Gemalto Launches eSIM Technology for Windows 10 Devices (business-standard.com)

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Gemalto Launches eSIM Technology for Windows 10 Devices (business-standard.com)

Posted by msmash on Tuesday February 21, 2017 @02:40AM from the better-connectivity dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Global digital security firm Gemalto on Tuesday announced it will make available its on-demand connectivity and eSIM technology for Microsoft's Windows 10 devices. The eSIM is designed to be remotely provisioned by mobile network operators with subscription information and is globally interoperable across all carriers, device makers and technology providers implementing the specification. Gemalto's On-Demand Connectivity solution gives service providers the capability to deliver a seamless customer experience for connecting consumer and industrial devices. "eSIM technology remains an important investment for Microsoft as we look to create even more mobile computing opportunities," said Roanne Sones, General Manager (Strategy and Ecosystem), Microsoft.

34 of 47 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

But... by ebcdic · 2017-02-21 02:44 · Score: 1

What is it?
1. Re:But... by ArchieBunker · 2017-02-21 02:51 · Score: 1
  
  I would try and tell you but that shitty website won't let me on because of my ad blocker.
  
  --
  Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
2. Re:But... by greencfg · 2017-02-21 03:05 · Score: 1
  
  It's advertisement, and it's written in that "business-enabled", alternate-reality language that tells you nothing.
3. Re:But... by OzPeter · 2017-02-21 03:20 · Score: 1
  
  A remotely reprogrammable SIM card, so you don't have to switch SIMs when you change networks and it can be soldered on the PCB instead needing a slot.
  But unless this lets you switch back and forth at will, it doesn't seem that great if you travel a lot. Also, I imagine it will act like a permanent identifier for tablets/PCs and they'll try to tie software and music purchases to it so you're fucked when it dies.
  From what I saw chasing down what an eSIM is, it looks like the use case is to allow you to swap providers at the end of a contract. Which will mean (among other things) that you will be forced into roaming with a network when you travel rather than have the opportunity to swap out your SIM for a local one.
  
  --
  I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
4. Re:But... by AmiMoJo · 2017-02-21 03:22 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I've used these for work, they are basically globally roaming SIMs. You have a contract with Gemalto or another service provider, and they have deals set up with carriers to most countries to roam on their networks. We have sent them all over the world, from Europe to South America to Iran so Korea, and they just work.
  Obviously the contracts are not cheap, but they are mainly aimed at industrial applications where the amount of data is low so a 5MB/month cap is no problem. Yes, five megabytes. They actually go right down to 1MB/month or SMS only.
  For a business user who just wants to be able to travel and not worry about getting the right SIM the extra cost would be acceptable.
  These SIMs are not reprogrammable. They are like normal SIMs, in fact you can get them in a normal SIM form factor. The eSIM format is a small chip that can be installed inside the device permanently, as long as you don't mind being stuck with Gemalto or whoever as your service provider. Again, they are good for industrial applications because they are robust (can't fall out of the SIM holder), reliable and can't be stolen. In the past people stole SIMs out of our industrial hardware for use in phones.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
5. Re:But... by OzPeter · 2017-02-21 03:23 · Score: 2
  
  Replying to myself.
  I just read another article that says
  
  Imagine a few years from now traveling from New York to Paris with your spiffy iPhone 9. You get off the plane, go into the iPhone’s settings, and in a few steps, you sign up with a plan from any one of a number of carriers for a bundle of voice minutes and data.
  http://www.barrons.com/article...
  So probably I don;t know jack about the pro's and con's of eSIMs.
  
  --
  I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
6. Re:But... by kiviQr · 2017-02-21 04:50 · Score: 1
  
  add javascript bloker - works like charm
7. Re:But... by damaki · 2017-02-21 05:31 · Score: 1
  
  Google cache: https://webcache.googleusercon...
  
  --
  Stupidity is the root of all evil.
8. Re:But... by damaki · 2017-02-21 05:48 · Score: 1
  
  Yup, you got it. It's a Gemalto SIM, soldered to the PCB, with a worldwide roaming contract with a global MVNO , Transatel.
  What is peculiar is that the SIMs have no home network and are always in roaming state.
  
  --
  Stupidity is the root of all evil.
9. Re:But... by MobyDisk · 2017-02-21 05:55 · Score: 1
  
  THAT is what the summary should say. Not that it "...is designed to be remotely provisioned by mobile network operators with subscription information and is globally interoperable across all carriers, device makers a..." Gahhh Editorssss!!!!
10. Re:But... by unrtst · 2017-02-21 08:54 · Score: 1
  
  Thank you! This part of your post justifies their existence IMO:
  
  they are good for industrial applications because ... can't be stolen. In the past people stole SIMs out of our industrial hardware for use in phones.
Do NSA and GCHQ still have Gemalto's keys? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-02-21 02:52 · Score: 1

"In February, 2015 it was reported by The Intercept that the NSA and GCHQ had stolen the encryption keys (Ki's) used by Gemalto (the manufacturer of 2 billion SIM cards annually), enabling these intelligence agencies to monitor voice and data communications without the knowledge or approval of cellular network providers or judicial oversight [...]"
( from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/ind...)
Am I the only one thinking that it's a Bad Idea (TM) to solder such things into the device?
(the Captcha-bot thinks as I do: "unplug")
Is it by Big+Hairy+Ian · 2017-02-21 02:53 · Score: 1

Gemalto? Is it some kind of antiseptic for Windows 10? Surely they'll need something stronger

--
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
1. Re:Is it by The-Ixian · 2017-02-21 03:05 · Score: 1
  
  We have read about this company before on this site. They are *the* company who makes SIM cards. Which also means they are a one stop shop for nation state hacking attempts. Get your code into the SIM firmware and you have just bypassed a lot of security.
  
  --
  My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
2. Re:Is it by haruchai · 2017-02-21 04:28 · Score: 1
  
  They (or another company they acquired) used to be known as SafeNet. We were evaluating their cloud-based multifactor auth system and liked it, more than the RSA SecurID / Auth Manager setup that we've had for years.
  But They Who Sign Checks Without A Clue told us we have to implement Azure MFA instead.
  
  --
  Pain is merely failure leaving the body
3. Re:Is it by TheRaven64 · 2017-02-21 05:15 · Score: 1
  
  Get your code into the SIM firmware and you have just bypassed a lot of security
  The rest of your post is correct, but it's more true to say that if you get your code into the SIM firmware then you've bypassed a small amount of quite weak encryption.
  
  --
  I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Re:Solution = Do Not Want by ArchieBunker · 2017-02-21 02:54 · Score: 1

If you do go to the site its full of business "news" from India.

--
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
just don't let them network lock the systems like by Joe_Dragon · 2017-02-21 03:12 · Score: 1

just don't let them network lock the systems like how AT&T locks the Apple SIM to the AT&T network upon activation
Re:True innovation by amalcolm · 2017-02-21 03:17 · Score: 1

You are a commedian. You should be on the stage ... the first stage out of town

--
Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
Gemalto's website, without adblocking... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-02-21 03:20 · Score: 1

Description of eSIM technology, from the source:
http://www.gemalto.com/iot/consumer-electronics/embedded-sim-uicc
Re:Marketers are idiots by ReeceTarbert · 2017-02-21 03:24 · Score: 1

Because TFS was written by a marketer, there's no hint of what this magical technology might be good for. Except for the fact that it's Windows 10, which was also written by marketers.
Apparently switching SIMs (typically while traveling abroad) is so much trouble that "they", out of their boundless kindness no doubt, have a "solution" for you: reprogram it remotely so you could switch mobile carriers just by going to the settings page on your smartphone. Me? I'd rather trust my fat fingers than some company or some service that might work as advertised or not, thank you very much.
Incidentally, Apple has been talking about this for a while -- another reason to steer clear of it.
RT.
Re:just don't let them network lock the systems li by sims+2 · 2017-02-21 04:00 · Score: 1

Not only this but some providers have restrictions on what devices you can have service on as it is now you can swap in an already active sim and everything just works.
Now imagine that device that *celco name here* wouldn't activate had an esim instead. Now you're totally screwed.
This is like moving back to the cdma days where you had to contact your cellco to switch devices.

--
Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
Windows phones by unixisc · 2017-02-21 04:09 · Score: 1

Uh, does anybody still make any Windows phones? I know Microsoft killed the Lumia, and I don't see any other vendors still building any Windows phones - not Blu, not LG, nobody. And who knows when the Surface Phone (or whatever it's called) will be out?
1. Re:Windows phones by ChunderDownunder · 2017-02-21 08:41 · Score: 1
  
  HP released Elite x3 in 2016.
2. Re:Windows phones by EETech1 · 2017-02-21 20:41 · Score: 1
  
  Alcatel does
thank you gemalto by nimbius · 2017-02-21 04:16 · Score: 1

the sim card protected my PKI keys, which i use to access networks and confirm financial transactions, by storing them in dedicated hardware with no direct access. Now that youve decided to put these keys in software...and in a quite insecure OS i might add...i certainly see free wireless and cellular service in my future.

--
Good people go to bed earlier.
1. Re:thank you gemalto by ledow · 2017-02-21 04:30 · Score: 2
  
  The eSim isn't necessarily a software device. Think TPM.
  "Upcoming new generation of SIM is called e-SIM or eSIM (embeddedSIM), which is non-replaceable embedded chip in SON-8 package which may be soldered directly onto a circuit board. It will have M2M and remote SIM provisioning capabilities."
  It's just that rather than having to produce secure, tiny, portable, replaceable chips, they build a chip into the device that can be programmed (maybe only one or a limited number of times, or only with a signed update) to any number.
  So rather than having to mess around with cards, you just identify the chip in the device directly.
2. Re:thank you gemalto by AmiMoJo · 2017-02-21 05:58 · Score: 1
  
  It probably won't be a software device any time soon. SIMs are actually quite complex little beasts, mostly ARM based System on Chip devices that run Java. They implement a variety of cryptographic and storage functions that allow the phone/modem to connect to the network in a way that prevents you simply overwriting the ID with someone else's and having them get billed for all your calls.
  So at the very least the networks would probably want it to be running in some kind of secure space, where apps and malicious code can't screw with it.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Implicit Carrier Locking by PPH · 2017-02-21 04:26 · Score: 1

Because now you can't go out, buy your own device and plug the SIM card into it. You need to have your carrier 'provision' it. If they feel like doing so.

--
Have gnu, will travel.
1. Re:Implicit Carrier Locking by The-Ixian · 2017-02-21 04:36 · Score: 1
  
  progress!
  
  --
  My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
don't need it... I am with Three! by Pax681 · 2017-02-21 04:45 · Score: 1

So I get to go to use Feel at home with my contract http://www.three.co.uk/Discove...
I am currently in Malta on a quick business trip and my phone works as normal with unlimited data,minutes and texts as per my contract.
So this is nothing I need to bother with ever really as i doubt I will have a reason to travel to any country not on the feel at home list.
One of the big smartcard manufacturers by Sycraft-fu · 2017-02-21 05:00 · Score: 1

HID is another one.
Re:Marketers are idiots by TheRaven64 · 2017-02-21 05:14 · Score: 1

Apple hasn't just been talking about this, they've implemented this for a while. Many of their devices take a physical SIM and also contain an eSIM, so you can have the SIM for your home network in their physically, but when you travel abroad you don't need to physically buy a local SIM to use for a week, you just pull up the settings screen and buy a short-term plan from one of a variety of different providers.

--
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Re:True innovation by Guybrush_T · 2017-02-21 05:24 · Score: 1

Yeah, true innovation like AI only happens on windows too. Oh, wait ...