Nokia launched four new off-the-shelf IoT packages built on its WING architecture and designed to serve new vertical markets. The as-a-service IoT offerings will serve new use cases in the agriculture, livestock management, logistics, and asset management markets.
The operator debuted its WING architecture, or Worldwide IoT Network Grid, at the 2017 MWC event. WING is a platform that is intended to help enterprises manage connectivity across a number of networks, streamline billing, and provide customer care.
The platform is intended to be used alongside Nokia’s other IoT products – including its Impact platform – as a managed IoT service that can provide connectivity between cellular and non-cellular networks. This includes satellite and low-power wide area networks. Nokia also offers WING as a white-label, fully managed service for operators to brand and sell to their customers.
Nokia is looking to have WING available in more than 20 countries by the first quarter of 2020.
Diverse as-a-Service
The new IoT packages are meant to complement WING and help operators that are developing their own IoT services. The four services are Smart Agriculture as-a-service, Livestock Management as-a-service, Logistics as-a-service, and Asset Management as-a-service.
Each of these packages uses IoT sensors in a unique way to service each use case.
The smart agriculture service leverages IoT sensors to capture environmental, soil, and crop data. This enables the end-user to manage crops more effectively and the WING platform can help save costs on items like irrigation, pesticides, and fertilizers. According to Nokia, this service is already being trialed with an operator in Africa.
With the livestock management service end-users can leverage tracking devices and biosensors to monitor the welfare and health of livestock. End-users can then receive alerts if abnormalities are detected.
Enterprises can use IoT sensors with the Logistics service to track their goods and services through the supply chain to optimize their delivery and logistics processes.
The asset management service allows for companies to monitor the status and performance of its products to ensure consistent and efficient service to their end-users. Nokia is combining this with a services and consulting firm to help them build more advanced services and products.
Nokia says that these new vertically-focused IoT packages are just the first of many.
Last year, AT&T selected the WING platform to offer WING’s core network, dedicated IoT operations, billing, security, and data analytics capabilities to its enterprise customers. AT&T at the time said it would use its own cloud-based connection platform alongside WING so that its customers could have a single portal to manage devices on.
