Enterprise demand for a reliable and secure IoT platform is growing in parallel to global connectivity improvements and importance. Of course, that is often easier said than done among other digital transformation challenges.
Ericsson helps enterprises face those challenges, such as connecting a product to the cellular network or creating a new connected service, because the company feels that every enterprise should make their IoT ideas a reality.
Ericsson (News - Alert) IoT Accelerator is used by over 9,000 enterprises to manage more than 95 million connected devices with 22 million eSIM connections globally. These enterprises and connections leverage Ericsson's growing ecosystem of over 35 communications service provider partners for global IoT cellular connectivity.
Connected Vehicle Cloud is a complete connected car platform, with frontrunners in automotive IoT using it to connect 6 million vehicles and counting across 180 countries.
Those numbers prove the effectiveness of and trust placed by customers in Ericsson’s IoT platforms and it gained the attention of IoT solutions provider Aeris, which provides intelligent IoT cellular connectivity. To further drive IoT innovation, Aeris (News - Alert) is acquiring Ericsson’s IoT Accelerator and Connected Vehicle Cloud businesses.
“Building the best technology to support the success of our customers and drive innovation in the IoT space have always been at the forefront for Aeris,” said Marc Jones, president and CEO of Aeris. “Our intelligent, software-defined IoT network and Ericsson’s leading connectivity management platform will provide the leading IoT technology stack in the industry.”
Aeris and Ericsson’s IoT platforms, together, connect over 100 million IoT devices worldwide, covering 190 countries. For customers, this provides the stability, reliability and global scale needed to support the full lifecycle of IoT programs across multiple industries, use cases and geographies.
Aeris acquiring Ericsson’s IoT business also generates strong market synergies for Aeris and further simplifies IoT for enterprises by providing them with a global, feature rich platform with secure, reliable and intelligent IoT solutions.
For CSPs, the transaction of Ericsson’s IoT business to Aeris results in a stronger partner that provides customers with a reliable IoT connectivity platform, while offering new value-added services to help grow IoT revenue streams.
“The combined business will offer an unparalleled IoT platform for enterprises and new revenue streams for communication service providers, ultimately benefiting Ericsson’s customers,” said Åsa Tamsons, head of business area technologies and new businesses at Ericsson. “Aeris is a good home for our IoT business.”
The transfer of Ericsson’s assets and employees in its IoT business to Aeris are included in the transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023. For its part, Ericsson isn’t going away entirely from the business and intends to acquire a small stake in Aeris.