Onomondo today announces the launch of its own eSIM IoT Remote Manager (eIM). It is designed to prevent a new form of vendor lock-in emerging around SGP.32 by giving enterprises the freedom to change connectivity providers throughout the lifetime of their IoT devices worldwide.
The launch expands Onomondo’s IoT infrastructure with a self-built, end-to-end SGP.32 eSIM offering: eUICC SIMs, eSIM profiles with global cellular connectivity, and now an eIM to remotely manage which profiles are installed on each SIM. That infrastructure gives businesses the foundational technology to turn what happens in the physical world into useful data — spanning device, connectivity, and cloud, built and run as one programmable system.
The eIM is effectively the remote control for IoT eSIMs. It enables enterprises to manage the eSIM profiles in deployed devices without physically retrieving them. But unlike eIMs that are tied commercially or technically to a particular connectivity provider or platform, Onomondo’s eIM can be used independently of Onomondo connectivity.
The distinction matters because SGP.32 is designed around component interoperability to give enterprises far greater control over cellular connectivity after an IoT device has been deployed. eSIM profiles can be remotely downloaded, enabled, disabled and deleted with the eIM, without physically accessing the device or replacing its SIM. In principle, an enterprise can therefore change connectivity provider remotely.
“SGP.32 is the industry’s opportunity to finally put IoT companies in control of their cellular connectivity,” says Henrik Aagaard, CTO at Onomondo. “But that promise only works if customers have a practical ability to change providers, not simply a theoretical ability defined by a technical standard. An eIM shouldn’t become the new lock-in point. We have built ours so customers can use it with Onomondo connectivity or without us. That’s SGP.32 implemented the way we believe the standard is intended. If their requirements change five or ten years from now, they should still be able to make the connectivity decision that’s right for their business.”
SGP.32 lock-in and why it matters
The three components of eSIM IoT –eUICC SIMs, eSIM profiles, and eIM – must be interoperable as per the GSMA’s technical specifications to give users control of their fleet’s connectivity throughout a fleet’s lifetime.
But technical interoperability does not necessarily mean commercial interchangeability. The SGP.32 standard only makes the operations for remotely changing an eIM’s configuration mandatory for the eUICC. Supporting them is optional for the eIM itself.
The eIM is emerging as a critical point in that distinction, because if an eIM is not configurable, the customer cannot replace the eIM controlling its fleet. The eIM effectively becomes a closed gateway, leaving the customer locked into the ecosystem it provides access to.
The result risks recreating the very problem SGP.32 was intended to solve: the customer can theoretically change connectivity provider, but the architecture or commercial model surrounding the eIM can make exercising that freedom difficult.
For enterprises deploying hundreds of thousands – or millions – of devices that may remain operational for ten years or more, the consequences can be significant.
A connectivity decision made when a product is manufactured can leave the business dependent years later on the same eIM provider.
Without genuine interchangeability, changing connectivity providers can ultimately require physical intervention – potentially across devices already installed in vehicles, industrial machinery, meters, payment terminals and other equipment distributed around the world.
This is precisely the operational problem that remote SIM provisioning for IoT was engineered to eliminate. Onomondo has therefore made its eIM fully configurable and available independently of its own connectivity. Customers can use Onomondo’s complete eSIM IoT ecosystem, combine its eIM with connectivity from other providers, or change how their fleet is configured as their business requirements evolve.
Onomondo eIM: From “freedom to leave“ to freedom to choose
Onomondo has long based its cellular IoT model on what it calls “freedom to leave”: customers should not have to replace their SIM estate simply because they want to replace Onomondo. SGP.32 brings that principle into the technical architecture of eSIM IoT.
Onomondo’s eIM extends the same principle to the remote management layer: customers can choose Onomondo today without having to assume that Onomondo will necessarily remain the right choice throughout the lifetime of every device. That effectively turns “freedom to leave” into freedom to choose – now and in the future.
Availability
Onomondo’s eIM is available today. It can be used as part of Onomondo’s complete SGP.32 ecosystem –including eUICC SIMs, eSIM profiles and cellular connectivity– or independently with connectivity from other providers. The eIM is designed for companies deploying cellular IoT fleets that want to retain control over how connectivity is provisioned and changed throughout the operational lifetime of their devices.
