How to Pick the Right IoT Network? Nokia Weighs In

What are the most important issues executives need to consider when choosing an IoT network? Recently, two IoT industry experts from Nokia got together to discuss just that.

In a blog post, Jason Elliott, Nokia’s 5G market development manager, said your choice in IoT networks obviously largely depends on the needs of your business — but he suggested going through this list of questions to begin considering your framework:

• Do you have an immediate business need such as a one plus year time frame?
• Are you looking at a strategy type decision over the next five years?
• Do you want to build expertise?
• What’s your investment model?
• When thinking about digital automation and connectivity and automating your enterprise your enterprise, do you want to control the entire set of infrastructure?
• Are you actually building your staffing resources and infrastructure to control and manage the network yourself?
• In terms of spectrum, are you going to build it yourself or are you going to partner with a wireless provider to do that?

See also: For IoT, permissioned networks are the key

Elliot went on to say that these questions must be answered before you decide what technology will help you with your specific use cases. Think about technologies that are expandable and that will be smart investments. While there are mature technologies out there that can lower your costs and bring the savings every business would like to see, for long-term goals and revenue increases, you may need to invest in bigger and newer technologies like 5G.

There are three major things executives should take into consideration before planning IoT connectivity, said Samuele Machi, Nokia’s marketing manager for their 4th industrial revolution efforts. First, he said, think of the type of use cases you’re interested in enabling because they have different levels of reliability and latency. Then, research what types of networks are available to you. NB-IoT? LTE-M? Do you need to purchase or lease spectrum? Finally, think about your existing ecosystem and what you need to work with it.

https://youtu.be/I__lpcv8LrU

Can you sell your product in the IoT value chain?

Companies also need to ask themselves how they can sell their product or service in the IoT value chain.  What do they need from their infrastructure to accomplish that? A flexible network architecture, security and the ability to automate using AI and analytics are all important factors.

Today’s networking technology may look very different in the coming decades when 5G adoption is expected to increase. Edge computing and IoT connectivity will be crucial. What should you expect from your provider and what are the main concerns they should address as a partner?

• Spectrum coverage
• The types of interference you might encounter in your IoT deployment
• What capacity is the operator providing

Whatever your IoT network choice, both Samuele and Elliott agree that device management and security are also key factors when choosing a connectivity partner.