How it works

Our vision

The GSMA’s vision is a single, common and global specification to help grow the Machine to Machine (M2M) market. This will create a world empowered by a secure, interoperable architecture to facilitate the commercial deployment of systems that enable remote over the air provisioning and management of the M2M SIM.

How It Works

The use cases addressed in the Requirements and Architecture Specification include:

  • The remote over the air provisioning of a one (or more) operator credentials into a SIM.
  • The remote over the air enablement /disablement of the operator credentials within the SIM, thus enabling a change of active operator.

The deletion over the air of an operator credentials within a SIM. To facilitate a secure and easy method of selecting and installing different mobile operator credentials, once a M2M device has been deployed in the field, two new key network elements have been included in the architecture of this new SIM.

Subscription Manager Data Preparation (SM-DP): This is the entity which operators use to securely encrypt their operator credentials ready for over the air installation within the SIM.

Subscription Manager Secure Routing (SM-SR): This entity securely delivers the encrypted operator credentials to the SIM and then, once the credentials are installed, remotely manages the SIM thereafter (enable, disable and delete the credentials as necessary during the product’s lifetime).

 

Figure: Split & Roles of the GSMA Architecture‘s Subscription Manager.

Standardised Architecture

Without a standardised subscription management architecture each Network Operator may develop proprietary technical solutions for the remote personalisation of their SIMs. Difficulties then arise when trying to switch a device which contains a remotely provisionable SIM embedded between two operators who implemented fundamentally different technical solutions based upon their proprietary requirements.

Developing a standardised subscription management architecture based upon common requirements has resolved such issues whilst at the same time reducing cost and complexity. A standardised solution drives the necessary ‘economies of scale’ to ensure the successful deployment of this type of SIM to the market.