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MWC The NB‑IoT (Narrowband Internet of Things) market is experiencing rapid growth. Last Thursday, the GSMA reported that 23 mobile operators have commercially launched 41 mobile IoT networks worldwide across LTE‑M (the machine-to-machine version of LTE) and NB‑IoT.
At this year’s Mobile World Congress, NB‑IoT is a major topic of discussion and product announcements. Cisco is among the companies highlighting its role in this expanding market, and its messaging extends beyond basic connectivity.
Cisco announced global availability of Cisco Jasper Control Center for NB‑IoT after successfully completing NB‑IoT trials last year. The company is promoting the platform in partnership with China Unicom, which has already adopted NB‑IoT for smart metering, parking, and street lighting.
China Unicom anticipates connecting more than 100 million devices in the coming years through these deployments, according to Sanjay Khatri, Cisco’s global head of platform marketing. “A large share will go into smart city projects, consumer appliances, smart agriculture and similar sectors,” he said. “This represents a significant opportunity for our partners and for Cisco.”
The main advantage of NB‑IoT is its ability to make devices more affordable and accessible. Cisco Jasper Control Center for NB‑IoT helps organizations manage diverse connected devices, offering customizable service packages and automation tools to simplify large-scale device management.
Commenting on the GSMA’s findings and the wave of operator rollouts, Robb Henshaw, head of global communications for Cisco’s IoT cloud and business unit, pointed out the distinction between networks being NB‑IoT ready and having fully manageable services capable of supporting hundreds of millions of devices. “Many operators are beginning deployments,” he said. “Our role is to partner with them to make NB‑IoT practical and scalable.”
Cisco’s IoT strategy in 2018, integrating Jasper (acquired two years earlier), centers on turning device data into actionable intelligence. The approach breaks the challenge into four components: connectivity, data extraction from disparate sources (for example, multiple vendors providing components within a single smart city deployment such as parking meters), compute, and delivering the right data to the right applications at the right time.
The compute stage raises important architectural questions: should processing occur in the cloud or closer to the edge? For heavy analytics and large data sets, cloud processing often makes sense. However, in scenarios requiring very low latency—such as detecting a mechanical fault on a factory floor—local processing can enable immediate action and, in extreme cases, help protect workers’ safety.
One practical example of life‑saving IoT use is a collaboration between Cisco and the Tennessee Department of Transportation. On a fog-prone stretch of freeway with a history of serious collisions, a system of real‑time alerts tied to sensors monitoring weather and traffic density has been deployed to improve driver awareness and safety.
Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss topics like these and learn from real IoT use cases? Attend the IoT Tech Expo World Series events, with upcoming shows in Silicon Valley, London, and Amsterdam, to explore trends, case studies, and practical deployments.
The event is co-located with AI & Big Data Expo, Cyber Security & Cloud Expo, and Blockchain Expo, enabling attendees to examine the broader technology ecosystem and how these domains intersect with IoT.