OREANDA-NEWS. Verizon today announced that it will provide a new Cat M1 IoT (Internet of Things) solution for industry-leading water metering technology provider Neptune Technology Group. The solution is designed to equip Neptune with a robust, scalable and secure connectivity platform to help water utility companies reduce costs and accelerate sustainability efforts. This is part of a range of initiatives Verizon is working on to deliver innovative IoT solutions tailored to meet the complex needs of other types of utilities, including reducing development costs, improving integration requirements and reducing time to implementation.

“We are excited to work with Verizon to develop next-generation IoT products to help address the many challenges faced by water utilities,” said Don Deemer, executive vice president, Neptune Technology Group. “We’ve leveraged Neptune’s expertise in rugged water utility endpoints and have combined that with Verizon’s Technologies’ technical expertise to deliver a compelling offering. The collaboration has resulted in a long-life AMI network that eliminates the utility’s need to deploy and manage network infrastructure.”

Announced at the start of CTIA Super Mobility 2016, key solutions that Verizon is bringing to bear for the utilities industry include:               

  • A Category 1 IoT solution on 4G LTE ideal for the connectivity requirements of rural cooperative and municipal electric utilities. The solution utilizes Qualcomm Technologies’ MDM9207-1 LTE modem engineered for IoT, providing built-in security and features including edge processing and reliable connectivity up to 10 Mbps speed with power and throughput optimization. To meet the requirements of utility customers, the chipset also supports up to 10 years of battery life at a cost-effective price point.
  • A Category M1 solution for water and gas companies. Qualcomm Technologies’ MDM9206 LTE modem is a key component and features a purpose-built IoT design suitable for applications such as battery powered water and gas smart metering applications that demand even lower power consumption and longer range, reliable connectivity with up to 1 Mbps speed, and all at a cost-efficient price point. Solutions based on MDM9206 are expected to be commercially available in early 2017.

For its part, Verizon will leverage its Grid Wide Utility (as-a-service) solution, which includes integrating smart meters with Verizon 4G LTE Category 1 and M1 Smart Meter Communications Device, Verizon’s 4G LTE network, security and a range of cloud-based applications to support smart metering, demand response, meter data management, and distribution monitoring and control. Customers will also have access to flexible deployment options combined with other RF communication technology offered in a highly-integrated package that reduces costs, design complexity and integration time. Verizon currently supports more than 3 million utility meters on its network nationwide.   

“We are pleased to collaborate with Neptune to invest in R&D that helps to reduce barriers commonly associated with IoT such as fragmented ecosystems and a lack of standards,” said Mark Bartolomeo, vice president IoT Connected Solutions at Verizon. “Driving innovation on 4G LTE to deliver a unified, reliable, scalable and secure platform optimized for IoT deployments is core to our strategy.”

“Utilities drive some of the most demanding connectivity requirements within the Internet of Things,” said Raj Talluri, senior vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “4G LTE networks such as Verizon’s, together with our LTE modem solutions, have evolved to meet or exceed those demands, and these products deliver the ubiquitous coverage, scalability, quality of service, reliability, long battery life, and security required to support utility operations.”