Why Global Players Now Need Global IoT Networks

Gertrud Paschulke repeatedly postponed plans to visit her grandson in Boston at long last, and when she needed a cardiac pacemaker her plan seemed to be even further out of reach. The implant proved not to be a hindrance, however, because it was networked, could be read remotely, and thanks to collaboration between Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile US it didn’t matter whether she is in Bochum or in Boston.

Paschulke has a BIOTRONIK implant. Based in Berlin, Germany, BIOTRONIK is a leading global medical device company that has been developing trusted and innovative cardiovascular solutions for nearly 60 years. Their cardiac devices contain a wireless chip that regularly relays both the patient’s state of health and that of the implant to a CardioMessenger. The little box is equipped with a wireless module and an IoT connectivity solution with Telekom SIM card and relays the measurement data by night via the cellular network to BIOTRONIK’s Home Monitoring Platform.

Conventional follow-ups are calendar based: Physicians have no data on the patient’s status between visits. Home Monitoring provides a continuous monitoring. The advantage of this system is that networked physicians and clinics can access the platform and relevant patient data online. If the CardioMessenger registers irregularities in the patient’s vital data or the implant’s functionality, the doctor in charge is alerted immediately. According to BIOTRONIK, early detection of clinically relevant events leads to a 60 percent lower risk of death for heart failure patients.

To ensure that implants can relay data reliably all over the world, BIOTRONIK has collaborated with Deutsche Telekom for 20 years. BIOTRONIK CardioMessenger devices, with their built-in Telekom SIM cards, are currently active in over 100 countries. The global mobile footprint of Telekom and its 600 roaming partners guarantees smooth data transmission, including across borders when traveling, for example.

More and more industries rely on mobile networking of their products. Internationally active companies need their solutions to function smoothly around the world. But the challenges are complex. To develop, market and roll out a global IoT solution you must:

• Negotiate numerous agreements with different network operators in different countries and regions, each with different terms and conditions, billing cycles and service level agreements (SLAs),
• Display and manage services across a plethora of platforms and portals, all of which are proprietary and operated by their providers
• And communicate with different customer care and support teams on each and every problem that occurs.

In order to eliminate these obstacles for corporate customers, Telekom has concluded worldwide joint offers such as with T-Mobile US. This offering – T IoT – provides everything from a single source:

• Secure, reliable, powerful, and global network connectivity that covers the entire bandwidth of network technologies from NarrowBand IoT to 5G
• Single access to simple management of global IoT connections
• A simplified procurement process with pre-optimized contracts and billing
• Uniform global SLAs
• A uniform contact at customer support

Automobile industry customers likewise benefit from Telekom’s global mobile network. As global players OEMs also need global connectivity – for solutions such as entertainment in the connected car or automated and in the future autonomous driving. Car2Car and Car2Infrastructure communication requires extremely fast reaction times and a high data throughput. So globally connected vehicles require reliable global networks. Deutsche Telekom’s global network of data centers and mobile edge computing infrastructure processes data from vehicles with the highest level of failure safety and the lowest possible latency.

When cars cross borders, automakers must additionally rely on roaming, and delays frequently occur when data has to be sent back to the country of origin on the Internet. Telekom’s global network of regional packet gateways solves this problem. It ensures extremely low latencies by forwarding data to the nearest gateway rather than back to the other end of the world. Classes of quality of service further prioritize critical data traffic. Alert notice data, for example, has priority over a Netflix movie.

Globally active enterprises must also know the markets in numerous countries and their local regulations, including those that apply to data. A growing number of countries ban permanent roaming, for example. Others do not allow location data to leave the country. Telekom deals with these global challenges to connectivity by means of locally adapted solutions such as breakouts and eSIMs that automatically load profiles adjusted to comply with local regulations. 

The automaker BMW is another company that benefits from this all-inclusive offer. Its new EVs, the iX and the i4, have Telekom’s MobilityConnect service on board. For the driver it means seamless connectivity. Taking his cell phone contract with him, he can use his car as an additional mobile device. Users book the MobilityConnect option in their BMW app and their profile is automatically loaded onto the in-car eSIM. From then on every iX and i4 with an eSIM – a hire car, for example – recognizes the driver by his BMW ID, enabling him to make full use of the benefits of his cell phone contract: high-quality phone calls via the BMW’s antenna, a 5G WiFi hotspot for everyone in the car, and global roaming.