Intel has teamed up with Ericsson and Nokia Networks to drive the development of a version of LTE optimised for the Internet of Things (IoT).
Called Narrow-Band LTE (NB-LTE), the vendors claim it is easy to use, cheap to deploy, and power efficient – attributes well-suited to IoT and machine-to-machine (M2M) services.
NB-LTE offers the same capabilities as another emerging cellular IoT technology, LTE-M; however, according to a Nokia whitepaper published in August, NB-LTE services could use as little as 200 kHz of spectrum, compared to 1.4 MHz for LTE-M.
"We are excited to collaborate with two leading network vendors Ericsson and Nokia on the next wave of wireless innovation to connect the growing IoT market segment, and to further grow the momentum for Intel’s LTE portfolio and roadmap with NB-LTE," said Stefan Wolff, general manager of Intel’s multi-comms business unit, in a statement on Friday.
The agreement will see Intel develop NB-LTE chipsets while Ericsson and Nokia will provide the necessary network upgrades to support the technology.
"Cellular networks already cover 90% of the world’s population so it makes sense to leverage this global footprint to support and drive IoT adoption through the standardisation of Narrow-Band LTE," said Thomas Norén, head of product management, at Ericsson’s radio division.
"This is another extension of Nokia’s aim to improve people’s lives through a programmable world where billions of people, things, sensors and devices are connected," added Stephan Litjens, vice president of portfolio strategy and analytics at Nokia.
