Qualcomm expands its portfolio to simplify and accelerate the development of iot across multiple industries

     Today, ecosystem fragmentation and system design complexity often result in iot deployments not reaching their full potential. By combining an industry-leading chip and extensive ecosystem of hardware and software partners with a developer-friendly cloud architecture, the Qualcomm Aware platform will provide a differentiated suite of services for managing assets that require critical, accurate, and time-sensitive decision support. By providing ubiquitous global connectivity and intelligently optimizing and integrating sensor alerts and critical device controls with location technologies, the Qualcomm Aware platform will set a new benchmark for the Internet of Things and help companies improve operational efficiency. Key use cases supported by the Qualcomm Aware platform include cold chain distribution, utility asset monitoring, freight tracking, and warehouse and inventory management.

     The Qualcomm Aware platform has three key pillars of strength: technical leadership, enabling a broad ecosystem of hardware and software partners, adopting an API-first architecture, and easy-to-use tools for developers to interoperate with partners' cloud platforms and leading enterprise software tools. Currently, Qualcomm Technologies has shipped more than 350 million iot modem chipsets, which are used in various industry segments, including the recently announced Qualcomm ®216 LTE iot modem, an integrated solution optimized for the Internet of Things that delivers speeds of up to 10Mbps at ultra-low power consumption, Thus extending battery life is critical for expanding a variety of high-performance iot applications.

     The technical advantages of the Qualcomm Aware platform extend beyond the chip. Through its recent acquisitions of Skyhook Wireless and PoLTE assets, Qualcomm Technologies adds proprietary location technology and a vast global signal database of about 8 billion wireless MAC addresses and hundreds of millions of base stations. Combined with Qualcomm Technologies' existing location technology, the acquisition will enable the Qualcomm Aware platform to provide ubiquitous intelligent location capabilities in an always-on, low-power manner. This robust and reliable positioning technology suite works in the most challenging signal environments, such as indoors, underground and offline, providing an important foundation for sensing and condition monitoring environments for enterprise-class solutions, enabling end-to-end asset and operational visualization, and making businesses more informed and prepared to operate anywhere.

     In order to drive the expansion of iot, a range of different solutions address the different needs of industry applications. The Qualcomm Aware platform brings with it an ecosystem of hardware and software partners to quickly and efficiently develop connectivity solutions tailored to different use cases. Qualcomm Technologies is working with leading software and hardware companies to develop Qualcomm Aware platform-ready products.

     The platform will include Qualcomm Aware Blueprints, a personalized, scalable solution architecture tailored to specific use cases. Working with a wide range of independent software vendors (ISVs) and system integrators (SI), these blueprints will help companies quickly and efficiently deliver pre-designed solutions that meet their needs.

     With a highly customizable architecture and standard apis, the Qualcomm Aware platform is designed to provide seamless interoperability for private clouds, industry-specific application platforms, and existing enterprise software tools for enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management, inventory management, and more. Microsoft Dynamics 365 will be the first to implement this integration. The architecture enables customers to design solutions that meet their specific business needs.

     "The interoperability of hardware and software systems is critical to building iot solutions that enhance the customer experience," said Ulrich Homann, vice president of Microsoft's Cloud and AI Business Group. "By integrating with Dynamics 365 supply chain management tools, Qualcomm is enabling customers to track assets, manage inventory, and improve operational efficiency in a seamless manner."