CTIA Super Mobility, Las Vegas, 9 September 2015 - PodsystemM2M, the expert in connectivity for the M2M and IoT industries has announced that its remote SIM solution, FreeWay launched today at CTIA Super Mobility in Las Vegas has been awarded funding as the top innovation by Spanish Exportation and Investment Organization ICEX. FreeWay was awarded the highest score for innovation, research and development in the Invest In Spain program, co-financed by FEDER, the European Commission fund for regional development in the European Union.
The funding will allow the solution to be further developed to enable M2M and IoT developers direct access to an application that will enable them to control the profile of their SIMs on demand through Over The Air updates.
IoT and M2M applications suffer from the same expense and restrictions imposed by networks on roaming as consumers, but in the case of these applications, which are often remote or in transit, it is even more critical that they can be controlled remotely and that service is not limited to one network provider.
The concept behind FreeWay is similar to the eSIM for consumers, in that it allows developers of devices to choose which network the device will attach to depending on cost, but it goes further than this by including an application on the SIM card to swap between independent networks automatically in case of signal loss. This is vital for M2M and IoT devices which have to operate without human intervention.
In addition, the solution assures “No Single Point of Failure” by including a database of independent “core” networks (IMSIs) on the SIM card itself, allowing automatic back-up in case of technical problems on one of the core infrastructures. No other SIMs offer this form of back-up since they either rely on a single core network with local roaming agreements, or a single core IMSI which creates a point of failure.
The funding will allow the additional development of a platform that will give users a variety of options to control the connectivity of their SIMs remotely without ever needing to swap SIMs out of their devices, a vital requirement when devices are in remote locations, or SIMs are embedded and cannot be removed. Among the functions users will have access to via the platform are Over The Air updates to change the IMSI on demand if technical problems occur and adding new IMSIs to expand coverage or take advantage of more competitive pricing as it becomes available.
The platform will allow both the developer community and users to be independent of any supplier, since the SIMs will be owned by the user rather than the networks and the commands to enable SIMs to be updated Over The Air can be provided if users want to add their own IMSIs.
Sam Colley, CEO of Podsystem Inc. commented; “This solution is revolutionary in that it provides the user complete control over the connectivity of their M2M or IoT device. Whereas before developers were tied in to a contract with a specific network which limited the lifespan of the devices and also jeopardized the performance if technical problems arose, FreeWay cuts all the network ties and allows the user to take control of their SIM profile remotely.”
Group Managing Director of Podsystem, Charles Towers-Clark added; “We are extremely proud that ICEX has recognized our solution as the top technical innovation in Spain and has decided to support us in our ongoing development. The funding will allow us to provide a platform that gives users even more direct control over the connectivity of their devices, as well as researching into new ways to avoid connection problems caused by roaming.”
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About PodsystemM2M
As a division of Podsystem Group, we form part of an independent MVNO specializing in data connectivity solutions for the M2M and business travel sectors. At PodsystemM2M, we specialize in multi-network and multi-IMSI data solutions, offering reliable coverage worldwide, flexible pricing plans and 24 hour support with our team of M2M experts. For more information please visit our M2M website www.podsystemm2m.com
At Podsystem Group, we serve customers throughout Europe, the USA and across the globe from our headquarters in Buckingham, UK and our offices Spain (Seville) and the USA (San Francisco, CA). Our mission is to enable our customers to grow by optimizing the value of mobile data through global connectivity. We are obsessed with customer care. We listen.
For more information please visit our group website www.podsystem.com