The T IoT Hub: A Conductor’s Desk for IoT Projects

Using the T IoT Hub, IoT projects can be orchestrated centrally, from advice and ordering via evaluation and setup to running IoT solutions.

If today’s automobiles are computers on wheels, why shouldn’t they be smartphones on wheels too? Owners of a new BMW iX or an i4, for example, benefit from Telekom’s on-board MobilityConnect service. They can take their cell phone contract with them on their travels and use their car as another mobile device. The car recognizes the driver by his BMW ID as he enters the vehicle and that enables him to make full use of his cell phone contract via the car’s infotainment system, including using it as a 5G WiFi hotspot for everybody else on board.

Nowadays more and more buyers expect services of this kind in a new car, including while they are traveling. If automakers want to offer their connected services globally, including global roaming, they will, however, need to get together and negotiate contracts with local network providers. Deutsche Telekom’s T IoT Hub makes that easier. OEMs can manage connectivity and contracts in different countries with different providers centrally for all connected vehicles around the world via the T IoT Hub.

Telekom has added new features and functions to the T IoT Hub since its launch and in addition bundles with it all of its offers and services for the Internet of Things (IoT). “The T IoT Hub simplifies and orchestrates the Internet of Things,” says Product Manager Simon Peter. “Via a uniform user interface you gain access to Deutsche Telekom’s IoT portfolio and the connectivity platforms of Telekom and international providers that are simply connected via a uniform Application Programming Interface (API).”

To achieve this Telekom collaborates with numerous partners, network operators and platform providers. The T IoT Hub is operated entirely in the Cloud and can be used with a large number of applications from hyperscalers or other Cloud providers. It can also be integrated unproblematically via APIs into other systems or applications such as device management or data analysis systems.

The T IoT Hub serves not only as an orchestrator for IoT projects. In the new IoT store it also provides easy access to IoT services and devices. The store offers a large number of different application areas and use cases from which to choose. If, say, the user is interested in tracking or real-time monitoring solutions the IoT Store stocks all the standard IoT solutions that cover Track & Trace use cases.

The Satellite IoT option can now also be booked via the T IoT Hub. To deliver it Telekom has combined mobile and satellite communication. For their global IoT applications companies can use both mobile and satellite connectivity and manage these networks via uniform user interface and, if required, a uniform programming interface. The benefit is total global coverage with guaranteed data rates. That is important if, for example, enterprises have facilities in remote areas with inadequate network coverage or need to keep an eye on containers and wind farms on the high seas.

Telekom is continually adding new offers and further simplifying access to the T IoT Hub. “With a single login,” says Simon Peter, “our customers can call up more and more IoT-related services: connectivity, hardware, management, networks and of course service and support.”