Soracom Air for Cellular

Connectivity Hypervisor

Connectivity Hypervisor is a service for managing profiles on Soracom Air for Cellular IoT SIMs. It lets you store multiple subscriptions on a single IoT SIM as profiles and switch between them as needed. Profile management and delivery comply with SGP.32, one of the GSMA Remote SIM Provisioning (RSP) specifications for IoT devices.

Subscriptions and Profiles

A subscription is the service plan and configuration that defines how a device connects to the cellular network (for example, plan01s or planX1). A subscription determines which carriers and regions your device can use, and at what rates.

A profile is a package that carries a subscription onto the IoT SIM so that the device can connect. It also contains the credentials and settings required for that connection, such as the IMSI. The IMSI is the subscriber identifier issued when you sign up for a subscription, and it is distinct from the SIM ID that identifies the IoT SIM itself. Each profile contains one or more subscriptions.

Use Cases

Connectivity Hypervisor provides add profile (download), activate profile, and terminate profile operations for supported IoT SIMs, which enable use cases such as the following.

Switching Profiles by Region or Destination

You can switch to the profile you need on the IoT SIM according to where the device is used or shipped. This lets you use the most suitable subscription for each region or destination without producing different device variants.

Adding a Profile Only When Needed

Some IoT devices do not need connectivity at the time they are shipped or first deployed. For example, consumer devices may need to minimize communication costs while in inventory. With Connectivity Hypervisor, you can add and start using a profile only when it becomes necessary.

Available Profiles

The subscriptions and profile codes available with Connectivity Hypervisor are as follows. A profile code identifies the profile to order when you purchase or add it to an IoT SIM.

A Connectivity Hypervisor-capable IoT SIM comes with a default profile pre-installed, which cannot be deleted. For SGR31, the SIM model available for purchase in all regions, the default profile is SGEPR33, which contains plan01s.

How It Works

A supported IoT SIM runs a software agent called an IoT Profile Assistant (IPA), which communicates with the Soracom platform periodically to manage profile state. When you request a profile operation — adding (downloading), activating, or terminating a profile — the Soracom platform prepares instructions for the IPA to read, and the IPA carries out the operation and reports the result back to the platform. Because this control-plane IPA communication is polling-based and asynchronous, a request is not reflected instantly.

Pricing

Managing profiles — adding, activating, and terminating them — is free. Connectivity Hypervisor has its own one-time costs, while the subscription contained in each profile is billed under the standard SORACOM Air pricing. Connectivity Hypervisor is available for Global coverage only, so all fees are billed in US dollars (USD).

Initial Costs

The default profile is included with the IoT SIM. A per-profile cost applies only when you purchase an additional profile.

Subscription Charges

Each profile contains a subscription, and the standard SORACOM Air charges for that subscription — such as the basic fee and data communication fees, as well as related fees like renewal and reactivation — apply according to its plan. For the full breakdown, see the Pricing & Fee Schedule.

Difference from Subscription Containers

Both Subscription Containers and Connectivity Hypervisor let you use multiple subscriptions on a single IoT SIM. The main difference is whether the subscription used for communication is chosen automatically or selected by you.

Use Subscription Containers when you want the subscription to switch automatically according to the country or region where the device is located. Use Connectivity Hypervisor when you want to switch the subscription yourself, by activating a profile according to the destination or use case.

A Connectivity Hypervisor profile and a Subscription Container additional subscription are not the same thing. The main differences are as follows:

Requirements

• Your device's cellular module must support SIM Toolkit (STK) commands, which the IPA relies on to operate. See Verified Cellular Modules for modules that have been confirmed to work.
• Connectivity Hypervisor uses the IPAe (SIM-embedded IPA). The device-resident IPAd is not currently supported. If you require IPAd, contact our Sales Team.

Verified Cellular Modules

• Quectel EG25-G
• Quectel BG95-M5
• Quectel BG77
• Telit Cinterion EXS82-W
• Telit Cinterion ELS61-E
• Telit Cinterion PLS83-W
• Telit LE901C1-EUX
• Sierra Wireless MC7455
• SIMCom SIM7080

Managing Connectivity Hypervisor-capable IoT SIMs

This section explains how to list your Connectivity Hypervisor-capable IoT SIMs and how to add, activate, and terminate profiles, view event history, and set tags.

Listing Connectivity Hypervisor-capable IoT SIMs

You can list your Connectivity Hypervisor-capable IoT SIMs. Make sure you are signed in with an operator that has Connectivity Hypervisor enabled.

1. Sign in to the User Console. From the Menu, open the Connectivity Hypervisor screen.

   A list of your Connectivity Hypervisor-capable IoT SIMs is displayed.

   

Viewing the SIM Hypervisor screen

To view detailed information about a Connectivity Hypervisor-capable IoT SIM, open the SIM Hypervisor screen. On the Connectivity Hypervisor screen, select the IoT SIM whose details you want to view, and click Details. The SIM Hypervisor screen for the selected IoT SIM is displayed.

On the SIM Hypervisor screen, you can view the following items:

The rest of this section describes what you can view and do on each tab of the SIM Hypervisor screen.

Adding a profile

You can add a profile to a Connectivity Hypervisor-capable IoT SIM by purchasing it.

1. On the SIM Hypervisor screen, click the Purchase Profiles tab.

2. Click Purchase for the profile you want to add.

   

3. Review the purchase information and special terms, select the I have read and agree to the above terms. checkbox, and click Purchase.

   

   After the purchase, the Event History tab opens and the profile addition begins.

   It can take from several minutes to several days for a purchased profile to be downloaded to the IoT SIM. You can check the progress on the Event History tab of the SIM Hypervisor screen. For details, see Viewing event history.

4. When the profile addition is complete, open the Manage Profile tab on the SIM Hypervisor screen, find the added profile, and click Activate for it.

Manually downloading a profile

When you add a profile to a Connectivity Hypervisor-capable IoT SIM, its download begins. The download normally happens automatically, but if it fails or is canceled, you can request it manually: on the Manage Profile tab of the SIM Hypervisor screen, click Download for the target profile. The Download button appears only when the profile has been added and its download status is failed or canceled. A profile that has already been downloaded cannot be downloaded again, because the activation code used for the download is issued only once per profile and expires once the profile has been downloaded.

Activating and terminating profiles

You can view the list of profiles already added to a Connectivity Hypervisor-capable IoT SIM on the Manage Profile tab of the SIM Hypervisor screen. To switch the profile used for communication, activate the profile you want to use. When you activate a profile, the previously active profile is automatically deactivated, and the device communicates using the subscription contained in the newly activated profile.

The available operations are as follows:

• Activate: Activates a profile already added to the IoT SIM. The activated profile becomes the profile used for communication.
• Terminate: Terminates a profile already added to the IoT SIM and terminates the subscriptions it contains.
  • The default profile cannot be terminated.
  • The currently active profile cannot be terminated. Activate another profile first, and then terminate it.
  • You can add a new profile containing the same subscription again later.

Using the Connectivity Hypervisor screen together with the SIM Management screen

You add, activate, and terminate profiles on the SIM Hypervisor screen. Each added profile also appears as an individual IoT SIM on the SIM Management screen, where you manage SIM-level settings such as speed class, groups, tags, and session information. Click Go to subscription management for a profile on the Manage Profile tab to move to the SIM Management screen for the corresponding line.

Viewing the active profile

You can view the ICCID, subscription, and line status of the currently active profile on the Active Profile Detail tab of the SIM Hypervisor screen.

Viewing event history

You can view the history of profile-related events and operations for a Connectivity Hypervisor-capable IoT SIM on the Event History tab of the SIM Hypervisor screen.

The following event types are available:

The following statuses are available:

Setting tags

You can add supplementary information to a Connectivity Hypervisor-capable IoT SIM using tags. Tags make the IoT SIM easier to manage and search.

1. On the SIM Hypervisor screen, click the Tags tab.

2. Click + Add.

3. Enter a Name and Value, and click Save.

Programmatic Usage

In addition to using the User Console, you can manage Connectivity Hypervisor profiles programmatically with the Soracom API and Soracom CLI. Connectivity Hypervisor is available for Global coverage only, so use the Global endpoint (or the g coverage type).

curl -X POST \
|  -H 'X-Soracom-API-Key: <MY-API-KEY>' \
|  -H 'X-Soracom-Token: <MY-TOKEN>' \
|  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
|  -d '{ "profileType": "<PRODUCT-CODE>" }' \
|  https://g.api.soracom.io/v1/euiccs/<SIM_ID>/profiles

soracom euiccs profile order --sim-id <SIM-ID> --body '{ "profileType": "<PRODUCT-CODE>" }' --coverage-type g

soracom euiccs profile request-activate --sim-id <SIM-ID> --iccid <ICCID> --coverage-type g

soracom euiccs profile request-delete --sim-id <SIM-ID> --iccid <ICCID> --coverage-type g