April 5, 2017 –Verizon announced the launch of a nationwide commercial 4G LTE Category M1 (or Cat M1) network, which spans 2.4 million square miles. This is the first Cat M1 network providing scale, coverage and security for customers seeking wireless access solutions for IoT. Verizon’s Cat M1 network is built on a virtualized cloud environment which enables IoT solution deployment and nationwide scaling aimed at increasing IoT adoption for developers and businesses with new and more economical IoT data plans.
The low bandwidth use cases for Cat M1 chipsets demand new types of data plans, including low rate, multi-year plans to match the longer useful life of devices. Cat M1 devices can economically scale on Verizon’s wireless network on data plans that are as low as $2 per month per device, with customized options available for bulk activations and volume purchases.
In collaboration with partners, Verizon has enabled an open ecosystem for Cat M1 that includes infrastructure providers and manufacturers of chipsets, modules and devices. Verizon’s Cat M1 partners include Sequans, Telit, U-Blox, Sierra Wireless, Gemalto, Qualcomm Technologies, and Altair, who together with Verizon are solving for the next generation of IoT use cases. Today, Verizon offers certified chipsets, modules and devices for Cat M1 from Sequans, Telit, Qualcomm Technologies, Encore Networks, Link Labs, and NimbeLink.
ThingSpace is Verizon’s global, web-based IoT platform that enables developers and customers to create new IoT solutions and manage their IoT environments end-to-end from the device to the application level. With roughly 14,000 developers using the platform today, new APIs added regularly and global agreements to support connectivity in more than 175 countries, ThingSpace offers a simplified approach for building, deploying and managing IoT applications, which can be customized for a wide-range of IoT use cases such as asset management, industrial automation, wearables, smart city technologies, consumer electronics and more.
Verizon’s new and more economical pricing for Cat M1 data plans includes a robust framework for developers with global customization options for APIs and connectivity, designed to reduce costs and speed to market on the ThingSpace platform.
