Sequans and Microchip Develop 5G LTE-M and NB-IoT Solutions

Sequans Communications, a developer and provider of 5G and 4G chips and modules for IoT, recently announced a new partnership with Microchip Technology.

The companies said they hope to deliver 5G LTE-M/NB-IoT connectivity solutions based on the Sequans Monarch family of chips and Microchip’s family of microcontrollers (MCUs).

“Sequans’ Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT technology is an important part of our embedded IoT solutions strategy and our collaboration with Sequans helps to overcome the challenges developers face in connecting MCUs to the cloud via cellular IoT networks,” said Greg Robinson, AVP, Marketing, 8-bit microcontroller business unit, Microchip Technologies. “Sequans’ Monarch platforms provide critically important and advanced IoT capabilities, including industry-leading low power consumption, secure connectivity, and global deployment capability.”

Sequans Communications’ Monarch chip family supports 3GPP Release 14 and 15 and LTE UE categories M1/NB1/NB2. Monarch supports all power classes, +23/20/14 dBm, which is for extended coverage, and supports all major networks with Single-SKU hardware.

Monarch 2 and Monarch N are 5G ready and fully compatible with first generation Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT connectivity solutions. Monarch 2 and Monarch N reportedly deliver improvement in power consumption, overall solution cost and advanced features.

“Our collaboration with Microchip aims to make massive IoT a reality by providing developers with a simple yet powerful IoT development environment that integrates micropressor power with 5G IoT connectivity,” said Georges Karam, CEO, Sequans Communications. “Microchip’s highly sophisticated MCUs combined with Sequans’ industry-leading Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT chip platforms provide this by enabling the easy and rapid development of secure IoT applications across a wide range of markets.”