Qualcomm expands IoT offering

Qualcomm Technologies has unveiled the Qualcomm Aware™ Platform, which empowers developers and enterprises to harness real-time information and data insights to accelerate their digital transformation programs.

Today, ecosystem fragmentation and system design complexity often prevents IoT deploymentsfrom meeting their fullest potential. By combining industry-leading silicon and an extensive ecosystem of hardware and software partners with a developer-friendly cloud framework, Qualcomm Aware will offer a set of differentiated services for managing assets that requirecritical, accurate, and time-sensitive decision making. By providing ubituitous global connectivity, intelligently optimizing and fusing location technologies with sensor alerts and critical device management and control features, Qualcomm Aware will provide a new baseline for IoT and help enterprises drive operational efficiencies. Among the critical use cases to beserved by Qualcomm Aware are cold chain distribution, utility asset monitoring, cargo shipmenttracking, warehouse and inventory management.

The Qualcomm Aware advantage rests upon three key pillars: (1) technology leadership; (2) enablement of an expansive ecosystem of hardware and software partners; and (3) an API-first architecture and developer-friendly tools that enable interoperability with partner clouds andleading enterprise software tools.

Technology Leadership

Over 350 million of Qualcomm Technologies’ IoT modem chipsets have been shipped to date and are being utilized across various industry segments, including the recently announced Qualcomm® 216 IoT LTE Modem, which is an integrated solution designed to deliver IoT-optimized speeds of up to 10 Mbps at ultra-low power thereby prolonging battery life, critical for expanding a variety of high-performing IoT applications.

The Qualcomm Aware techology advantage extends beyond just the silicon. Recent acquisitions of Skyhook Wireless, Inc. and the assets of PoLTE Corporation have added proprietary positioning techniques and a robust global signal database consisting of approximately 8 billion wireless MAC Addresses and hundreds of millions of cells. In combination with Qualcomm Technologies’ existing location technology, these acquisitions help enable Qualcomm Aware to deliver intelligent and ubiquitous location capabilities in an always-on, low-power manner. With the ability to work in the most difficult signal environments including indoors, underground, and when devices are offline, this robust location technology suite provides important awareness and condition monitoring context to enterprise solutions, enabling end-to-end asset and operational visibility and helping businesses everywhere be more informed and prepared.

The Qualcomm Aware Platform includes industry-leading cloud security tools and the encryption and mutual authentication of all device-to-cloud communications. It also delivers global cellular connectivity, device management and provisioning.

Expansive Ecosystem

In order for IoT to scale, a range of different solutions is needed to address the varying needs of industry applications. The Qualcomm Aware Platform brings together an ecosystem of hardware and software partners to quickly and efficiently develop connected solutions tailored to differentuse cases. Qualcomm Technologies is engaged with a large and growing list of leading hardwareand software companies to develop Qualcomm Aware ready products.

The platform will include Qualcomm Aware blueprints, which are individualized, and scalable solution architectures customized for specific use cases. Working with a wide-range of Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and System Integrators (SIs), these blueprints will enable enterprises to quickly and efficiently roll-out pre-designed solutions in a manner that is tailored for their needs. 

API-First Architecture and Developer Friendly Tools

Qualcomm Aware offers a highly customizable framework and implements standard APIs that are designed to provide seamless interoperability with private clouds, industry-specific application platforms, existing enterprise software tools for enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management, inventory management and more. One of the first of these integrations will be with Microsoft Dynamics 365. This framework allows customers to design a solution to meet their specific business needs.

“The interoperability of software and hardware systems is key to delivering IoT solutions that enhance customer experiences. Through the integration with Dynamics 365 Supply ChainManagement, Qualcomm is providing customers with a seamless way to track assets, manage inventories and improve their operational efficiency,” said Ulrich Homann, corporate vice president Cloud + AI, Microsoft.

Leveraging these key pillars, the initial launch of the Qualcomm Aware Platform will focus on businesses operating in supply chains and logistics. The pandemic exposed how business supply chains are prone to disruptions and the challenges in planning for unexpected shifts in supply and demand. The lack of visibility and tracking of goods results in delays, spoilage and lost revenues and can lead to severe environmental impact. The Qualcomm Aware Platform will abstract the complexity of creating a digital twin in the cloud and provide the necessary tools for the logistics industry to more efficiently manage its assets throughout its journey. With delivery of accurate and precise location in a power-optimized manner, Qualcomm Aware can become a critical piece in the future efficiency of supply chain management.

Business model

Qualcomm Aware creates the opportunity for Qualcomm Technologies to offer and monetize services beyond the sale of chipsets in the form of recurring, subscription-based revenues. Through the continuous improvement of software, Qualcomm Aware will provide an array of expanded and improved features that will result in improved services, security and performance for Qualcomm Aware managed devices.

“Qualcomm Technologies is rapidly diversifying with new opportunities powering the connected intelligent edge and today we are proud to unveil our latest IoT milestone – Qualcomm Aware,” said Jeff Torrance, senior vice president and general manager, connected smart systems, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Qualcomm Aware is designed to support organizations across industries with a scalable, cost-effective, capital efficient investment solution that delivers an accelerated time to market, simplifies digital transformation, and delivers transformative insights needed to mitigate risk, make more informed business decisions, and navigate challenges across industries.”