Organisations operating in the broader NB-IoT market now have the opportunity to illustrate the authenticity of their products following the mobile industry’s launch of the universal NB-IoT logo. Conceived by the GSMA NB-IoT Forum, the hallmark is publicly available for use with products, services and related material associated with the network technology.
The release represents the maturity of the technology’s ecosystem, which is rapidly deploying commercial networks across the globe. Jens Olejak, Forum member and Senior IoT Product Manager at Deutsche Telekom commented that “The introduction of an official NB-IoT logo represents a major milestone on the journey to establish NB-IoT as the leading transmission standard for small but massive IoT applications. Going forward, we will use it in our communications to underline the consistency of a worldwide standard and the determination of the Mobile IoT community.”
A common, global approach to NB-IoT’s branding will help circumvent confusion that may arise from the release of multiple logos. Luke Ibbetson, Chief Engineer of Group R&D at Vodafone and Chair of GSMA NB-IoT Forum considered the logo as a means to “Further unite the rapidly growing ecosystem of NB-IoT devices and applications in a highly visible way, reflecting the global deployment of interoperable NB-IoT networks for the connection of low power devices in hard to reach areas. This directly supports the community of innovators building an incredibly diverse set of new services based on a single global standard. By proudly displaying the NB-IoT logo on their products and marketing materials, companies demonstrate that they are part of the global NB-IoT community, building awareness and customer confidence.”
The security and reliability afforded by operators’ low power wide area (LPWA) networks in licensed spectrum has resulted in a surge of popularity for such networks since launch. Last month, market intelligence firm SNS published research that estimated that by 2020, more than 35% of all LPWA profile IoT devices will be served by LPWA networks in licensed spectrum. Group member and Technology Manager for Global IoT Devices at Telefónica Francisco Javier Zorzano Mier judged the release of the logo to be a natural accompaniment to these emerging networks and their success: “Telecommunications are making huge changes in their networks to serve the millions of connected devices that are not only the future but also the present. The logo gives visibility to this effort. We are especially happy because the logo transmits the modernity of these device-oriented networks.”
The GSMA NB-IoT Forum is an industry-wide initiative designed to form a common approach to deployment, maximise the technology’s potential and help resolve any regulatory challenges. GSMA Members and Associate Members are welcome to join the NB-IoT Forum. Alternatively, The Mobile IoT Innovators community provides access to a broad variety of market tools and is available for all to join.
Find out more and download the NB-IoT logo