New partnerships create new opportunities. Such is the case for the partnership between GlobalSign’s IoT Solutions Group with U.K.-based New Global Software - an IoT software development firm providing white label applications for Smart Metering and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), Smart Cities and industrial IoT ecosystems.
New Global Software offers revenue integrity monitoring systems and consumer portals for utilities using smart metering technology. Its revenue integrity monitoring software helps utilities identify non-technical losses due to meter tampering through meter and feeder monitoring, strong data analytics, and actionable insights. The company’s smart meter consumer web portal helps utilities meet rising consumer demand for easier access to near real-time usage information via phone, tablet or computer, improving customer satisfaction and reducing overall service costs.
New Global Software is now expanding its portfolio to include an IoT billing platform that can be used with any IoT communications network or IoT application, outside of just AMI smart metering. This has uncovered both an opportunity that can be capitalized upon and a challenge that can be resolved with the collaborative support of GlobalSign.
The opportunity is for IoT network owners to monetize their IoT networks by employing a multi-application network approach. New Global Software’s IoT billing platform allows network owners to segment the network, track usage and bill for that usage. In effect, the application or network, instead of being used for one single function is made available for others to use for a fee, turning a latent asset into a revenue generator.
“We’re excited to have found a technology partner that broadens our offering, making it an even more attractive solution for our customers” said Stephen Page, Founder and CEO, New Global Software. “With GlobalSign, we’re able to not only deliver multiple IoT application billing on a single IoT network, we’re able to do it safely and securely.”
The challenge is that unlike smart metering, which typically operates on a secure network, some IoT markets and networks - in a rush to be first-to-market - have foregone the security-by-design concept all together making them vulnerable to attack. They lack robust and thorough security, including encryption, authentication, authorization or any proper device identity management. The addition of a billing platform to an existing IoT network provides the opportunity to upgrade security without significantly redesigning the deployed network. A secure chain of trust, with end-to-end authentication from each device using the network through to the billing system, is advisable if network owners intend to charge for network access.
“It’s inspiring to see how partners like New Global Software are incorporating our IoT Identity Platform into their IoT solutions,” said Lancen LaChance, Vice President, IoT Solutions, GlobalSign. “This is certainly a fresh approach to IoT network utilization that we’re eager to support”.
GlobalSign’s IoT Identity Platform provides the device identity, data integrity and communication privacy needed to enable secure multi-application use of a single IoT network. The flexibility of the IoT Identity Platform allows for provisioning of device identities at key points in time; during device manufacturing (greenfield), at device deployment or for existing devices in-field (brownfield). This enables devices and networks to incorporate security early in the design stage or be retroactively secured long after they’ve been deployed or commissioned.
GlobalSign delivers exceptional security, providing full device identity management from design, through provisioning and management to sunsetting, delivered on a high volume and throughput infrastructure capable of scaling to over 3,000 certificates issued per second.
Interested in learning more? See how GlobalSign can deliver everything you need for full device identity lifecycle management in a cloud-based service – including a high throughput Certificate Authority, dedicated revocation services, and a variety of integration options to effectively connect your ecosystem and end devices.
