Cisco NB-IoT Platform Now Commercially Available Worldwide, Making it Practical and Profitable for Companies to Deliver Connected Services via Low Cost, Low Power Devices

China Unicom Trials Illustrate How Service Providers Globally Can Meet Business Demand for NB-IoT

Cisco announced that Cisco Jasper Control Center for NB-IoT is now available worldwide, making it the first commercially available global NB-IoT platform. When used in conjunction with the Cisco Jasper Control Center IoT connectivity management platform, enterprises will be able to manage both NB-IoT and cellular devices.

NB-IoT (Narrow Band-IoT) is expected to drive growth of IoT at a massive scale, increasing the number of connected devices to in excess of 3 billion by 2023. Supported by the GSMA, NB-IoT is a 3GPP-standard for Low Power Wide Area Networking (LPWAN) that delivers reliable, cost-effective IoT connectivity for low-cost devices.

This growth potential has been validated by service providers like China Unicom who, through early trials of Control Center for NB-IoT, have seen great adoption from businesses across industries, including smart metering, parking, fire control and street lighting.

“The demand for low cost, low power connectivity is extremely high throughout China, and we expect to have over 100 million NB-IoT connections on our network by 2020,” said Xiaotian Chen, General Manager of China Unicom IoT Business Unit. “By embracing multiple technologies for both traditional and low power devices, we give our customers – regardless of their industry – the flexibility to choose what fits their specific business needs.”

By reducing complexity and costs without compromising quality, Control Center for NB-IoT makes it practical and profitable for companies to connect all sorts of everyday devices that will enable smart metering, building automation, asset tracking, smart cities, remote agriculture and more on a global scale.

“NB-IoT dramatically reduces the power and cost of connectivity, so now even the most simple things will be capable of delivering valuable IoT services. This is going to drive exponential growth in the IoT industry, and one size will not fit all,” said Daniel Collins, Vice President IoT Products at Cisco.  “We designed Control Center for NB-IoT to address a broad range of low power use cases and business models – from a water meter that sends a burst of data once a week, to a city parking meter that handles transactions at all times of the day and night. Companies need the flexibility to get and pay for connectivity based on the value that each of those transactions represent to their business. We are excited to support our service provider partners and enterprise customers in China and around the world in their quest to cost-effectively deliver meaningful business outcomes.”

As NB-IoT makes connectivity of devices more accessible and affordable, the ability to manage increasingly large volumes of devices is critical. Control Center for NB-IoT provides businesses with:

• Management of Multiple Connection Types – Control Center for NB-IoT, when used in conjunction with Cisco Jasper Control Center, will give customers the ability to manage multiple types of connected devices, including both NB-IoT and traditional cellular.
• Customizable Service Packages – Control Center for NB-IoT is designed to help companies manage connectivity based on the business value they derive from each connected device. Customers can choose the appropriate level of features they need for their business applications, with the flexibility and convenience of an online self-serve catalog that lets them order and utilize those platform features as needed.
• Automation for Managing Scale – Control Center for NB-IoT combines automation capabilities with real-time visibility and insights across extremely large numbers of connected devices. This  makes it easy for customers to manage large deployments with minimal operational overhead.

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About China Unicom

China United Network Communications Group Co.,Ltd (“China Unicom”) was officially established on 6 January 2009 on the basis of the merger of former China Netcom and former China Unicom. It is the only Chinese telecom operator listed on the stock exchanges in New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

At present, the Company provides a full range of telecommunications services in China, including mobile broadband (WCDMA, LTE FDD, TD-LTE), fixed-line broadband, GSM, fixed-line local access, ICT, data communications and other related value-added services.

If you would like to know more about the Company, please visit www.chinaunicom.com