At Mobile World Congress (MWC), Cisco announced the global availability of Cisco Jasper Control Center for NB-IoT.
Reportedly the first commercially available NB-IoT platform, it will enable enterprises to manage both cellular and NB-IoT devices when used along with Cisco Jasper Control Center IoT connectivity platform.
The Cisco Jasper Control Center is an automated connectivity management platform which helps enterprises to manage a large number of low power and low usage connected devices. With control over different types of connected devices, it lets one manage low-power wide area networks (NB-IoT, LTE-M), as well as cellular ones (2G, 3G, LTE).
NB-IoT (Narrow Band IoT) is a 3GPP (3rd generation partnership project) standard for narrowband LPWAN (low power wide area networking) radio technology to deliver economical IoT connectivity for low-cost devices.
Cisco conducted trials of Control Center for NB-IoT in collaboration with service providers like China Unicom, who validate its potential for growth. Enterprises dealing in smart metering, parking, fire control, and street lighting adopted it at large 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.”
The Control Center will help businesses to manage different types of connected devices and also manage their connectivity depending upon business value per the connected device. It brings together automation and real-time visibility across several connected devices, making the management of large deployments easier, with less operational overhead.
“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,” added Daniel Collins.
Enterprises can use Control Center for NB-IoT to connect smart devices which can enable smart metering, asset tracking, smart cities, remote agriculture, etc.
