A deployable reality for eSIM with converged orchestration

While the GSMA’s SGP.32 specification provides an essential foundation for IoT eSIM, standards are just the beginning; moving from static, single operator models to dynamic, multi-operator environments requires robust orchestration to ensure total operational clarity and control. 

It is precisely this confidence gap that Thales and Simetric are addressing together. Thales’ GSMA‑certified eSIM provisioning, advanced orchestration, and security expertise, combined with Simetric’s Single Pane of Glass (SPoG) network orchestration platform, reframes eSIM adoption as a predictable and repeatable operational journey. 

In this Q&A, Jean‑François Gros, Head of IoT Services Product Lines at Thales, and Allen Boone, Chief Executive Officer of Simetric, talk about why orchestration and trust must now go hand in hand and why this moment represents a turning point for enterprise IoT.

Enterprises are deploying increasingly large and critical IoT fleets. Why is unified and centralised visibility becoming so essential at this stage?

Allen Boone (AB): At scale, fragmentation becomes a hidden tax on IoT. Many enterprises still operate through multiple Connectivity Management Platforms (CMPs), operator portals, and enterprise systems. Individually these systems function well, but collectively they fragment visibility. This problem is particularly obvious in sectors such as logistics and transportation, utilities, industrial operations and financial services. These environments operate at scale, across regions and operators, and cannot afford blind spots in connectivity. 

With no single source of truth, scaling operations only increases overhead rather than driving efficiency. In practice, this is why many enterprises struggle operationally today. Assets can go dark during provisioning or roaming, and no one notices until a service stops reporting or a customer raises an issue. Without unified orchestration, teams are left to troubleshoot across multiple platforms, tickets and processes. This operational fragility is precisely what slows adoption and makes enterprises cautious about expanding their IoT networks or moving to eSIMs.

Unified orchestration changes this model. By centralising visibility across the entire fleet via our Single Pane of Glass, enterprises can monitor assets in real time, understand context at the device level, and act proactively. Connectivity becomes a securely managed capability rather than a fragile dependency.

Jean-François Gros (J-FG): From Thales’ perspective, this requirement has been clear for many years. Enterprises need execution certainty on top of the connectivity they already expect.

As organisations expand globally and adopt multi‑operator strategies to support verticals such as utilities, metering, automotive and security, orchestration becomes mandatory rather than optional. 

Standards such as SGP.32 are tremendously positive for the global IoT landscape, but they are a foundation, not the complete solution. True IoT scale demands operational control. Our role is to provide the necessary trust and agility, ensuring transitions are secure, compliant and predictable. Simetric reinforces this by normalising end-to-end visibility across hundreds of providers.

What does bringing the entire device fleet into a single control plane change for enterprises considering or accelerating eSIM adoption?

AB: Simplification does not mean relinquishing authority. Instead, a consolidation is taking place. This is particularly important in sectors that cannot tolerate connectivity gaps, such as logistics, utilities, industrial operations and financial services. 

By normalising workflows, orchestration removes friction without removing governance. Crucially, we do this without requiring enterprises to "rip-and-replace" their existing platforms. CMPs continue to play an essential role, but are enriched through orchestration that spans CMPs, eSIM platforms, device‑level intelligence and enterprise systems.

Because the journey to eSIM is incremental, our platform fully supports legacy SIMs alongside eSIMs, allowing customers to migrate at their own pace with zero disruption. Once enterprises experience this seamless workflow and see that scale will not introduce chaos, eSIM stops being perceived as a risky transition and becomes a deployable reality.

J-FG: It fundamentally unlocks true real-time device control, a first in the market. A unified control plane ensures enterprises are no longer managing networks blindly. Importantly, not all IoT use cases carry the same level of criticality. A water meter that reports periodically, for example, does not impose the same operational constraints as a security system that must remain continuously connected, or smart traffic signals that are responsible for road safety. Orchestration allows enterprises to reflect these differences in real time, applying the right policies to the right assets without adding complexity.

Together, we've enabled a system where real-time events trigger real-time decisions. For instance, we utilise an intelligent eSIM agent that detects events directly from the device. If network performance drops, the platform can proactively trigger Thales’ eSIM Advanced Subscription Orchestrator (eSO) to download a new profile and switch networks across impacted devices instantly, at scale. Crucially, while we talk about automation and orchestration, enterprises remain in control to achieve their business priorities (cost, resilience, regulatory compliance).

Why was partnering essential rather than each company pursuing its own path independently?

AB: From an enterprise standpoint, the expectation is very clear: they do not want additional platforms or layers of tooling, they want less friction. This partnership eliminates manual, ticket-based silos rather than redistributing them. Bringing together the expertise of both Thales and Simetric allows us to deliver unparalleled value to the market. This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to invest jointly in unifying technology, go‑to‑market execution and long‑term customer success. That is what makes this collaboration viable at an industrial scale.

J-FG: Strategic alignment was critical. Thales brings global leadership in embedded security and GSMA-certified lifecycle management. However, we also recognise that IoT success relies on an entire ecosystem. Enterprises operate heterogeneous landscapes. True simplification requires bridging technology, operations, and business workflows. Simetric brings this advanced orchestration, allowing us to collectively close the execution gap between SGP.32 standards and real‑world business outcomes.

How does this new approach differ from traditional connectivity management platforms that enterprises may already use?

AB: Traditional connectivity platforms were designed primarily around single-operator subscription management. They lack visibility into the broader multi-operator ecosystem which many IoT deployments now consist of and rely heavily on manual intervention. Orchestration, as we define it, requires contextual data from CMPs, eSIM platforms, devices and internal enterprise systems to trigger the right actions at the right time.

Our joint approach is different because automation and AI are built in, not bolted on. Rather than replacing CMPs, we enrich them by eliminating buyer‑side confusion and enabling true device‑level execution across the full stack. Intelligent rules replace manual provisioning. Our advanced orchestration engine uses comprehensive device context to execute mass actions automatically, effectively future-proofing global IoT fleets.

J-FG:  Connectivity alone is also no longer sufficient – security must be integrated from the ground up. Regulatory drivers such as the EU Cyber Resilience Act mean enterprises increasingly require solutions that are compliant and resilient by design. Thales natively embeds security-by-design, leveraging our eSIM as a highly secure hardware root of trust. We enable cryptographic device-to-eSIM binding and rigorous firmware integrity checks.

Additionally, our partnership embraces true network convergence, with normalised control extending across both terrestrial cellular and satellite networks. This allows remote devices to transition smoothly between connectivity types in dead zones, ensuring uninterrupted data flow and deep visibility throughout the journey.

What should enterprises expect next from the Thales and Simetric partnership?

AB: We see this partnership as a long‑term foundation for enterprise growth. By making the transition to eSIM as seamless, highly predictable and fully automated as possible, we’ll help drive further adoption globally. We believe the industry now has a clear blueprint for executing large‑scale eSIM adoption and our focus remains on making agile, boundless IoT a reality, regardless of geography or scale.

J-FG: This collaboration is just the beginning. Security, AI-driven automation, and true device-to-cloud orchestration will continue to converge as enterprise IoT matures. Our shared ambition is to empower organisations to effortlessly embrace the flexibility of multi-operator environments and ultimately unlock the limitless potential of connected IoT today and tomorrow.