As part of a flurry of activity at its 2020 Virtual Connect event, business connectivity solutions provider Adtran has revealed a range of communications solutions that it says will take advantage of expertise in carrier-grade broadband access to address specific internet of things (IoT) scale challenges and a new family of switches with enterprise features designed to support mission-critical enterprise services.
Within the former domain, Adtran says that its new technology will offer cost-effective solutions that enable service providers, cloud providers and sensor providers to better support the millions of IoT products connecting to the access network, diversify their customer base and generate new revenue opportunities.
The company believes that IoT technology is growing in adoption, primarily because it can address a large variety of vertical applications, from smart cities, homes, buildings and manufacturing to more intelligent monitoring in agriculture, energy and healthcare.
From this it believes the opportunities in the is market are vast. It quotes the Mordor intelligence IoT market forecast, noting that the global IoT market is expected to reach a value of $1.26tn by 2025 at a CAGR of 10.53% during the period of 2020-2025.
By expanding into the IoT market, Adtran claims that it is better supporting its current customers’ existing IoT initiatives, as well as offering new pathways for these service providers to expand their portfolio of service offerings and IoT applications. The first portfolio of IoT solutions will feature indoor and outdoor gateways with support for LoRaWAN specifications for Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWANs). frequency technology and a growing ecosystem of diverse sensors and smart devices.
“Adtran has a proven history and expertise in providing broadband access to millions of business and residential customers, and we’ve participated in the IoT market through our Wi-Fi access points and home Wi-Fi management solutions,” said Keith Atwell, head of global business development at Adtran.
“Now, we’re sharpening our focus on developing specific technology to help service providers better manage the massive IoT deployments that have already begun to strain the network and spin up new opportunities to win new customers.”
Regarding gigabit ethernet enterprise switches, Adtran has expanded its NetVanta portfolio to combine what is said to be carrier-class performance with enterprise features to support the next generation of mission-critical enterprise services.
The expanded portfolio is designed to deliver options to meet a broader range of Power over Ethernet (PoE) budgets and enable service providers and subscribers to better support the proliferation of connected devices and IoT applications flooding the network without having to add more hardware.
Adtran notes that emerging applications in the enterprise, ranging from site surveillance to industrial automation, demand high availability, security and flexible power options. Yet just as businesses are rapidly deploying a wide range of power-intensive, high-capacity connected devices to drive efficiency and improve productivity, they need to consider how these new devices drain both power and bandwidth.
It adds that by combining carrier-grade features such as Ethernet OAM and G.8032 Ethernet Ring Protection Switching (ERPS) with enterprise-class features such as Denial of Service (DoS) attack prevention and flexible PoE powering, the NetVanta 1560 Gigabit Ethernet Switch portfolio offers all of these capabilities in a single box solution.
Adtran also sees the switches as bridging the gap between traditional enterprise switching and Carrier Ethernet NID solutions, providing an effective delivery and termination solution. Service providers can deliver gigabit to the switch for MDUs, small business and enterprise customers, including those with large campus environments where these new recovery capabilities and failover times are said to deliver faster than traditional spanning tree modes.