Ericsson and Sprint are planning to build an IoT network that is both distributed and virtualised in order to capture the future of IoT.

The two companies announced the global relationship this week, and say the new core network will be designed to create an optimal flow of device data. This will enable immediate, actionable intelligence at the network edge for enterprises and end users.

The Sprint IoT platform was unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Los Angeles. According to the two companies, they plan to disrupt the IoT world and create an environment that is ready for the future of connectivity between society and business.

“We are combining our IoT strategy with Ericsson's expertise to build a platform primed for the most demanding applications like artificial intelligence, edge computing, robotics, autonomous vehicles and more with ultra-low-latency, the highest availability and an unmatched level of security at the chip level,” comments Sprint's senior vice president of IoT, Ivo Rook.

“This is a network built for software and it's ready for 5G. Our IoT platform is for those companies, large and small, that are creating the immediate economy.

The core network will help to provide low latency and highest availability. Its distributed and virtualised nature will also reduce distance between the IoT device and the application that processes it. It will also support specific security, privacy, and latency requirements.

“Sprint is a pioneer in IoT and we are excited to work together to create a truly disruptive IoT business,” adds Ericsson's senior vice president and head of business area technology - emerging business, Asa Tamsons.

“Sprint will be one of the first to market with a distributed core network and operating system built especially for IoT and powered by Ericsson's IoT Accelerator platform Our goal is to make it easy for Sprint and their customers to access and use connected intelligence, enabling instant and actionable insights for a better customer experience and maximum value.

IoT operating system will offer:

Connectivity management and Device management

• Capabilities enable simplified inbound and outbound activity for device connectivity.
• Configuration and updates of firmware and software are managed for each device. All data is managed securely with world-class security on the chip level.
• The IoT OS provides full subscription lifecycle management and monitoring of billing and usage data.

Data management: Capability to ingest enormous amounts of data while delivering immediate intelligence on that data.

Managed services: Service assurance for all IoT elements and enterprise locations, including network operations center monitoring, service resource fulfilment, cloud orchestration management and application management.