Telia Carrier has signed a global agreement to provide backhaul and interconnection to fellow Swedish giant Ericsson’s device connection platform via a dedicated Internet of Things (IoT) backbone, enabling IoT operators to connect via any of Telia Carrier’s 220 IPX PoPs directly to Ericsson’s platform in a single network hop. A release says that the agreement highlights the critical role international carriers have to play as the IoT ecosystem continues to evolve, as backhaul between IoT operators and device management platforms is a link that requires extremely high levels of security and reliability. Brendan Ives, CEO of Telia Carrier, said: ‘It’s pretty clear that IoT needs its own backbone. It’s one thing to connect the Internet of Things today, but if you consider we will soon be connecting smart cities and the cars that drive us, things are about to get real.’
Anders Olin, vice president, product area network functions with business unit Cloud & IP at Ericsson, added: ‘Our operator customers can now connect directly to our Device Connection Platform with a pre-integrated, scalable and secure backbone solution. The combined offering from Telia Carrier and Ericsson is fully aligned to provide the service level agreements (SLAs) demanded by business-critical IoT applications.’ ‘When you combine a dedicated IoT service with a global fibre backbone like ours, you get the scalability IoT will soon demand,’ added Matthew Jones, head of mobile solutions for Telia Carrier, who continued: ‘With this agreement in place, we can connect customers and shorten time to market considerably. That’s going to be particularly important for the operators who haven’t moved on IoT yet, but are starting to see the scale of the opportunity. Effectively, this solution brings IoT operators closer to Ericsson’s device connection platform. It gives them a one-hop-shop.’