Today, we proudly announce that Enea Aptilo IoT Connectivity Control Service (IoT CCS) has been named a finalist in the Fierce Innovation Awards. This is the twelfth nomination for IoT CCS that has resulted in seven industry award wins.

Considering the broad set of finalists in this year’s IoT category, ranging from an IoT CSP to a ridesharing company, we already feel like winners in our space.

This time, we were nominated because IoT CSS is a unique market offering that effectively solves multiple long-standing challenges for IoT Connectivity Services Providers (IoT CSPs).

The IoT CSPs are challenged to offer a secure and flexible way for Enterprise customers to connect end-to-end from a device to their IoT back-end services. Traditionally, this has been done by deploying a separate APN (Access Point Name) for each customer on the mobile core, mapped to a single Enterprise Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Whether the CSP is relying on its own mobile network core or has outsourced the IoT core operations, this approach brings two main problems:

1. Cost, time, and scale. Deploying separate APNs for each customer has proven costly and time-consuming, limiting this option to be an exclusive service for larger customers. This means operators can only offer most business customers a very basic level of IoT connectivity. If more flexibility, security, or customization is needed, the only next step is a bespoke solution using manual configurations. Typically, this becomes costly and time-consuming for comparatively little gain. Learn more about how Swisscom uses Enea Aptilo IoT CCS to chase the long tail of IoT customers.
2. Lack of unified global IoT services. A truly global IoT service will require localization of eSIMs in countries where permanent roaming is unavailable due to commercial or legal reasons. In this scenario, the method of using the traditional APN on the home mobile core will not work, and the control is lost to the local operator. Learn more about how to build a unified global IoT service and how to avoid issues with permanent roaming.

The Enea Aptilo IoT CCS solves both these problems by adding a smart and secure layer over the mobile core. IoT CCS is offered as a service from the public cloud globally. It allows IoT CSPs to go beyond traditional IoT connectivity services and provide a secure, flexible, programmable, and scalable solution.