Happy Hump Day, IoTreaders.
(Okay, that was an attempt at combining “IoT” and “readers” while playing with the spelling when it comes to “treading” through IoT.)
An attempt at switching up the ol’ IoT intro, I suppose.
But, I digress. Let’s stick to the news:
Earlier this morning, we caught wind of a brand-new announcement from Soracom, Inc. Soracom – an oft-featured name here on IoT Evolution – is a provider of advanced IoT connectivity services. Founded in 2015, Soracom has since remained a very active player in the IoT space; from strategic partnerships with goal-aligned organizations, to its deployment-simplifying services powered by machine learning and GenAI, its configurable LTE-M-based smart buttons for eSIMs and industrial-grade SIM offerings for rugged IIoT applications, and more examples of the company working to meet evolving connectivity demands around the world. (Read here for a story-by-story recap of recent Soracom news. The company joined the AWS ISV Accelerate Program last month, too; that coverage is here.)
The Soracom announcement – shared below – also involves Skylo Technologies, a global non-terrestrial network (NTN) provider. Skylo was featured back in March on both this site and over on our Industrial IoT News hub; both stories revolved around big-time boosts to connectivity capabilities. Specifically, the first detailed the convergence of cellular and satellite IoT (satIoT) connectivity via Skylo and emnify, and the second dove into satIoT and developer accessibility via Skylo and Blues.
Now (as alluded to), it’s Soracom and Skylo taking center stage.
Last year, Soracom and Skylo devised a way to give customers (i.e. those building IoT solutions and M2M devices) more direct access to Skylo’s direct-to-device 3GPP NTN connectivity, plus advanced tools via Soracom’s platform.
Today, Soracom and Skylo have officially announced a new integration – this is happening because Skylo has progressed from Private Beta status to a global initiative service rollout to select Soracom customers, which confirms that those qualified can now activate Skylo connectivity on their Soracom SIMs/eSIMs, enabling their respective devices to switch totally seamlessly between cellular and NTN.
This 2023 Private Beta period was obviously successful for Skylo, which is why this combo of a service is now available commercially* (*in Limited Preview) and, quote, “can be activated directly by qualified customers in consultation with Soracom.”
Kenta Yasukawa, co-founder and CTO of Soracom (I interviewed Yasukawa back in February; read here), expressed his enthusiasm about the latest in Soracom-Skylo endeavors.
“Soracom is committed to an Internet of Things without limits, where anything can connect to any cloud from anywhere,” Yasukawa said. “Now, customers can add Skylo's breakthrough 3GPP NTN coverage to their devices while still taking full advantage of Soracom's CMP and platform to control their connections, cloud integrations, and data use.”
Parth Trivedi, co-founder and CEO of Skylo, also commented.
“We are very happy to expand our partnership with Soracom as we move beyond our Private Beta,” Trivedi confirmed. “Deep platform integration, seamless switching between NTN and cellular, and the ability to add NTN gives Soracom customers the ability to unlock the full potential of IoT at any time, regardless of their location or infrastructure constraints, enabling real-time data access, monitoring, and control in areas not currently served by cellular connectivity.”
And, as a quick callback to Blues, its founder and CEO Ray Ozzie even spoke to the benefits of this Soracom-Skylo integration.
“Blues simplifies wireless communication so that our customers can transform physical products into intelligent services. Key to our approach is supporting all major Radio Access Technologies,” Ozzie explained. “That’s why the ability to connect via satellite where cellular is not an option – while allowing customers to maintain control and minimize data overhead – holds great promise for building a safer and more intelligent connected world.”
Edited by
Greg Tavarez
