TOKYO & SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Soracom, Inc., a global provider of advanced Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity, today announced that its integration with Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) service operator Skylo has progressed from Private Beta status to a global initial service rollout to select Soracom customers. Speaking from the keynote stage at Soracom Discovery 2024, Soracom CTO and co-founder Kenta Yasukawa was joined by Skylo CEO and co-founder Parth Trivedi to confirm that qualified customers around the world can now activate Skylo connectivity on their Soracom SIMs/eSIMs and enable their devices to switch seamlessly between cellular and NTN.
In 2023, Soracom and Skylo announced a partnership designed to give customers building IoT solutions and M2M devices access to Skylo's direct-to-device 3GPP NTN connectivity, along with the advanced capability of Soracom’s fully-virtualized cellular platform. Following a successful Private Beta period, that service is now available commercially in Limited Preview, and can be activated directly by qualified customers in consultation with Soracom.
Skylo's satellite NTN lets chipsets, modems, modules, and devices designed for terrestrial networks connect via existing satellites using the global 3GPP Release 17 standard. Customers with devices located in North America, Europe, and Oceania that include 3GPP R.17-capable LPWAN modules can now use Soracom's Subscription Containers feature to add the Skylo-based satellite connectivity plan (called “planNT1”) over the air (OTA) to Soracom "plan01s" and "plan-US" IoT SIM cards. NTN typically comes with higher latency and base data cost compared to cellular. However, Soracom's platform services let customers minimize the amount of data transmitted and handshake over the satellite link while maintaining integration with their cloud service of choice. This approach maximizes coverage, including satellite failover, while also integrating billing and connectivity management using the Soracom connectivity management portal.
"Soracom is committed to an Internet of Things without limits, where anything can connect to any cloud from anywhere," said Kenta Yasukawa, CTO and co-founder of Soracom. "Now, customers can add Skylo's breakthrough 3GPP NTN coverage to their devices while still taking full advantage of Soracom's CMP and platform to control their connections, cloud integrations, and data use."
"We are very happy to expand our partnership with Soracom as we move beyond our Private Beta," said Parth Trivedi, CEO and co-founder of Skylo. "Deep platform integration, seamless switching between NTN and cellular, and the ability to add NTN gives Soracom customers the ability to unlock the full potential of IoT at any time, regardless of their location or infrastructure constraints, enabling real-time data access, monitoring, and control in areas not currently served by cellular connectivity.”
Speaking from the Discovery stage, Blues Inc. CEO and Founder Ray Ozzie spoke directly to the benefits of the Soracom/Skylo integration: "Blues simplifies wireless communication so that our customers can transform physical products into intelligent services. Key to our approach is supporting all major Radio Access Technologies. The ability to connect via satellite where cellular is not an option while allowing customers to maintain control and minimize data overhead promises to help Blues build a safer, more intelligent connected world."
About Soracom
Soracom is a technology partner to more than 20,000 startups, SMBs and enterprises, connecting more than 6 million IoT devices globally. Soracom offers robust solutions specifically designed to make it easy to build, operate, and scale IoT deployments. Customers trust Soracom for affordable, reliable connectivity that accelerates speed to market, makes it easy to connect to any cloud, and offers access to a worldwide partner ecosystem. More information is available at www.soracom.io.
About Skylo
Skylo Technologies is a global Non-Terrestrial Network service provider based in Mountain View, CA, offering a service that allows smartphone and IoT cellular devices to connect directly over existing satellites. Skylo’s direct-to-device service is now live across four continents, with more than 50 million square kilometers of coverage, in partnership with multiple satellite operators, mobile network operators (MNOs), Tier-1 chipset makers, and OEMs. Devices connected over satellite are managed and served by Skylo's commercial NTN vRAN, featuring a 3GPP standards-based cloud-native base station and core. Skylo works with existing satellite operators, network operators, and device makers to provide subscribers an anywhere, anytime connectivity solution that seamlessly roams between terrestrial and satellite networks. Skylo's focus is on enabling connected services for people outdoors and connected workflows across three main verticals: Industrial IoT, automotive, and mass-market consumer devices. For more information, visit www.skylo.tech, contact info@skylo.tech, or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
