South Korea’s KT Corp and Nokia Networks on Monday agreed to set up an Internet of Things (IoT) lab tasked with driving growth in the connected device ecosystem.
The facility will provide technical expertise to verify the potential use of new connected devices with the Finnish vendor’s network equipment. It will also provide a channel to global markets fo r Korean SMEs.
"This lab is a strong iteration of our vision to become the number one player in Korea’s IoT market. Our efforts are aimed at encouraging greater participation by domestic companies, which are a crucial factor in driving the change towards a creative IoT-based economy," said Yun Kyoung-Lim, head of future convergence at KT Corp, in a statement.
Setting up the IoT lab falls under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by KT Corp and Nokia during this year’s Mobile World Congress.
The two companies also agreed to launch in the fourth quarter a field trial of LTE-M, a version of LTE designed to provide long range, low power, cellular IoT and machine-to-machine (M2M) coverage.
"Nokia Networks and KT have taken another step forward on an exciting journey that will culminate in the creation of the ‘programmable world’ in Korea and beyond," declared Andrew Cope, head of Korea at Nokia Networks.
He said the IoT lab is "a solid proof-point of our commitment to standardise LTE-M and create a strong and sustainable IoT ecosystem."
