By Diana Goovaerts


Sprint teams with SoftBank family on IoT

Sprint shared more detail about its new IoT platform built in collaboration with Ericsson, touting security features and a distributed core delivered through partnerships with Arm and Packet.

The operator hailed the platform as a “new standard in how IoT is managed and secured”.


Sprint noted the system, called Curiosity IoT, includes a virtualised core which utilises Packet servers to push compute power to the edge. This architecture reduces the distance data needs to travel over the network for processing from 1,000 miles to less than 50, it said.


A security framework provided by Arm also offers a set of threat models, security analysis, device management and the ability to deliver over-the-air firmware updates. Arm is owned by Sprint parent company SoftBank, which also holds a stake in Packet.

Ivo Rook, SVP of IoT and product development at Sprint, said in a statement: "Arm changes the way devices are managed over the air and how data is analysed, while delivering unparalleled security from the chip to the cloud.


"Sprint’s unique IoT platform design called for a distributed core to bring the network to the data, rather than the data to the network," Packet CEO Zachary Smith added. "They didn’t have to look any further than within the SoftBank family, with Packet distributing the core and enabling automation in a matter of minutes, as opposed to months."