Danish firm Onomondo has launched its own eSIM IoT remote manager (eIM) to prevent a new form of vendor lock-in emerging around SGP.32.

Its goal is to give 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 manage remotely 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 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,” said Henrik Aagaard, CTO at Onomondo (onomondo.com). “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.”

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 user cannot replace the eIM controlling its fleet. The eIM effectively becomes a closed gateway, leaving the user locked into the ecosystem to which it provides access. The result risks recreating the very problem SGP.32 was intended to solve: the user 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 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. This means enterprises 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’s eIM (onomondo.com/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.