Sequans Communications S.A. announced a collaboration with Microchip Technology Inc. to deliver 5G LTE-M/NB-IoT connectivity solutions based on Sequans Monarch family of chips and Microchip’s family of microcontrollers (MCUs).
The collaboration supports Microchip’s strategy of making it possible for developers to connect easily to any major core or cloud, and rapidly prototype their IoT devices using best-in-class technologies.
“Our collaboration with Microchip aims to make massive IoT a reality by providing developers with a simple yet powerful IoT development environment that integrates micropressor power with 5G IoT connectivity,” said Georges Karam, Sequans CEO.
“Sequans’ Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT technology is an important part of our embedded IoT solutions strategy and our collaboration with Sequans helps to overcome the challenges developers face in connecting MCUs to the cloud via cellular IoT networks,” said Greg Robinson, associate vice president of marketing for Microchip’s 8-bit microcontroller business unit.
“Sequans’ Monarch platforms provide critically important and advanced IoT capabilities, including industry-leading low power consumption, secure connectivity, and global deployment capability.”
Sequans’ Monarch chip family supports 3GPP Release 14 and 15 and LTE UE categories M1/NB1/NB2. Monarch chips are single-chip solutions, each with a very high level of integration, optimizing cost. Monarch supports all power classes, +23/20/14 dBm, for extended coverage, and supports all major networks with Single-SKU™ hardware. Monarch 2 and Monarch N are 5G ready and fully compatible with first generation Monarch, the industry’s most mature and reliable LTE-M/NB-IoT connectivity solution, certified by leading operators all over the world.
Monarch 2 and Monarch N deliver significant improvement in power consumption, overall solution cost, and advanced features, including an embedded secure element (SE) with the highest, government-grade security level possible, EAL5+, and iUICC functionality. For positioning, Monarch embeds Sequans’ location engine, IoT-Findit™, which provides indoor and outdoor positioning via a wide range of LTE-based location technologies.