INTERNET OF THINGS
Narrowband technology will be for IoT what 4G was for mobile connectivity
By Deon Liebenberg, Vodacom Managing Executive for the Internet of Things
2016 was a landmark year in the South African Internet of Things( IoT) space, with several organisations announcing plans to build Low Power Wide Area Network( LPWAN) capabilities.
The previous 20 years of technological development was all about telecoms companies building infrastructure and networks for people to communicate – we are now moving into the era of building infrastructure for“ things” to communicate.
In the past, ecosystems and the Internet were built for people: we are now building and orchestrating an entire new ecosystem for things, to improve human lives.
Narrow Band IoT( NB-IoT) is a term for an LPWAN developed to enable a range of new devices and services. With NB-IoT, we address the need for low-power and increased-penetration applications that have historically not been served by cellular connectivity.