Qualcomm drives for cross-industry digital transformation with new IoT range

Qualcomm Technologies has launched a new range of internet of things (IoT) products designed to enable an ecosystem of over 13,000 customers to accelerate digital transformation and development of connected products.

The mobile technology giant aims to achieve its objective through the launch of seven new solutions designed to boost proliferation of next-generation IoT devices. They range from entry-level to premium tier and are attributed with expanding access to a variety of industrial and commercial applications.

The range is purpose-built to help meet the needs of the expanding IoT ecosystem for key segments including transportation and logistics, warehousing, video collaboration, smart cameras, retail and healthcare.

The seven new IoT solutions are designed to offer capabilities for a range of smart devices and connected systems with extended life hardware and software options for achieving long-term support for a minimum of eight years.

Leading the range is the Qualcomm QCS8250, regarded by the company as its next-generation premium-tier offering, and said to be optimised to enable maximum performance at the greatest power efficiency possible, enabling compute-intensive artificial intelligence (AI) at the edge with support for Wi-Fi 6 systems and 5G connectivity. It is targeted at applications such as connected healthcare, digital signage, retail and video collaboration.

The Qualcomm QCS6490 and Qualcomm QCM6490 are the company’s first optimised IoT solutions built to deliver premium-tier features including global 5G connectivity and lightning fast Wi-Fi 6E for high-tier IoT devices. They are intended for uses such as connected healthcare, logistics management, retail, transportation and warehousing.

At the heart of the technology is the Qualcomm Kryo CPU architecture, the Qualcomm AI Engine and image signal processor (ISP) to support up to seven concurrent cameras with encode at up to 4K resolution at 120 frames per second. This is said to offer a new neural processing unit (NPU) for AI in addition to machine learning for compute-intensive IoT applications to enable smart cameras, video collaboration, AI hubs, connected healthcare and smart retail.

Purpose-built for industrial and commercial applications, the platform’s deployment and commercialisation at scale can be accelerated and extended by the third-party partner technology ecosystem.

“Qualcomm Technologies is uniquely positioned to lead the IoT ecosystem forward with our systems-level approach,” said Jeff Lorbeck, senior vice-president and general manager of connected smart systems at Qualcomm Technologies. “These new IoT solutions further exemplify our commitment to driving global digital transformation and providing a portfolio of solutions to transform industrial and enterprise IoT applications to achieve cutting-edge performance and seamless connectivity.

“We believe in the power of technology to enrich lives through purposeful innovation with solutions to support the ecosystem in reimagining how the world connects, works and communicates. These new IoT solutions are a step towards achieving that goal.”

The announcement comes just weeks after Qualcomm announced its first IoT modem equipped for 5G connectivity and optimised for industrial IoT (IIoT) applications. The company said that as the promised impact and growth of 5G begins to emerge, the potential of the IoT in commercial use cases becomes more apparent.