to-end service.

“We’re delighted to collaborate with Telefónica and Mavenir to offer a cloud native integrated packet core to enhance IoT connectivity,” said Fabio Cerone, managing director for telecoms in Emea at AWS. “Together, we are providing a true cloud native network for Telefónica’s IoT customers that combines AWS’s global infrastructure with the strength of Telefónica’s network. Now, Telefónica can scale their deployments across the globe to meet the requirements of agility, scaling, slicing and resiliency.”