Verizon Business has combined a customer-facing network, hardware from Quectel and intelligence offerings for IoT applications across industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, utilities, transportation, retail, supply chain and public safety.

This means Verizon-certified IoT devices can access its US 5G nationwide network through current compatible data plans, Quectel’s low-cost narrowband IoT module has achieved certification on Verizon’s network, and intelligence capabilities combining network and device analytics on a single dashboard are available for customer trials now, all via Verizon ThingSpace, the company’s IoT marketplace and management platform.

IoT devices and plans compatible with 5G ultra wideband are expected early next year.

“Verizon Business is a single-provider destination for IoT, with solutions spanning broadband and narrowband, 5G and LTE, and intelligence, hardware, and management, for applications across industries,” said TJ Fox, senior vice president at Verizon Business. “But it’s not just the expanding breadth of offerings, it’s the lowered costs, power-efficiency and heightened accessibility. Broadband IoT on 5G nationwide and new narrowband IoT hardware in the sub $4 range, with plans under $1, can help open up IoT for new customers, new use cases and innovative developers.”

The ThingSpace Intelligence suite includes a bundle of existing IoT services, such as Intelligence analytics dashboard, SIM Secure, device diagnostics and location services, and new capabilities, which together allow users to protect against, detect and respond to device and connectivity issues and threats. These features are available for trial now, with commercial availability expected later this year:

• Wireless network performance, an analytics-as-a-service offering for coverage, outage, event, service notifications and performance metrics. For example, users could view network status and service and maintenance tickets during powerful weather events such as hurricanes.
• Anomaly detection, a service that leverages machine learning to alert users to atypical device behaviour, coming in Q4 2021. For example, users could see that a device is using unusual amounts of data, an indication that it might be compromised.
• Network-coordinated firmware-over-the-air management, a software management feature designed for 5G massive IoT devices that performs reachability checks when managing firmware upgrades, resulting in higher device compliance ratios. For example, users will know that firmware could not be upgraded in some devices because they might have been powered off or experiencing a similar interruption, allowing users to coordinate and manage upgrades.
• ThingSpace Analytics engine, a tool that puts network and device analytics side by side for insight into predictive maintenance and performance notification and alerting. By monitoring and analysing the millions of signals on Verizon’s networks, this tool generates predictive visualisations of devices and visibility into the health and performance of IoT connections to rule out connection issues. For example, users can visualise data usage trends and adjust data plans, budgets or device configurations to be more efficient.

Quectel’s BC660K-GL module achieved certification from Verizon, making the carrier the first in the USA to enable the module on its nationwide narrowband IoT network. The module is powered by the Qualcomm 212 LTE IoT modem and supports multiple frequency bands with low power consumption.

Its 17.7 by 15.8 by 2.0mm profile and sub $4 cost make it suitable for narrowband-IoT device launches. Connectivity plans from Verizon will start at less than $1.

The module provides low power consumption for applications that expect to operate for 15 or 20 years without being touched, such as smart meters, HVAC units, air and water quality monitors, manufacturing controls, smart lighting nodes, and municipal smart infrastructure, at a price that lowers barriers to entry and opens up massive IoT possibilities.

“We’re delighted that our BC660K-GL module has been certified with Verizon so it can be enabled on their nationwide narrowband IoT network and form part of its single-provider offering,” said Patrick Qian, CEO of Quectel. “The ability to supply Verizon customers with the module at a very cost-effective rate alongside connectivity plans from Verizon for $1 is transformative and will make a huge variety of IoT use cases possible for the first time. We’re proud to be playing our part, along with Verizon and Qualcomm, in helping IoT innovators build a smarter world.”

Jeffery Torrance, senior vice president at Qualcomm, added: “Qualcomm Technologies is continuously optimising and developing industry-leading technologies with high-performance, power-efficiency and low-latency at the core. The Qualcomm 212 LTE IoT modem – the world’s most power-efficient NB-IoT chipset – supports the creation of new, global smart IoT devices and applications, equipped with cutting-edge power efficiency and LTE connectivity capabilities. We are pleased to see that Quectel’s module – BC660K-GL – based on Qualcomm Technologies’ 212 LTE IoT modem has received this important validation by Verizon to support the proliferation of next generation, low-power global IoT devices.”