Extending Your Network, Extending Your Value to Enterprise ... · connectivity services, which account for less than 5% of the average IoT solution revenue. This strategy misses out

Extending Your Network, Extending Your Value to Enterprise and Industrial Customers

LoRaWAN IoT Opportunities for Service Providers

A Senet Business White Paper

Senent – LoRaWAN IoT Opportunities for Service Providers 2

Communications Service Providers (CSPs) have for years been conservative and even skeptical about their ability to participate profitably in the Internet of Things (IoT). This is due, in large part, to their dependence on traditional connectivity service business models and the prohibitive cost of replacing critical elements of the network infrastructure.

The market opportunity for CSPs has quadrupled from $2 trillion in traditional service delivery today to an estimated $8 trillion over the next few years by extending beyond consumer smart phones to include IoT services (source: Bearing Point). The question of whether a CSP should transform to support IoT and the new digital telecommunications landscape is now moot; those that don’t do so won’t survive.

In this white paper, we will explore the opportunity for CSPs to capture more available service revenue by layering IoT services onto their existing offerings and bringing enterprise and industrial IoT applications to their customer base. We will also cover the differences between cellular data connectivity, options like Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT), and the benefits of using LoRaWAN to support a broad range of IoT applications.

This paper will explain the economics associated with

adopting proven LoRaWAN technologies, and the

surprisingly short time to commercialization which is

achieved in days and weeks, not months or years.

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT


Since the emergence of machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions decades ago, CSP executives have pointed to the relatively small data requirements and have been challenged with creating business models to drive new and meaningful revenue streams.

Understandably, they have also been forced to focus their spending on the transformation of their analog and fixed networks to digital and mobile networks, with trillions of dollars being poured into the advancements towards 4G/5G/LTE technologies. In addition, CSPs have had to respond to challengers leveraging Internet overlays and rolling out hyper-competitive “Over-the-Top” (OTT) services that have eaten into traditional voice, video and SMS revenues.

The good news for CSPs today is that the investments made in these new technologies can pay off handsomely just as the IoT is starting to take off and particularly as enterprises and manufacturers are implementing massive, distributed projects. The benefits of connected cities, factories, farms, homes and hospitals are now so clear that enterprises are gearing up to spend billions of dollars on IoT.

To succeed, CSPs will need to get in front of these projects before IoT connectivity is commoditized and do so with disruptive business models that turn massive volumes of physical things into digital relationships with recurring service revenues.

Senet is uniquely positioned to partner with CSPs to

extend their offerings with reduced risk, faster time

to market, and a provide a direct link to driving IoT

connectivity revenues with value add applications.

Right Time, Right Place, Right Partners As connected products and services continue to expand into mainstream, mobile operators and service providers are in a strategic position to capture this market yet are not well prepared to rapidly deploy network and offer cost effective services to take advantage of the Internet of Things at massive scale.

In a survey conducted by Strategy Analytics, network operators are considered a top choice by IoT application providers to deliver services because of their robust technology, price competitiveness, vendor knowledge and trust. This is a great position to be in, but how can an operator that has historically been delivering a singular connectivity technology or limited to a narrow geography meet the demands of a global application provider looking to connect millions, and ultimately, billions of devices?

While some network operators and service providers struggled to handle the complexities of building and managing an IoT network from the ground up, many have gained a significant competitive advantage by aligning with IoT ecosystem partners, including those offering proven platforms, existing networks, and targeted business solutions. As an added incentive, some of these ecosystem partners often bundle the IoT connectivity services with creative go-to-market strategies and revenue sharing programs, incentivizing all participants to succeed. Sourcing IoT connectivity services from a proven and trusted partner, allows network operators and service providers to immediately supplement their portfolio in a time when IoT applications are being envisioned and built daily.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

SUMMARY


There is a land grab happening as the top broadband, cable and internet companies are looking to expand past the last mile into the air, and wireless companies are looking for a quicker ROI to get them into IoT markets. CSPs who wish to participate in the IoT economy should not be waiting to finish massive 5G spectrum networks to activate IoT into a strategic service offerings and advantages for existing and new customers.

Municipalities, enterprises and utility companies are developing and offering smart building, smart city and other high-impact IoT applications today and are now planning to scale. According to analysts, between 8 and 10 billion smart things were connected in 2017. An impressive 55 percent of those were best suited for Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWANs).

LPWANs are designed to support use cases needing to communicate over long ranges using battery powered devices. Of all LPWAN technologies, LoRaWAN™ (LPWAN solutions developed with the LoRaWAN protocol) provides proven interoperability among smart things without the need for complex local installations, offers the most cost savings, and is available globally today.

LoRaWAN is the open global standard for carrier-grade Low Power Wide Area Network connectivity and is the best option for the largest possible set of IoT applications. Advantages provided by LoRaWAN include:

1. Open LPWAN specification that rides on unlicensed spectrum

2. Purpose built for low data-through-put and very low power usage

3. Designed for battery life optimization

4. Device certification is easier and costs less

5. Operates in difficult radio frequency environments

6. Covers more geographic area with less network infrastructure

7. Available today while 5G IoT technologies are years away

Studies prove that cost more than any other factor is going to drive scale and growth, which drives demand and contributes to continued customer loyalty. LoRaWAN networks can be deployed on average at 1/10th the cost of licensed networks and many LoRaWAN sensors are designed to operate for 10 years or more, extending the lifecycle of products in the field and the networks that support them.

Not only are the business economics of the network buildout being disrupted, but the efficiencies of operating and maintaining LoRaWAN networks are highly optimized and support more use cases than other connectivity technologies, especially those previously determined to be cost prohibitive.

OVERVIEW

The Real IoT Opportunity for CSPs: LPWAN and LoRaWAN

8

DATA RATE

RANGE

BATTERY LIFE Varies

COST

Short

~10kbps

Long

LongLongShort

~100kbps-100mbps~100kbps-100mbps

EfficientExpensiveExpensive

Local Area Networks(Bluetooth, ZigBee, WiFi)

LPWANLow Powered Wide Area Network

Cellular(3G, 4GLTE, CDMA)

Weath

er

Loca

tion

Monito

ring

Temp

EXAMPLEUSE CASES

55% of IoTMarket

Smart grid CCTV Asset tracking

Traditional M2MIn-home/Building & Consumer

Meterin

gA/VSmart TV WiFiNetworks

Bluetooth Personalcommunication Asse

t

track

ing


OVERVIEW

As a CSP’s client base extends beyond fiber or tower coverage, so should their IoT offerings. According to a Bearing Point study, CSPs currently focus mostly on mobile-connectivity services, which account for less than 5% of the average IoT solution revenue. This strategy misses out on 95% of the value above the connectivity layer.

CSPs can use the trust they have already established with their client base to move up the stack and provide value-added IoT services to make these partnerships stand the test of time.

By doing this, they can:

• Offer services now to meet early demand

• Drive competitive prices through operating efficiencies by selecting solid operating and billing system platform partners

• Scale beyond their original footprint without having to build more towers or lay more fiber

Some CSPs are offering IoT applications directly to enterprise customers in narrow verticals, for example smart cities. The full IoT market, however, touches many different industry verticals, and calls for a broader set of business partners in the IoT service-delivery ecosystem.

LoRaWAN BENEFITS• Low Cost: Lower than cellular, WiFi and satellite

• Longest Product Lifecycles: Low cost LoRa modems and standards-based infrastructure deliver a low TCO and superior CapEx and OpEx savings

• Fixed, Nomadic and Mobile Device Support: Supporting the widest range of horizontal and vertical use cases

• Bidirectional Communication: Ability to stream data, configure and/or manage End Devices and exert local control

• Long Range: Greater than 15 miles rural and 5 miles urban

• Built-In Security: Using AES-128 CCM, privacy, authenticity and message integrity are assured end-to-end

• Long Battery Life: 10+ years from AA-size battery

• Global Provisioning: Single global provisioning of End Devices for security, redundancy and mobility

• Dynamically Optimized Performance: Fastest data rates, shortest time-on-air, and densest device deployment

Extending Your Network Services While Deepening Customer Relationships

9

Connectivity Device Application Service provision

Systems integration

Description

Offer the network for transmission of

data from IoT services

Offer the end-user module, with an embedded M2M

chipset

Provide the actual applications that manage the data collected by the

device

Manage the distribution supply chain, fulfilment,

billing and support

Provide system integration

services; design/develop

systems

Approximate share of value

5-30% 5-20% 30-60% 20-30% <20%

100%


Massively scaled device volume will come from applications that instrument the ordinary or hidden business activities but yield revolutionary outcomes. This scale requires platform technology that supports ease of deployment, proven security and efficiency in operation, but most importantly a cost-conscious business model.

With Senet’s technology, CSPs can quickly enter the IoT market with a connectivity platform and network purpose-built to scale. Our Network Operating System, Operations Support System (OSS) and Business Support System (BSS) platforms are used by our partners to speed LoRaWAN commercialization worldwide. We’ve developed a unique set deployment models and onboarding tools which uniquely fit into CSP’s existing core architectures openly and easily.

With Senet, CSPs can capitalize on existing LoRaWAN coverage and managed network services to not only expand their services but take part in innovative business models that contribute to the rapid build out of global LPWAN coverage at the scale required to tackle the IoT market.

Why are CSP’s leveraging Senet’s OSS/BSS rather than building their own? Simply put, because our technology is purpose built for the scale and security of IoT.

Not only is the world of IoT different than traditional telecom, technologies continue to morph as the very nature of networking and the operations and management of networking converge across an expanding landscape.

Cloud computing, microservices, virtualization, and dynamic security approaches are the new fundamental elements of modern networks. Legacy networks designed primarily for high-bandwidth applications don’t deliver the economics, flexibility and performance required to run IoT applications.

With dynamic performance management and application optimization becoming increasingly important, network management is being reinvented and is motivating a range of companies to offer new protocols, pricing structures and customer engagement models suited to low bandwidth M2M IoT communication.

IoT OSS/BSS platforms like Senet’s were built from the ground up to support these specific business requirements and are being used today around the world.

Senet’s OSS/BSS deliver the full set of capabilities a CSP needs to operate a network and sell services. Being able to securely connect, activate and monitor IoT devices at massive scale, in a multi-tenant and multi-vendor environment—and across a broad range of applications—is the new standard and is the key to supporting new cost models.

To succeed, CSPs need to be able to easily manage the OSS/BSS features of:

• The network server

• The packet core

• Data streaming

• Security

• Performance of the Radio Access Network (RAN)

• Performance of the End Device adaptive data rates (RF tuning)

In addition, the IoT application management environment provided by the network operator must efficiently enable gateway deployment and provide scalable, secure, end-device onboarding, application service provisioning and visualization tools.

While some CSPs struggle to transform their monolithic legacy systems to support these requirements, many are gaining a competitive advantage by opting to have their network managed by a network services provider with an OSS/BSS built for IoT.

It’s not just about the technology, per se. Modern

OSS/BSS enables commercialization through

innovation in service models.

The value and success in IoT today and in the future is being driven through cooperation between network operators, end device manufacturers, solution providers and others who strategically expand their roles in the IoT services economy.

OVERVIEW

The Backbone of Senet’s Approach to LoRaWAN - A Modern OSS/BSS Platform


OFFERINGS

A Revolutionary Approach to IoT: Modern Technology, New Business Models & Application Enablement

Senet has established a model of ecosystem participation and partnerships to deploy, connect, manage and monetize millions, and ultimately billions, of low-power, low-cost sensors - across the globe. Our cloud-based IoT connectivity platforms and services deliver efficient and secure options to connect and manage low-power, low-cost sensors and simplify complex operations related to device provisioning and registration, message accounting and settlements.

The Senet LoRaWAN network is the first multi-tenant, global, public LPWAN to provide secure low cost, long distance, low power wireless connectivity for IoT applications across all industries.

Senet Offerings:The Senet Low Power Wide Area Virtual Network (LVN™): Senet connects all participant’s gateways through its LVN, creating the largest global LoRaWAN network. The LVN allows CSPs to expand their service offerings beyond traditional areas of operation, unlocking opportunities for regional and global expansion. The LVN allows end-device connectivity and application service on any LoRaWAN Radio Access Network (RAN) network using Senet’s OSS and BSS. Included in the LVN are Senet’s own NaaS Radio Access Network, networks running on Senet’s Managed Network Services for IoT (MNSi™) and other RAN providers contributing to the LVN buildout.

Senet’s Managed Services for IoT (MNSi): MNSI is a cloud-based “turn-key” network service that enables network operators and other connectivity providers to rapidly deploy Radio Access Network services on their physical assets (towers, buildings, etc.) to offer low power wide area network connectivity to their customers. CSPs implement this multi-tenant and multi-vendor solution for diversified go-to-market and channel strategies, leveraging the powerful features of Senet’s Network Server and OSS/BSS functionality to onboard customers and facilitate business engagements.

RAN Provider Services: Senet has established a unique way for infrastructure providers to participate in the Internet of Things marketplace. RAN Providers participating in the LVN benefit from their investment in the infrastructure by sharing in the revenue generated by all end devices connecting to their Radio Access Network.

Participating in Senet’s LVN as a RAN Provider delivers multitude benefits:

• Unlocks additional value from assets (towers, roof tops, billboards, light poles) by installing low-cost LoRaWAN gateways

• Generates new revenues from existing investment in the infrastructure (by sharing in the revenue generated by all end devices connecting to their Radio Access Network)

• Speeds time to market with Senet’s Network Design and RF Planning, RAN Site Acquisition, RAN Deployment and RAN Management and Operations services

ApplicationProviders

SystemIntegrators

Municipalities

lIoT/Enterprise

TowerOperators

NetworkOperators

Radio Access NetworkProviders

Our proven experience establishing commercially

available LPWAN services allows our customers

to focus on bringing value-added IoT solutions

to market without the burden of implementing

and supporting the network infrastructure,

enabling them to deepen relationships with their

customers by offering complete IoT solutions.


OFFERINGS

When working with Senet, CSPs tap into the world’s largest LoRa Ecosystem, promoting open standards for worldwide interoperability and making possible.

The LoRa Alliance is an open, nonprofit association that has grown to more than 500 members since its inception in March 2015, becoming the largest and fastest-growing alliance in the technology sector. Its members closely collaborate and share experiences to promote and drive the success of the LoRaWAN protocol as the leading open

global standard

for secure, carrier-

grade IoT LPWAN

connectivity. With the technical flexibility to address a

broad range of IoT applications, both static and mobile,

and a certification program to guarantee interoperability,

LoRaWAN has already been deployed by major mobile

network operators globally, with continuing wide

expansion into 2018 and beyond.

Senet is a Founding Member of the LoRa Alliance

Asset Tracking Application EnablementTo support CSPs in moving up the IoT solutions stack, Senet delivers asset tracking capabilities built on top of its LoRaWAN Core Network Services for outdoor, indoor and hybrid use cases.

CSPs have been slow to roll out full service and even end-to-end IoT and IoT services in the massive asset tracking market, even though they were fundamental to the beginnings of asset tracking with satellite and mobile solutions as far back as forty years ago.

The art and science of tracking solutions has advanced into increasingly secure and sophisticated solutions with more software running in the background that provide highly contextualized and actionable data.

Senet’s Asset Tracking application enablement offering includes:

• Hardware designs for multiple use cases (location, temperature, environmental sensing)

• Flexible geo-location technology: indoor, outdoor, hybrid

• Device configuration and management

• Encryption and security services

• Contextualized and actionable data for a variety of use cases

Senet delivers the tools and expertise to accelerate time to market for LoRaWAN Asset Tracking services for outdoor, indoor and hybrid use cases. By partnering with Senet,

CSPscan benefit by driving application definition, app

development and customization and ownership of the

customer relationship with industry applications in the cold-

case, retail, healthcare, fuel delivery, logistics and other arenas.

With Senet’s REST APIs for final application integration, CSPs

can deliver solutions that deliver to them margins of 50%

and higher.


USE CASES

Using sensors, tags and other wireless technologies to track assets and goods is one of the fundamental use cases for the Internet of Things. It is also one of the most impactful, with trillions of dollars of economic value to be generated by asset supply and usage.

A report by Mobile Experts expects asset tracking IoT device market to triple by 2022, and for all the right reasons. Enterprises can more easily track and manage their physical assets using sensors and systems.

Depending on the enterprise business, those assets can be fixed physical equipment with a variety of sensors attached (temperature, humidity, power, usage volume and more), or mobile equipment (vehicles, portable equipment, tools, and more).

Asset tracking and management has been in existence for decades, but the approaches have been fragmented, complex, expensive and rarely unified so the information can be converted to corrective actions and analysis efficiently.

For example, systems which use spreadsheets are not only cumbersome and time-consuming, but they are often flawed, as upkeep in a timely fashion can be difficult to impossible.

Modern asset tracking and management solutions, including those made possible using LoRaWAN networking, delivers real time or near-real time information on where the asset is, the condition of the asset, when the asset needs to be serviced and more.

IoT-enabled asset management solutions add automation and intelligence by utilizing sensors, which enable active tracking without human intervention.

Benefits

• Improve visibility into location and condition of assets

• Develop increasing automation as more information is collected and manual tasks are further eliminated

• Innovate new services associated with equipment (maintenance programs made more effective and profitable through digital services)

• Increase accuracy and support compliance requirements

Asset Tracking & Management

USE CASES FOR COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE PROVIDERS:

BUILDING DEEPER VALUE OFFERINGS

Predictive Maintenance & Field ServiceA close cousin to asset tracking and management is predictive maintenance and field service solutions.

Improve asset availability and performance

After outfitting machines with sensors to monitor abnormalities that can be early indicators for servicing (e.g. temperature changes, vibration, etc.), OEMs can analyze data to:

• Maximize equipment up-time

• Schedule maintenance during times when equipment is not in demand

• Optimize productivity by arming technicians with the right parts


USE CASES

Smart meters are electronic devices that record consumption of electrical energy and transmit that information back to the utility and to the consumer for monitoring, billing and energy management.

They are also used for measuring natural gas or water consumption and enable two-way communication between the meter and systems.

Using connected meters, utility companies and independent energy providers no longer need to send “meter readers” out to every endpoint. Using LoRaWAN secure networking, providers can roll out systems which deliver better customer service at a lower cost, while also enabling more granular energy management techniques.

CSPs are trusted providers to utilities, municipalities and enterprises and are therefore perfectly position to develop their own offerings and roll them out to their customers – and prospects. By working with Senet for LoRaWAN network deployment and management, CSPs can bring these benefits to market with very little upfront operational costs while creating a fast tract to new revenue.

Benefits:

• LoRaWAN (Sub-Ghz) secured network reducing pressure on RAN networks and delivering outstanding margins

• Innovative energy business models, including rev shares given the software approach

• Remote device monitoring from meter to gateway to cloud with pre-integrated web and mobile portals

LoRaWAN technology provides the ideal connectivity and service capabilities CSPs need to fulfill the growing Smart City demands in smart lighting, smart buildings and entire smart cities and towns, including environment monitoring, parking, public safety, fleet management and more.

Since LoRaWAN is designed for wide range, low power communications, battery life can be extended 10 years or more, with secure, bi-directional communications, for both fixed and mobile applications.

Senet and its ecosystem partners bring all the capabilities required (including hardware and software, gateways and cloud services) to CSPs wishing to build and roll out a wireless LoRaWAN offering for cluster-based, localized services that can benefit public and private initiatives.

Benefits

• Less expensive and more secure than licensed spectrum alternatives (operates in free-to-use sub-GHz ISM spectrum

• Supports low-power consumption and extended battery life

• Supports wide-area coverage

• Low data transmission rates

• Less stringent latency requirements

• Scalable, with base stations able to serve many thousands of devices

• Open ecosystem of industry partners for efficient technology evolution

Metering & Monitoring

Smart Lighting, Smart Buildings, Smart Cities

© 2018 Senet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

100 Market Street, Suite 302Portsmouth, NH 03801

Phone+1 877-807-5755

Websitewww.senetco.com

Why Choose Senet as Your LoRaWAN Partner?

CSPs face a strategic choice. They can become marginal players supplying mobile connectivity for IoT applications, or they can expand their offerings and depth of relationships to capture more of the value in the IoT ecosystem.

Senet provides a proven path to growth for CSPs, allowing them to expand way beyond mobile-connectivity solutions. We enable our customers and partners to:

• Embrace proven, innovative connectivity technologies to support applications that are complementary to mobile

• Move up the value chain and address enterprise needs for IoT services and applications

• Deepen customer engagements by delivering the services they need through an expansion of long-term, trusted relationships

The mainstream telecom market shows no sign of any significant top-line growth. The highly adjacent IoT market promises to exceed the economic rewards of the Internet. The key is finding the right way to approach the market, with the right services, at the right prices, with the right value proposition – arm in arm with strong ecosystem technology partners. Senet is the leader in the LoRaWAN connectivity space today, working with dozens of CSPs to stand up their IoT and IIoT network quickly and with little risk, delivering standardized low-cost network connectivity exactly where it’s needed, when it’s needed and at the right cost.

For more information contact us at:

Senet, Inc.

100 Market Street, Suite 302

Portsmouth, NH 03801

Phone: +1 877-807-5755

www.senetco.com

Documents

Extending Your Network, Extending Your Value to Enterprise ... · connectivity services, which account for less than 5% of the average IoT solution revenue. This strategy misses out