Skip to main content

The rise of IoT

Managing customer quality of experience (QoE) in the IoT era

What is IoT?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is many things to many people. Everything from new applications, such as smart cities or autonomous vehicles to massive sensor networks for monitoring environmental or industrial systems.

It also means a fundamental change in the way mobile network operators build and manage networks to remain profitable.

The anticipated massive scale, combined with a lower average revenue per connected device, is bringing about the most significant change yet in network architectures.

Does your network have the visibility needed to manage this transformation? Will your existing mobile services be impacted by IoT-driven changes?

EXFO has the expertise and solutions you need to make sure your networks continue to perform flawlessly as you transition into the IoT era.

Challenges

How will IoT impact networks?

Every IoT service has different requirements for things like device density, data rates, latency and mobility to name just a few. And each network presents a unique set of operational challenges which need to be planned for now. IoT devices are expected to outnumber traditional mobile devices by 2018, dramatically changing services in the network.

Are you ready to manage these challenges?

Declining average revenue per user

Current mobile networks are built for today’s mobile broadband (MBB) users and priced accordingly. Wide scale IoT applications cannot afford MBB service pricing, so operators will need to charge significantly less for them if they are to attract IoT service providers. Combine this with the expectation of 30 to 50 billion IoT devices in service by 2020 and it becomes clear that how mobile networks are built must also change. This was the main driver behind the new reference architecture specified in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project's (3GPP's) release 13.

But how will these changes impact existing MBB services? Will the architectural enhancements for IoT negatively affect current services?

The key for managing this transformation will be visibility into how the mobile network, the existing mobile services and the new or enhanced service elements perform while the changes are being implemented.

Solutions

How IoT helps the telecommunications industry?

The rise of IoT will drive a fundamental discontinuity in the service provider market. And while change can have a negative impact, companies that embrace the inevitable, often emerge better than before. IoT can be the catalyst that drives carriers to modernize their service innovation model, streamline operations through automation and become an innovative leader in the transformed network.

Does your network provide the insight needed to successfully manage this change?

New revenue opportunities

As competition in the communications markets become more intense and customers, both business and individuals, demand ever more intelligent and valuable services to help simplify their daily routines, communications service providers (CSPs) of all types are looking for new ways to expand their markets and broaden their service portfolios. IoT does just that by providing a platform to launch innovative new services. Everything from smart factories (Industry 4.0) and smart wearables (clothes, fitness trackers) to smart transportation (connected vehicles, intelligent traffic lights) and smart meters (gas, electricity, water) fall within the scope of the CSP.

Carriers that embrace the IoT era will not only benefit from the additional revenue opportunities, but they will also gain a significant competitive advantage through leadership in this new communications reality.

IoT will be the enabler for sustainable competitive advantage and revenue growth.

IoT use cases and solutions

There is no one-size-fits-all for IoT, but there is a common need—quality of service. Having clear visibility into network and service performance is critical to the success of every IoT application. Testing, monitoring and assuring must be integral to every solution. From industry leading handheld test sets to virtualized assurance solutions to real-time analytics platforms to simulators for network and equipment validation, EXFO has the solutions to support any IoT network.

Connected vehicles

Roads filled with self-driving vehicles and skies filled with drones; an emerging reality that, without a centralized control system ensuring the safety of vehicles and people, would result in chaos.

For such a control system to work, the network needs to be fast (< 1 ms latency), always on (at least ‘six 9's’ availability) and able to handle 1000’s of vehicles, moving at highway speeds across multiple cell sites.

Having the tools and expertise to ensure visibility and control of IoT networks and services throughout the entire lifecycle is critical for success.

transformations_rise-of-IoT_usecases-connected-vehicles.jpg