The Pareteum Smart Network – Always Growing, Always Learning
At Pareteum we like to set ourselves ambitious goals. And among the most ambitious of the lot is the creation and ongoing expansion of the Pareteum Smart Network.
We describe it as ‘the world’s largest unified network’. What this means is that we have combined aggregated cellular and Wi-Fi capacity on a global scale (other access technologies will be added over time) and developed software that enables all of this capacity to function as a single, virtual entity.
So while it is compiled from disparate physical assets, none of which are owned by Pareteum, it exists as a unified network within our Experience Cloud, through which customers are able to access it, in part or as a whole, depending on the services and experiences they are providing.
In tandem with the Pareteum SmartConnect solution, customers are able to shift end users automatically between different network elements according to a range of variables and policies.
Which is pretty cool.
But it gets cooler. Within the Smart Network, and supplementing the cellular and commercial Wi-Fi network components, are many millions of Wi-Fi access points in popular places and locations. These have actually been detected by our software deployed on end user devices all over the world, and automatically added to our cloud network. So the network continues to grow organically, and by default in the areas end users congregate.
The software collects various data on all of the access points within the Smart Network, including geographic location, performance, venue, and the means by which devices connect to them. In some instances this translates into additional connectivity, where the experience meets robust QoE and sharing status requirements.
More interesting, though, and irrespective of connectivity, this data gathering enables the network to pull intelligence into our cloud, where machine learning algorithms transform it into actionable insight.
The network starts to tell us (and more importantly our customers) things which were previously unknown, and that really is smart.
We are able to understand what types of place exist at what locations, and in many cases the name or the brand of the place. We can understand how many devices visit certain places, how often they visit, how long they dwell, how much data they consume if they connect, how different networks in the same location compare in terms of performance and availability, as well as how and when all these things change.
One of the most important capabilities this provides is for access points within our network to function as smart beacons, enabling proximity-based customer engagement and measurement.
This can be combined with other insights in our cloud, such as users’ device activity in the moment. All of which enables our customers to provide end users with contextually rich experiences triggered by their understanding of the user’s needs and activity in the moment.
A streaming media firm might offer a superior connectivity experience where available. A credit card company might offer partner discounts as customers arrive at certain retail or hospitality locations, for example. A car rental firm might promote offers to users in airport departure lounges. A communications service provider could move users who are roaming internationally to Wi-Fi to minimize costs.
There is already tremendous variety in the services our customers deliver but no doubt we have yet to discover all of the ways in which the intelligence and insight provided by our cloud-based Smart Network can be used to innovate. One thing we can be certain of is that we have built – and are continuing to build a network which is highly flexible, and smart enough to adapt to whatever experience the end user is enjoying.
