Cisco Jasper is now working in partnership with Taiwan Mobile, extending the former’s footprint to 30 global mobile operator groups representing more than 120 mobile operator networks worldwide.
With China’s IoT market set to expand to US$121.45 billion turnover by 2022, according to Cisco, Taiwan Mobile will utilise Cisco Jasper’s Control Center to capitalise on the potential IoT market share available. The Taiwanese operator will offer its customers a complete plug-and-play IoT solution that is said to be easily configured to provide analysis, automation, and diagnostic intelligence. Taiwan Mobile’s IoT customer base spans connected cars, mobile payments, manufacturing, smart cities, and public transportation.
Here IoT Now’s Jeremy Cowan talks to Sanjay Khatri, director of Product Marketing, IoT Services at Cisco Jasper to understand better the IoT platform provider’s recent Taiwan partnership.
IoT Now: What’s the background to the partnership with Taiwan Mobile? When did discussions on this begin with Cisco Jasper?
SK: The APAC region is a hotbed for IoT deployments. Our recent foray into China with China Unicom revealed the growing demand for connected devices and IoT applications in the region.
Taiwan shares much of the same characteristics with China albeit at a smaller scale. Both are centres for manufacturing with dense urban environments, hence smart manufacturing, transportation and logistics, connected car and smart cities are all key verticals that benefit from a best-of-breed connectivity management platform. We began discussions with Taiwan Mobile in Q1 of 2016 and we were able to progress rapidly from then on.
IoT Now: You are already active in sectors such as connected cars, mobile payment, manufacturing, smart cities, and public transportation? Which of these areas show the most immediate profit potential? We assumed this would be the connected car, are we right?
SK: Yes, connected car is certainly one of the hottest industries for IoT. But manufacturing, transportation and logistics, and smart cities are all high-growth industries as well. At Cisco Jasper, we have customers across dozens of sectors, but these are fastest-growing industries to date.
IoT Now: With numerous businesses reporting the roll-out of plug-and-play IoT solutions, does this reduce the need for system integrators? Or do they still have a significant role to play in deploying IoT solutions?
SK: Cisco Jasper has, over the last 8 years, established a best practice from both a design and implementation perspective. We have a platform that can easily fit into the mobile network operator (MNO)’s network and whose capabilities can be easily extended to enterprise customers. This has meant a fast time to market for both MNOs and their customers when it comes to managing IoT connectivity, without the need for help from systems integrators.
IoT Now: How is the integration of Jasper into the Cisco enterprise progressing? When will the process be complete?
SK: The progress has been fantastic. Our integration and launch process is generally gated by how quickly our MNO partners can organise the launch on their end, and on that front, Taiwan Mobile has been an excellent partner. We aim to launch commercial services with Taiwan Mobile this calendar year.
The author of this article is Jeremy Cowan, editorial director & publisher of IoT Now, IoT Global Network, and VanillaPlus.
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