The US organization IIC is considered a driver of the digital transformation of the economy and society by promoting the development, introduction and dissemination of IoT and Industry 4.0 solutions. Deutsche Telekom now wants to develop joint perspectives on the interoperability of systems in dialog with the members of the IIC. Needs and framework conditions for standardization and security requirements for IoT services and devices are also to be defined.

Ingo Hofacker, responsible for Deutsche Telekom's IoT business, explains Deutsche Telekom's involvement as follows: "Industry 4.0 will only become a successful model if we manage to ensure that the different systems and technologies work together seamlessly on an international level." Richard Soley, Executive Director of the IIC, underlines Hofacker's reasoning: "IoT connectivity is critical in many industries, including smart cities and manufacturing. We welcome Deutsche Telekom and its expertise to jointly advance Industry 4.0."

The IIC is already working with the German initiative "Plattform Industrie 4.0" to achieve interoperability of systems. This industry-oriented initiative was founded with the aim of implementing the future-oriented Industry 4.0 project of the German government's high-tech strategy. Deutsche Telekom is a member of the steering committee. The IIC and Plattform Industrie 4.0 have agreed to cooperate on an ongoing basis in order to jointly formulate requirements for standardization committees, design joint test environments for the reference architecture models and jointly increase the acceptance of Industrie 4.0 applications.

5G and NB-IoT

Deutsche Telekom is currently in the process of setting up a machine network based on NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) technology in eight European markets and the USA. The new NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) network technology is now available in over 600 locations in Germany, including the metropolitan areas of Berlin/Potsdam, Cologne/Bonn, the Ruhr region, Mannheim/Heidelberg and Stuttgart. More than 200 companies from various industries are already said to be using NB-IoT. "Thanks to its special properties, NarrowBand IoT is the pioneer for the Internet of Things for us," says Ingo Hofacker, "which is why we are continuing to expand the network at full speed. "The nationwide rollout in the Netherlands was completed in May 2017. In Austria, the Telekom subsidiary T-Mobile was the first operator to commercially launch NB-IoT, with the city of St. Pölten already fully covered and NB-IoT set to be rolled out nationwide by fall 2018. In Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Greece, NB-IoT networks are already active in many cities, with nationwide coverage also expected in many countries by the end of 2018. "The technology is available, the rollout is in full swing - now we need to work together to find out how our customers can use NB-IoT to their advantage," says Hofacker.

Partner of the IoT ecosystem

Telekom is developing NB-IoT applications in several research facilities with partners from industry and science. For example, with the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML in the Telekom Open IoT Labs in Dortmund. Together, Fraunhofer scientists and Telekom IoT experts are developing and testing applications for the manufacturing, logistics and aviation industries. Telekom has also established a European Smart Solutions Center based in Budapest to develop and implement NB-IoT-based smart city solutions in Europe.

Telekom moves in with IBM

On January 24, Deutsche Telekom announced that it was also moving into the IBM Watson IoT Center in Munich and opening an IoT innovation room there. Deutsche Telekom and IBM want to jointly develop IoT and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions there. To this end, both are contributing their expertise in connectivity, security, artificial intelligence, industry-specific IoT capabilities and cloud-based solutions to the partner network. One focus is on NB-IoT technology and how companies in the manufacturing industry, healthcare and the smart city environment can benefit from the insights gained from big data. Various applications such as smart parking, intelligent waste and water management, measurement and monitoring of air quality and solutions for predictive maintenance will be shown in the Telekom IoT Innovation Room.