LTE-M

Over the last few years 5G has been rapidly deployed in many markets across the world. At the same time, handsets capable of 5G have become increasingly affordable so that mobile broadband users can start to gain benefits of 5G where available. From an IoT application perspective the situation is somewhat different, says Martin Whitlock,

Sierra Wireless and AT&T will pilot next generation LTE-M network technologies this autumn. The pilot programme aims to spur LTE network connections for Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

There’s no doubt that debate about the IoT and its direction has risen from being a specialist subject to near the top of the boardroom agenda for many companies in just a few years. Amongst all the white noise, death-by-powerpoint presentations and sometimes desperate posturing by peripheral vendors to generate IoT-relevant marketing, it’s sometimes difficult

Any observer of the relationships between business and technology over the years will recognise those slightly awkward periods between the first emergence of a new technological concept and its eventual acceptance as a part of everyday life.

Freedom of choice is a wonderful thing – until you have to make a critical decision that’s going to affect your life – or your business – for years to come. Until recently, the range of wide area connectivity technologies for M2M and IoT applications was largely limited to cellular, satellite and WiFi. The last