INTERVIEW
Whats the
future for
eUICC?
What is the role of eUICC (embedded Universal
Integrated Circuit Cards) in advancing the Internet of
Things. Jeremy Cowan, editor of IoT Now, asked an
expert, Benoit Jouffrey, vice president, On-Demand
Connectivity (pictured right) of Gemalto.
Foreseeing IoT Now: Does the eUICC answer a real market
need? If so, what exactly is this need?
benefits from
embedded SIMs, Benoit Jouffrey: Adoption of embedded SIMs1 is
some device regarded as a key requirement for many M2M
devices and allows, if required by the use case, the
manufacturers are Choice to Change (C2C) the mobile connectivity.
likely to drive It is still at an early stage of development in
adoption of the mobile operators consumer market.
technology Foreseeing benefits from embedded SIMs, some
device manufacturers are likely to drive adoption
of the technology. The first benefit is revenue
development: Mobile operators see big business
potential in connecting the Internet of Things
(IoT) and the benefits of providing an
independent connectivity to new categories of
devices (e.g. wearables), but they do not want to
disrupt their core market. The second benefit is
regulatory compliance: Embedded SIMs can solve
regulatory constraints, for instance by enabling
the download of a local MNO2 profile, in countries
where permanent roaming is not permitted or
limited.
Embedded SIMs are now a mainstream
technology in the machine-to-machine (M2M)
market, especially in the automotive/ connected
cars arena, where the device is in the field for a
long time and may require a change of
connectivity.
Adoption of embedded SIMs now appears a
credible scenario in consumer markets, since
some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)
are launching devices using this technology, like
the Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch, while several
mobile network operators are participating in
commercial launches.
1. embedded
Subscriber IoT Now: Can you describe the associated use
Identity Module cases?
2. Mobile Network BJ: Globally we can define three main families of
use cases. First, the initial provisioning of a
Operator
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IN ASSOCIATION WITH GEMALTO
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device. With this, we give the capability for
device manufacturers to reduce the
manufacturing variance (i.e. manufacturing done
in one location and on one model only), with the
target of dramatically simplifying the logistics: A
single SIM for any type of customer profile and/or
for all operations worldwide. In the consumer
market, another use case consists in providing
the required independent connectivity.
Second, the contextual change. The eUICC and
subscription manager platform give the
capability to change the connectivity provider
seamlessly during device lifecycle, for instance
due to the particular context the device is in,
without any complex operations. In the consumer
market, it may allow an end-user to connect a
consumer electronics device on cellular network,
anytime, anywhere, with an adapted tariff plan.
For example, a customer will be able to choose a
local connectivity provider to get local tariff
when travelling.
Third, the lifecycle management. The lifecycle of
a device is very different from a traditional
consumer market device to smart meters, for
example. In one case, the life of the device can be
five years, with different owners. Subscription
Management will enable the end-of-life of the
subscription and the delivery of a new
subscription for a new user.
In M2M, the device may not move and may be
alive for 10 or 15 years. We give the insurance to
the OEM that if an unexpected event related to
the subscription occurs during this lifecycle, we
can manage.
IoT Now: Can you give some examples of recent
commercial deployments?
BJ: Gemalto has been strongly involved in the
adoption of the GSMA specifications for M2M and
Consumer markets. We have participated in the
main proof-of-concepts and contributed to the
IoT Now - June / July 2016
specifications work. At the last Mobile World
Congress we demonstrated with Samsung the
pairing of a secondary device, a smartwatch, to a
primary device, the smartphone, to download a
subscription. Different operators have been
involved and we are expecting further launches
on this use case.
In the M2M market, we are working with leading
car makers to deliver subscription management
solutions.
IoT Now: How close is the industry to achieving
standardisation? What would that mean for
OEMs and MNOs?
BJ: The story of the Remote Provisioning
Subscription concept story started in 2010 when
the GSMA decided to address this topic by
issuing first a white paper (February 2011) and
secondly by setting up a working group to issue a
specification for the M2M segment.
The referenced architecture of this M2M solution
had been issued in July 2013 followed that
December by a technical specification. Since
then, several releases of this M2M specification
have been issued, leading to a good level of
specification maturity.
Similarly, in the consumer market, major device
manufacturers are willing to take advantage of
the eUICC as adding great value to IoT devices
such as wearables. Indeed, it lowers the footprint
of the SIM component and offers a more fluid
customer experience (fully digital, out of the box,
on demand).
During Mobile World Congress 2015 in Shanghai,
the GSMA and its full members agreed on a
reference architecture for the consumer market
designed mainly by the main eUICC
manufacturers, and launched the drafting of a
technical specification. They had provided a first
release on December 24 and a focus on
activating secondary devices (such as a smart
watch) through the connectivity of primary
device (such as a smartphone). On February 22,
the first demonstration of a GSMA eUICC product
with the Samsung Gear S2 and Gemalto OSM V4
for consumer was done at Barcelona MWC.
Version 2 of the GSMA specifications is expected
to be released by mid-2016 to address additional
use cases.
The standardisation is essential for the companies
in the mobile ecosystem to have a fully-
interoperable and future-proof solution, with a
proven level of security.
IoT Now: Are there any security challenges
linked to eUICC? And how does Gemalto answer
these?
BJ: The first challenge for the eUICC is to
securely generate and deliver subscriptions to
the eUICC Over-The-Air, from the subscription
management server. Security mechanisms ensure
the integrity and the confidentiality of data, in
addition to the mutual authentication of eUICC
REPRODUCED FROM IOT NOW MAGAZINE
IoT Now - June / July 2016
and server during operations such as the In the M2M
download of a new subscription on the eUICC.
Gemalto has a unique experience in the
market, we are
development, deployment and operations of such working with
systems remotely and securely managing the
leading car
content of smart cards.
makers to deliver
The second challenge is more in the deployment subscription
itself and the capability to answer the regulators
constraints on sensitive data such as a management
subscription. Those rules directly or indirectly solutions.
impose the usage of the eUICC technology such
as countries preventing the usage of permanent
roaming requesting the download of a local
subscription as soon as the device arrives in this
country. But other rules will define the way to
deploy the solution by requesting for example an
installation localised in the country. Gemalto
answers these diverse constraints with first a
hosted solution that can be easily deployed in
area where we have data centres and also a
unique experience in deploying in-premises
solutions to our customers.
IoT Now: Are many devices now eUICC-
compliant?
BJ: The eUICC is developing in various market
segments from consumer, enterprise to M2M. The
eUICC will create new use cases, particularly
those involving multi-country inventory
management or mobile endpoints, such as
connected cars. According to the IHS analysts
56% of the cars produced in 2016 have
embedded connectivity (Cellular M2M in the
Automotive market Q4 2015). This share could
grow up to 95% by 2020. M2M is the most
mature market today for the eUICC with many
different applications (smart grid, smart meter,
etc.) potentially taking benefit from the eUICC Jeremy Cowan,
beyond the connected cars. editorial director
of IoT Now,
was talking to
Embedded connectivity makes a lot of sense for
Gemaltos Benoit
the enterprise market equipped with laptops and Jouffrey
tablets. The consumer market remains the more
open, with different innovations in secondary
devices, like the wearables, watches or cameras.
The coming years are very promising. The
challenge is not really on the number of devices
launched by manufacturer but the quality of the
use cases. Innovation is everywhere. Not all
innovative projects are successful. The most
innovative project can be blocked if consumer
insights are not taken into account.
We believe that Gemalto needs to accompany its
customers, whether MNO or OEM, with high
standards of market intelligence and innovation
to meet their end-users complex and changing
needs. In response, Gemalto provides a
sophisticated service of research and
collaboration, developing insights to ensure our
clients offering meet with success: The Gemalto
Ideas Hub, a Co-creation Online Community
regrouping consumers, recruited according to
certain criteria such as age, gender, occupation or
any other features meaningful for a given market
research project. In the end, the end-user
decides.
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