Altair Semiconductor’s ALT1210 LTE-M chipset has been approved by AT&T to run on its IoT network, the company has announced.
The move ‘furthers Altair’s commitment to AT&T and broadens the device and module partner ecosystem supporting LTE-M deployments’, the company added.
The chipset has multiple use cases, including in powering trackers, wearable devices, and sensors. It also offers minimal power consumption, and is software upgradeable to single antenna LTE CAT-1.
“LTE-M is essential to carriers’ cellular IoT strategies,” said Eran Eshed, Altair VP worldwide sales and marketing. “Being able to offer pre-certified chipsets and modules will significantly help vendors bring products to market quickly and cost effectively.
“Our LTE-M collaboration with AT&T extends the existing and strategic CAT-1 engagement.”
AT&T launched a pilot of its LTE-M network in San Francisco late last year. As this publication reported at the time, Altair was named, alongside other companies including Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies and Sierra Wireless, as partners in the pilot. In February, AT&T said it was ahead of schedule in the LTE-M network’s deployment.
“LTE-M has the potential to connect more devices and applications than anything before,” added Cameron Coursey, vice president of Internet of Things solutions at AT&T. “When you introduce a new technology like LTE-M, it’s very important to bring together an ecosystem of network provides, module providers and chipset providers.
“Having Altair’s ALT1210 LTE-M chipset certified on AT&T’s network will help accelerate the promise of LTE-M,” Coursey added.
As Coursey posited in a ReadWrite article last month, the key aspects for businesses to consider when choosing an IoT network are around coverage, mobility, battery life – for the device side – and cost. “Building a successful IoT solution is all about matching your connectivity needs to the right technology or mix of technologies,” said Coursey. “Whether you choose one network technology or take a multi-network approach, you want the best blend of coverage, performance, and value.”
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