Oracle has been tapped by NTT’s Transatel division to provide a cloud-native 5G signaling core to support automotive and industry IoT services, a subset of 5G network opportunities that are starting to gain momentum.

Transatel is deploying “key components” of Oracle’s 5G standalone (SA) core, which will be integrated into Transatel’s existing 3G and 4G LTE signaling system, to meet the growing demand for connected devices.” Those components included Oracle’s Service Communication Proxy, Security Edge Protection Proxy, and Network Repository Function.

These features will allow Transatel to scale and manage IoT migrations from its legacy 3G and 4G LTE network to the new 5G SA core; launch new services that can take advantage of 5G standards; and update security and control with centralized routing and resiliency to protect its 5G core network.

“As IoT adoption accelerates across the automotive and industrial sectors, our customers expect secure, high-performant connectivity across the globe and beyond borders. After a review, it was clear Oracle was the right partner to power the next phase of our 5G connectivity,” Transatel CEO Jacques Bonifay noted in a statement. “Oracle Communications’ 5G signaling core gives us the needed scalability, security, and flexibility to deliver on today’s requirements while having the foundation to deliver on the next generation of connected services to come.”

Transatel parent company, NTT Data, earlier this year struck a deal with Cisco to integrate the vendor’s eSIM technology embedded in Cisco infrastructure to connect to Transatel’s network. That integration allowed those devices to be activated, provisioned, and configured directly out of the box.

The platform’s use of the Transatel network also allows for unified pricing across international locations, which can help enterprises manage costs. The Transatel network uses the eSIM product to allow for private-public roaming across wholesale agreements in 180 countries.

Transatel’s use of eSIM also furthers the push toward using eSIM technology in IoT environments.

IoT Analytics explained that the “technology incorporates embedded secure elements, providing advanced security features compared to traditional SIM cards. The secure element acts as a hardware root of trust for asymmetric encryption, ensuring secure end-to-end communication.”

5G for IoT

Operators are increasingly looking toward their 5G SA deployments to power new IoT use cases, including a focus on the 5G reduced capacity (RedCap) specification.

The RedCap specification was released as part of the 3GPP Release 17 5G specification, which means it’s interoperable with 5G networks. The specification itself limits spectrum use to 20 megahertz for sub-6 GHz bands and 100 megahertz for millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum.

This limitation allows for simpler and smaller antenna designs with one transmitter and one or two receivers, unlike the more complex multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) antenna designs required for full-feature 5G new radio (NR) devices like smartphones. This allows RedCap to reduce power requirements and makes it more applicable to edge devices that are often power-constrained.

AT&T recently expanded the reach of its 5G RedCap network to more than 200 million potential customers. That network is targeted at devices with a “streamlined subset of 5G capabilities tailored for IoT and wearables,” and “have less battery consumption, lower costs, and lower bandwidth requirements.”

ABI Research last year predicted 80 million RedCap modules would be shipped into the market over the next five years, with most of that growth driven by a new RedCap iteration.

The research firm noted that the 5G RedCap specification and market potential have drawn interest from chipmakers like Qualcomm, MediaTek, UNISOC, and ASR Microelectronics. These firms have been drawn to the flame that RedCap will provide a long runway in supporting low-power 5G use cases serving IoT and edge deployments.

“5G RedCap is a series of network and device optimizations that strips back device complexity, acting as a natural successor to LTE Cat-4 and LTE Cat-6,” ABI Research analyst Jonathan Budd wrote. “It is a means of providing an affordable pathway to 5G for IoT device OEMs that do not require the full spectrum of 5G capabilities. The mid-tier LTE Categories have proven valuable in connecting IoT devices; RedCap delivers LTE-equivalent throughput performance, with assurance of network longevity into the 5G era.”

ABI noted that the next RedCap iteration, dubbed enhanced RedCap (eRedCap), will further reduce power requirements and goose adoption. This will allow eRedCap to tap into the already established field of low-powered 4G LTE use cases and account for 71 percent of the overall RedCap module market through 2029.

The surge in RedCap interest is also set to bolster other edge efforts.

Dave Bolan, research director at Dell’Oro Group, last year noted that the growth in RedCap adoption will also lead to greater uptake of multi-access edge compute (MEC) platforms and services.

“The market anticipates that the growth of the MEC market will be energized by the introduction of RedCap NR (reduced capability new radio) equipped IoT devices, bringing more 5G IoT devices to the market at lower price points,” Bolan wrote.