Soracom, Inc., a global provider of advanced IoT connectivity, today  announced completion of a Proof of Concept (PoC) demonstrating integrated SIM (iSIM)  capability designed to support the next generation of IoT devices. This demonstration  represents a joint effort between Soracom, Sony Semiconductor Israel Ltd. ( Sony), a leading  cellular IoT chipset provider, and Kigen, a global security leader, which provides secure  authentication for cellular IoT devices. 

In conventional cellular applications, a device uses a hardware communications module to  establish a network connection and a SIM card or eSIM to validate identity. The iSIM technology  combines these functions within a single, purpose-built system-on-a-chip (SoC). 

By eliminating the need for a physical SIM (or eSIM), iSIM technology addresses multiple key  challenges at once, streamlining supply chains and allowing significant reductions in the circuit  board footprint, circuit complexity, manufacturing cost, and power requirements while  increasing processing capacity. In addition, iSIM is considered highly threat-resistant and is  attracting attention as a next-generation SIM technology. 

“We are honored to collaborate with industry-leading technology partners on this  demonstration of iSIM capability,” said Kenta Yasukawa, co-founder and CTO, Soracom. “We  believe that iSIM technology will support a new wave of innovation in industry and in everyday  life, and we look forward to democratizing this capability as we have with eSIM technology and  ‘subscription containers’ for over the air (OTA) subscription management.” 

In this working PoC, a hardware-secured area was established within Sony’s Altair ALT1250  cellular IoT chipset and a unique Soracom carrier profile was then provisioned on the Kigen™  iSIM OS. This solution delivers full functionality, including the generation of Soracom's unique  key information, secure loading of the carrier profile information onto the module, connection  to the cellular network, and connection to Soracom's advanced platform services. 

“Sony is a pioneer in developing the iSIM and we have seen this technology play a key role in  the ongoing growth and adoption of cellular IoT,” said Dima Feldman, VP Product Management  and Marketing at Sony Semiconductor Israel. “Our chipsets are the industry’s smallest and most  feature-rich solutions, providing the longest battery life in the market for numerous IoT  applications. We are excited to see Soracom’s use of iSIM technology on its network, as it  enables customers worldwide to provide easily integrated, economical, long-lasting, and secure  IoT solutions on a massive scale.”

Based on this initial success, Soracom, Sony and Kigen will continue joint development with the  intention of offering iSIM solutions for commercial use. 

“We believe innovation for the next shift to billions of IoT devices will need foundational  security that is easy to build with and manage at scale, which iSIM technology provides,” said  Loic Bonvarlet, VP Product and Marketing at Kigen. “The combination of Kigen’s market-leading  secure iSIM OS, provisioning services and market expertise, SONY’s iSIM chipsets and Soracom’s  global connectivity will pave the way for power-efficient, compact and secure-by-design IoT  solutions.”