NTT boosted its long-standing collaboration with Cisco to extend its managed private network reach further to the edge in support of enterprise-focused IoT use cases. This includes a particular focus on sustainability goals.

Devin Yaung, SVP for enterprise IoT products and services at NTT, explained the new IoT-as-a-Service option sits on top of internal integration work at NTT and previous as-a-service launches. These include its Private 5G Network-as-a-Service, its IoT Services for Sustainability and its Edge-as-a-Service platforms.

This integration work provides enterprises with a managed way to glean actionable insight using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) from their IoT and edge device deployments.

“With cloud as a demarcation, edge compute, network connectivity and devices we offer as a service so that clients can future proof their infrastructure and then feed all the new AI and ML opportunities in engagements that they're looking for, because right now data is kind of being choked as clients are looking for getting real-time insights into their operations,” Yaung said.

The service is highly reliant on Cisco’s IoT hardware. This includes connected sensors that tap into the LoRaWAN specification for low-power, long-range WAN connectivity, which can then be connected to either a private 5G network or use an NTT Transatel SIM card.

“This is a doubling-down with Cisco and going after the market primarily around the theme of sustainability,” Yaung said. “But bring the power of NTT, which is that full stack, pull in that infrastructure, manage it, but also add services on top of it such as the analytics, the insights, turning that data into action with the integration in the back-end systems and our ability to provide this as-a-service on an opex level.”

NTT’s management also includes assigning more than 1,000 employees to the IoT initiative, with Yaung noting it has already trained more than 500 people to help sell and support the service.

“Cisco's basically the closest when it comes to family, we understand them, they understand us, we know how to work with them, we know how to engage with them and they are just always a partner you can rely on,” Yaung added.

The deal comes just months after Cisco tapped NTT to help power its Private 5G targeting automotive, logistics, health care, retail and public sector verticals. That agreement calls for NTT to provide Cisco with network infrastructure design, deployment, run operations, use case development, device sourcing, compatibility and end-to-end testing. This includes Cisco tying its Private 5G service into NTT’s Managed Private 5G offering, which will allow Cisco customers to add edge connectivity options to their current LAN, WAN and cloud infrastructure.

The managed IoT service also continues NTT’s sustainability support. This includes the previously launched IoT Services for Sustainability product and recent work NTT has done with Microsoft using digital twins.

Yaung explained that upcoming government regulations like the European Union’s (EU’s) Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will “drop a bomb” and pressure enterprises to better manage and track their sustainability goals.

“They're starting to be hints at what the mandates of reporting are going to be, but it's going to be big when they drop this bomb,” Yaung said. “Soon you're gonna have to know your scope 2, scope 3. Scope 1 is kind of easy, but altering my supply chain, etc., and the commitments over the next decade.”

Yaung said this also leads into the benefit of a managed IoT implementation for enterprises as they look to extend their reach out to the edge.

“Some of these implementations lasts for a decade or more, so [they] are married to this thing,” Yaung said. “[They] don't want to support it. [They] don't want to architect it. All [they] care about is the outcome. [They] want to know that the vibration reading says that this machine is about to fail. [They] want to know that there's a leak. [They] want to know that the temperature's rising in this warehouse. [They] want the outcome and it's easier for [them] to do this on an opex level.”

Analyst firm IoT Analytics recently noted that spending on IoT software hit $53 billion in 2022, with the installed base of connected IoT device surging to 14.4 billion units. The firm expects that device number to surge to 30 billion units by 2027.

The firm also ranked Cisco as one of the market’s top software providers, touting its Cisco Edge Intelligence and IoT security offerings.