GSMA Launches Embedded SIM Initiative To Support The Connected Future

WorldWideTech. Francisco De Jesús.

Press Release:

GSMA Launches Embedded SIM Initiative To Support The Connected Future

Task Force of Mobile Operators to Develop an Open Standard to Bring Connectivity to More Devices

HONG KONG — The GSMA today announced the formation of a task force of mobile operators to explore the development of an embedded SIM that can be remotely activated. The move is expected to enable the design of exciting new form factors for mobile communications. It will also speed the development of M2M services by making it easier to bring mobile broadband to non-traditional devices such as cameras, MP3 players, navigation devices and e-Readers, as well as smart meters.


“The traditional SIM has been an important innovation in mobile telephony, and has provided many benefits to consumers in terms of security, portability of contacts, and ease of portability of devices across networks,” said Rob Conway, CEO and Member of the Board of the GSMA. “As our industry moves from connecting phones to connecting a wide range of devices, it is apparent that the embedded SIM could deliver even greater flexibility. The embedded SIM will provide assured levels of security and portability for consumers, as well as provide additional functionality for enabling new services such as e-Wallet and NFC applications.”


The GSMA-led task force comprises a group of leading technical experts drawn from operators including AT&T, China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom Orange, KT, NTT DOCOMO, SK Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone. The group will work in cooperation with major SIM producers.


The task force will analyse market requirements and deliver a technical solution as an evolution of the current SIM provisioning mechanisms. The proposed embedded SIM solution will include programmable SIM card capabilities to enable remote activation.


The group is expected to complete the analysis of market requirements by January 2011. The resulting technical solution will be built on the principles of openness and standardisation. Devices featuring the new SIM activation capability are expected to appear in 2012. Traditional SIM-supported devices will continue to work on existing networks.


About the GSMA
The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. The GSMA is focused on innovating, incubating and creating new opportunities for its membership, all with the end goal of driving the growth of the mobile communications industry.


For more information, please visit Mobile World Live, the new online portal for the mobile communications industry, at www.mobileworldlive.com or the GSMA corporate website at www.gsmworld.com.

Source: http://news.vzw.com/news/2010/11/pr2010-11-17a.html

Related to Embedded SIM cards, The SIMFi :http://www.morpho-edocs.com/index.php?myELEMENT=World%20premier:%20Sagem%20Orga%20and%20Telefonica%20turn%20the%20SIM%20card%20into%20a%20Wi-Fi%20hotspot&mySID=cbd11aad8770d04adc34f134a0bf442b&new_site_id=2

Verizon's 4G LTE SIM in the wild

It's still baking our noodles to think about a Verizon device using a SIM on American soil -- but sure enough, those cards allegedly set up in Big Red's systems are floating around in the wild. What you're looking at here is a SIM that will slot into Verizon's LTE-enabled 4G devices when they launch later this year (hence the big "4G" logo on there), and yes, they look just like the SIMs you've been using for the last two decades on carriers around the world. The more things change, the more they stay the same, it seems.

  

SIM card evolves with LTE technology

Francisco De Jesús (aquitayo)
July 16th, 2010

The Subscriber Identity Module – that standard little chip that houses all of a subscriber's information for GSM-based networks – is changing. Long Term Evolution technology is advancing the smart card, while the potential of machine-to-machine communications is evolving the size and form factors for SIMs.

The SIM card is evolving from a simple card that can store and authenticate a user to the network to a Universal Integrated Circuit Card, said Sebastien Cano, Senior VP Telecommunications for Gemalto NV, the world's largest SIM card manufacturer.

Going forward, the prospects for SIM deployments are great as CDMA providers like Verizon Wireless and MetroPCS Communications Inc. deploy LTE services, thus increasing the potential marketing base for smartcard solutions in the United States, said Heather Klein, director of marketing communications at Giesecke & Devrient, which also makes SIM cards. Operators will want to ensure interoperability between their CDMA and LTE networks.

In developing countries, the SIM has a visible role to play in that it keeps contacts with the user, not the phone, and that it authenticates the phone to the network. In advanced markets like North America, it is not so much involved in the user interface, but in monitoring network behavior. Once operators deploy LTE service, the SIM card will be able to more easily conduct over-the-air updates, Cano said. Today's SIM cards are limited to sending commands in 160-character text messages. Sending advanced commands via the technology has been cumbersome, he said. “You can do remote maintenance, but it's not as reliable as it will be going forward.” With the movement to an IP protocol, the card can perform a lot more functions.

The SIM card is now offered in three standard formats – as a SIM card, as an embedded secure element of a device and as a secure micro SD, G&D's Klein noted. Rugged form factors for SIM cards are appealing to companies that want an embedded M2M solution, Cano explained.

Going forward, some of the best areas of growth will be in the NFC (near-field communications) space and in the growing vertical market sectors that need M2M communications. As NFC gains traction around the globe, both SIM manufacturers expect financial institutions, which already use smart cards, to embed wireless technology in them. However, one of the problems with the intersection of wireless services and financial services is who owns the customer, Cano said. Having a third-party solutions provider is one way to solve that problem. Both Gemalto and G&D have been acquiring companies in recent years to expand their presence in the smart-card space.

Motorola Inc. is introducing what it calls an Intelligent SIM platform that lays over the SIM card. The four millimeter-thick wafer connects the mobile device and the SIM, which can enable operators and enterprises to write applications on the SIM and manage security protocols, said Venkat Eswara, Motorola's director of marketing for its Applications and Mobile Video Services division. Today, Motorola's iSIM is geared for 3G networks, but the company plans to move into LTE technology. The platform is available in three chip configurations – as a low-end microcontroller chip, as an NXP Java applet and as an NFC chip. The iSIM platform can store up to four different SIM profiles, which is important for people who travel internationally and need to roam, and for enterprises that are security-focused, like mobile banking applications. Motorola is targeting large enterprises with the platform, noting that large companies can use the iSIM platform to manage the work environment applications of employees who use different networks and different carriers. Bipper Communications is the first company to launch Motorola's platform to offer parents a way to manage their child's mobile-phone use, including a safety alarm and location-based service from a Web portal.