The Key Considerations to Future Proof your IoT Application

Home / Blog / 3G Shutdown – Part I – The Key Considerations to Future Proof your IoT Application

Mobile technology has gone through multiple evolutions in the past thirty years, taking the telecommunications from a niche sector into a hugely transformative industry.

However, every generation of technology eventually reaches the point of obsolescence before it is replaced by the next, which can cause temporary disruption of the market.

Companies with cellular-based Internet of Things (IoT) devices are facing one such juncture as major networks begin to sunset their 2G and 3G networks in favor of 4G long-term evolution (LTE) technologies. The transition will be especially challenging due to the complexities of a typical IoT end-to-end solution, which is often formed from several interlinked components with co-dependencies, including:

Device
Device application
Carrier/coverage
SIM
Gateway Application
Cloud Platform

To successfully manage the transition of an IoT end-to-end solution, all these interlinked components must be considered.

Don’t let the sun go down on you.

When it was released in 1991, 2G technology was revolutionary, with 40kbps speeds. However, it has long since been eclipsed by 3G (2Mbps) and 4G LTE (150Mbps), and now with 5G (1Gbps) also in development.

The evolution of the carrier network has two different objectives. The first is to increase data speeds, which has great relevance for consumer devices. The second is to better meet the needs of IoT devices, which often only transmit small amounts of data and therefore do not require high data bandwidth but need long battery life and greater coverage. As a result, the future holds great potential for improved IoT functionality that will enable new business opportunities and innovative services. For carriers to roll out these new network services, they will have to shut down their older 2G and 3G networks to refarm the spectrums to 4G.

Seizing the Opportunity

At first, many companies deploying IoT devices may have been doubtful about the necessity of a 4G LTE network, viewing it as having more benefit for consumer devices (such as mobile phones) that transmit large amounts of data. However, several new technologies such as LTE-M (also known as Cat-M1) and NB-IoT – which both operate on the 4G LTE networks – have been specifically designed for IoT devices. Known as cellular Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) technologies, they provide far greater coverage and capacity, while using much less power, ensuring long battery life.

How Ready Are You?

Different companies are at various stages in their transition programs to 4G LTE. For those who have yet to give serious thought to their strategy, it is imperative that they start right away. The best planned and executed migrations can take between 12 to 18 months. These projects often require a re-evaluation of the business and technical aspects of the IoT solution. This can lead to the need for a redesign of the technical architecture, as well as hardware and equipment replacements in the field.

Timely management of this process is critical to prevent business disruption and negative impact to customers.