U.S. wireless carrier Verizon said Tuesday it is opening its ThingSpace Internet of Things (IoT) application development platform to third-party network and technology service providers.
Verizon said the move is aimed at helping companies that want to make IoT-enabled technologies available to their customers but might not have the scale, funds or technical necessities to otherwise build end-to-end IoT solutions on their own.
Additionally, Verizon said its Verizon Cloud APIs will soon be made available in beta on ThingSpace for developers to improve mobile apps – like Photobucket and RealTimes – that are primarily used to curate and retrieve photos, videos, music and other cloud-stored content.
According to the carrier, ThingSpace has drawn more than 4,000 developers since its October 2015 launch and is expected to expand its footprint to nearly 200 countries by the end of this year.
But Verizon said easing platform barriers is just one part of its strategy.
The carrier is also partnering with Nokia and Ericsson to complete work on its own IoT core network, which is expected to be launched later this year. The network will be designed for IoT use cases that require low power and low bandwidth, Verizon said.
Verizon said a number of devices using Category 1 chipsets and modules from Gemalto, Sequans and Telit are certified to run on its existing LTE architecture for IoT applications, but noted it is working with Sequans to accelerate the development of Category M devices for ultra-low power and low cost use cases.
Verizon said it also has partnerships in place to develop more IoT solutions in a variety of use cases, such as in public safety, smart cities and agriculture.
“By addressing key barriers at the network, platform and application levels, our mission is to make IoT more accessible to consumers and public sector organizations while allowing businesses, and developers of all sizes to compete in new markets globally,” said Verizon’s senior vice president of IoT and Enterprise Products Mike Lanman,. “That’s why we’re so bullish on driving investments, innovations and partnerships on ThingSpace that make market adoption for IoT more pervasive.”
Filed Under: Apps
