IoT applications are being used increasingly in a wide variety of areas such as transportation and logistics, agriculture, energy management, manufacturing and smart city concepts. However, there are still some limitations and challenges in the implementation of IoT scenarios, especially in the provisioning and management of IoT devices.

The SGP.32 specification published by the GSMA for remote SIM provisioning will bring a significant improvement here. Instead of the SMS-based communication of the predecessor specification SGP.02, SGP.32 uses a faster and more reliable IP-based protocol. The required SIM credentials and settings can be sent directly over the air to the devices via a mobile network. This makes it much easier to load, activate and manage the SIM profiles of IoT devices.

Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) and Murata have released the world’s first connectivity module to apply the new SGP.32 remote SIM provisioning specification of integrated SIM (iSIM) technology. This novel solution is built on Murata’s innovative Type 2GD Cat.M1/NB-IoT connectivity module supporting ETSI/3GPP Release 17 standard and G+D highly secure SGP.32-compliant SIM OS. It is designed to support OEM IoT deployments, including point-of-sale products, asset tracking, healthcare solutions and wearable devices as well as smart city, agriculture and home devices.

Murata’s compact Type 2GD Cat.M1/NB-IoT connectivity module incorporates an integrated universal integrated circuit card enabling it to support SGP.32-compliant iSIM applications. During production, the customer’s desired SIM profile along with G+D’s SIM OS can be flashed onto the module’s iSIM element, eliminating the need for customers to conduct this process manually and streamlining IoT device production. The iSIM provisioning, provided by G+D, also allows for convenient reconfiguration if there is a need to change the SIM profile once the IoT device has been deployed – further simplifying and reducing the costs of IoT cellular deployments.

“iSIMs will play a crucial role in the future of cellular IoT devices, cutting down on size and complexity for deployments like smart cities, medical IoT and wearable devices that rely on cellular services,” said Hirokazu Nakae, general manager, connectivity module products department at Murata.

End-to-end solution

G+D enables the SGP.32-compliant iSIM solution within the Murata’s Type 2GD module. This solution represents the first integrated connectivity module to support SGP.32 and iSIM technology. G+D’s OS and management solution enables the complete lifetime remote provisioning of the SIM profile in cellular IoT devices, allowing customers to upload, manage or change the SIM profile of a new device regardless of its global location.