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oneM2M boosts IoT 3GPP interworking with new release

oneM2M has published Release 3, its third set of specifications for its global IoT interoperability standard, which it states includes dramatically enhanced 3GPP interworking and new capabilities to unlock value in industrial and smart home applications.

The organisation claims that Release 3 enables seamless interworking with underlying 3GPP network services (NB-IoT and LTE-M in particular) via the 3GPP Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF). It adds that by enabling interworking with LPWAN technologies from 3GPP, Release 3 further supports operators in deploying cellular IoT services and tapping into new revenue opportunities higher up the value chain.

“The ultimate goal of oneM2M is to open up the IoT ecosystem and improve the business case for players looking to launch services,” said Omar Elloumi, of Nokia, technical plenary chair at oneM2M. “Release 3 does exactly this by creating an abstraction layer that simplifies the exchange of cross-silo data. Furthermore, by supporting a set of 3GPP-defined APIs, Release 3 opens up new revenue streams for mobile operators while lowering the cost of deployments.”

A recent survey of mobile network operators (MNOs) by Mobile World Live, the GSMA’s media arm, found that 92 per cent of respondents consider fragmentation of standards to be an issue of concern in IoT deployment.

Some examples of cellular IoT services enabled by oneM2M’s Release 3 include:

  • IoT device enrolment – provides cellular IoT devices connected to an operator’s network with proper security credentials, authentication and registration.
  • IoT device location tracking – supports current location tracking, stores past device locations and generates notifications to IoT apps.
  • Manage data delivery methods – manages data delivery based on schedule and priority of requests.
  • Network communication pattern configuration – helps operators manage network resources by anticipating the communication patterns of IoT devices based on input from IoT apps.
  • Wake a sleeping device – monitors if a device is sleeping and wakes it up to process a request from the app if needed.

“These features open up a multitude of possibilities for the IoT industry and cellular ecosystem, including how to monetise NB-IoT and LTE-M,” said Elloumi. “A standardised approach at the IoT service layer helps application proliferation through removing the burden of understanding diverse LPWAN flavours.”