Soracom, Inc., a global provider of advanced IoT connectivity, has completed a Proof of Concept (PoC) demonstrating integrated SIM (iSIM) capability designed to support the next generation of IoT devices.
This demonstration represents a joint effort between Soracom, Sony Semiconductor Israel Ltd., a cellular IoT chipset provider, and Kigen, a global security provider, which provides secure authentication for cellular IoT devices.
In conventional cellular applications, a device uses a hardware communications module to establish a network connection and a SIM card or eSIM to validate identity. The iSIM technology combines these functions within a single, purpose-built system-on-a-chip (SoC).
By eliminating the need for a physical SIM (or eSIM), iSIM technology addresses multiple key challenges at once, streamlining supply chains and allowing significant reductions in the circuit board footprint, circuit complexity, manufacturing cost, and power requirements while increasing processing capacity. In addition, iSIM is considered highly threat-resistant and is attracting attention as a next-generation SIM technology.
“We are honoured to collaborate with industry-leading technology partners on this demonstration of iSIM capability,” says Kenta Yasukawa, co-founder and CTO, Soracom. “We believe that iSIM technology will support a new wave of innovation in industry and in everyday life, and we look forward to democratising this capability as we have with eSIM technology and ‘subscription containers’ for over the air (OTA) subscription management.”
In this working PoC, a hardware-secured area was established within Sony’s Altair ALT1250 cellular IoT chipset and a unique Soracom carrier profile was then provisioned on the Kigen iSIM OS. This solution delivers full functionality, including the generation of Soracom’s unique key information, secure loading of the carrier profile information onto the module, connection to the cellular network, and connection to Soracom’s advanced platform services.
“Sony is a pioneer in developing the iSIM and we have seen this technology play a key role in the ongoing growth and adoption of cellular IoT,” says Dima Feldman, VP product management and marketing at Sony Semiconductor Israel.
“Our chipsets are the industry’s smallest and most feature-rich solutions, providing the longest battery life in the market for numerous IoT applications. We are excited to see Soracom’s use of iSIM technology on its network, as it enables customers worldwide to provide easily integrated, economical, long-lasting, and secure IoT solutions on a massive scale.”
Based on this initial success, Soracom, Sony and Kigen will continue joint development with the intention of offering iSIM solutions for commercial use.
“We believe innovation for the next shift to billions of IoT devices will need foundational security that is easy to build with and manage at scale, which iSIM technology provides,” says Loic Bonvarlet, VP product and marketing at Kigen. “The combination of Kigen’s market-leading secure iSIM OS, provisioning services and market expertise, SONY’s iSIM chipsets and Soracom’s global connectivity will pave the way for power-efficient, compact and secure-by-design IoT solutions.”
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