This week du, the UAE-based telecom operator, announced the launch of their NB-IoT network in the United Arab Emirates, which will leverage Affirmed Networks’ virtual evolved packet core (vEPC) solution to deliver applications such as smart metering, smart parking, trackers, smart health, industrial and agriculture use cases in the United Arab Emirates.
The solution, which includes best-of-breed solutions from several vendors, utilizes Affirmed Networks’ NB-IoT capabilities which are designed for applications requiring longer battery life and data rates designed for low latency applications.
The project comes after a recent successful demonstration to support water smart metering use cases as part of a broader Smart City use case. The announcement highlights the capabilities of how standards-based solutions from leading vendors can successfully deliver NB-IoT solutions to serve a wide range of IoT applications as the industry prepares for the widespread connectivity that will accompany the arrival of 5G.
du first announced its work with Affirmed Networks at Mobile World Congress 2018, when the company shared that Affirmed Networks’ NB-IoT solution would be deployed on their fully virtualized native, cloud, open-stack environment. At the time du also highlighted they would also be using Affirmed’s Virtualized Mobile Core, which includes a virtualized WiFi Gateway, to deliver VoWiFi and Fixed Wireless services. du’s selection of Affirmed’s 5G-ready solution, equipped with network slicing capabilities, is intended to support du’s vision of a fully virtualized and software defined native cloud core network.
The deployment represents yet another example of how innovative operators like du are leveraging the industry’s latest advances to deliver new, innovative services to subscribers in their region.
According to Momhammed Shanableh, Vice President of Global Sales and Operations of Affirmed Networks: “du has consistently been one of the most innovative telecom operators, which is evidenced by their early adoption of NFV as an enabler for new services, such as IoT, that enterprises are looking for over 5G.”
