Sony Announces Launch of New Low Power Cellular IoT Chipset for NB-IoT Networks – ALT1255

New chipset completes Sony's Altair Cellular IoT solution portfolio to address NB only and NB/2G applications

Sony Semiconductor Israel (Sony), a leading provider of cellular IoT chipsets, announced the launch of the Altair ALT1255, a new low-power NB2 chipset. The ALT1255 is 5G ready, designed with an integrated SIM (iSIM), user MCU, rich application layer, and GSM/GPRS fallback modem.

The ALT1255 chipset empowers device manufacturers to develop low-power, cost-sensitive connected devices at a global scale to monitor, manage, and control critical infrastructure, medical devices, logistic trackers, and a large variety of LPWA applications.

The ALT1255 platform is now commercially available and has been selected by key module players.

The ALT1255 was developed in-house by Sony Semiconductor Israel, based on the LTE-M/NB ALT1250 chipset, and leverages its mature, broadly accepted, and globally certified NB/2G technology. The chipsets share software architecture, modem application and networking layer, and APIs for fast and easy integration within the Altair product family.

“The market shows a growing need for a feature-rich, fully integrated NB-IoT cellular chipset with 2G fallback,” said Dima Feldman, VP of Product Management and Marketing at Sony Semiconductor Israel. “Module designs based on the ALT1255 will provide reliable connectivity for smart meters, logistics, telematics, and smart cities applications.”

The ALT1255 built-in iSIM removes barriers related to cost, size, and power, as well as adds an additional layer of security. The GSM/GPRS modem fills the gaps in LPWA network coverage and allows future-proof technology deployment in countries with mixed 2G/NB coverage. In addition, ALT1255 integrates a low-power ARM Cortex-M4 MCU, fully separated from the modem functionality and designed to run a variety of IoT and sensing applications, as well as an adaptation layer to interconnect within the existing ecosystem.

The solution provides out-of-the-box secure cloud connectivity, utilizing numerous industry-accepted communication protocols such as power-efficient COAP and LWM2M.

As part of Sony’s Altair family of products, the ALT1255 is trusted by carriers, iSIM ecosystem partners, and developers designing IoT devices and has already received broad acceptance across the industry. The chipset has received the Global Certification Forum (GCF) certification, which allows customers to accelerate module and device certification.