Alcatel-Lucent, Sequans to power IoT platform for Orange

NEW DELHI: Communications operator Orange has come out with a 4G Kit for IoT (Internet of Things), which would be powered by Bell Labs, the industrial research arm of Alcatel-Lucent,

and Sequans Communications' LTE chipsets.

The 4G Kit for IoT was launched to stimulate interest by the IoT market in 4G connectivity. A limited series of 200 kits will be tested with innovation communities working on IoT projects as part of an effort to foster the creation of wirelessly connected objects, based on 4G and Orange’s network.

“Developers will be able to use the kit to make use of cloud services and mobility to design a new generation of IoT devices, taking full advantage of scalable resources such as remote computing, storage, and advanced services,” a statement said.

Initiated as an internal project by Bell Labs, the 4G kit for IoT is the result of a year of prototyping and experiments supervised by Bell Labs in which fabrication laboratories and start-ups were invited to test their ideas on Orange’s 4G network and Alcatel-Lucent’s test platforms. The feedback allowed the Bell Labs team to design a new platform.

As a result, the 4G Kit for IoT incorporated a three-band M.2 module for LTE bands 3, 7 and 20, supporting Orange’s LTE network.

The module connects to a small form factor Olimex development board and includes plug-in antennas. This combination gives IoT and M2M device makers the opportunity to connect to Orange’s 4G LTE network.

The kit will help understanding of the Internet of Things’ contribution to network scalability, agility and latency, as well as its role in the creation of new services, generating vital insights into future cloud and 5G requirements in the process.

“By making LTE technology accessible to innovation communities, we can trigger a change in the way services are designed. With unprecedented access to cloud services, connected objects can create a new ecosystem of distributed advanced services that will shape the future cloud and 5G,” said Jean-Luc Beylat, President of Bell Labs France.

“ We are very excited about the potential of Orange’s 4G Kit for IoT to spur the development of many new IoT devices,” said Georges Karam, CEO of Sequans.