International Telecommunication Union ITU-T Y.2060 TELECOMMUNICATION STANDARDIZATION SECTOR OF ITU (06/2012) SERIES Y: GLOBAL INFORMATION… [613158]

International Telecommunication Union

ITU-T Y.2060
TELECOMMUNICATION
STANDARDIZATION SECTOR
OF ITU (06/2012)

SERIES Y: GLOBAL INFORMATION
INFRASTRUCTURE, INTE RNET PROTOCOL ASPECTS
AND NEXT-GENERATION NETWORKS
Next Generation Networks – Frameworks and functional
architecture models

Overview of the Internet of things

Recommendation ITU-T Y.2060

ITU-T Y-SERIES RECOMMENDATIONS
GLOBAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE, IN TERNET PROTOCOL ASPECTS AND NEXT-
GENERATION NETWORKS

GLOBAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
General Y.100–Y.199
Services, applications and middleware Y.200–Y.299
Network aspects Y.300–Y.399
Interfaces and protocols Y.400–Y.499
Numbering, addressing and naming Y.500–Y.599
Operation, administration and maintenance Y.600–Y.699
Security Y.700–Y.799
Performances Y.800–Y.899
INTERNET PROTOCOL ASPECTS
General Y.1000–Y.1099
Services and applications Y.1100–Y.1199
Architecture, access, network capabilities and resource management Y.1200–Y.1299
Transport Y.1300–Y.1399
Interworking Y.1400–Y.1499
Quality of service and network performance Y.1500–Y.1599
Signalling Y.1600–Y.1699
Operation, administration and maintenance Y.1700–Y.1799
Charging Y.1800–Y.1899
IPTV over NGN Y.1900–Y.1999
NEXT GENERATION NETWORKS
Frameworks and functional architecture models Y.2000–Y.2099
Quality of Service and performance Y.2100–Y.2199
Service aspects: Service capabilities and service architecture Y.2200–Y.2249
Service aspects: Interoperability of serv ices and networks in NGN Y.2250–Y.2299
Numbering, naming and addressing Y.2300–Y.2399
Network management Y.2400–Y.2499
Network control architectures and protocols Y.2500–Y.2599
Smart ubiquitous networks Y.2600–Y.2699
Security Y.2700–Y.2799
Generalized mobility Y.2800–Y.2899
Carrier grade open environment Y.2900–Y.2999
Future networks Y.3000–Y.3099

For further details, please refer to the list of ITU-T Recommendations.

Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) i Recommendation ITU-T Y.2060
Overview of the Internet of things

Summary
Recommendation ITU-T Y.2060 provides an overview of the Internet of things (IoT). It clarifies the
concept and scope of the IoT, id entifies the fundamental characteris tics and high-leve l requirements
of the IoT and describes the IoT reference mode l. The ecosystem and business models are also
provided in an informative appendix.

History
Edition Recommendation Approval Study Group
1.0 ITU-T Y.2060 2012-06-15 13

Keywords
Device, Internet of things, physical thi ng, reference model, thing, virtual thing.

ii Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) FOREWORD
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the United Nations specialized agency in the field of
telecommunications, information and communicati on technologies (ICTs). The ITU Telecommunication
Standardization Sector (ITU-T) is a permanent organ of ITU. ITU-T is responsible for studying technical,
operating and tariff questions and issuing Recommenda tions on them with a view to standardizing
telecommunications on a worldwide basis.
The World Telecommunication Standardization Asse mbly (WTSA), which meets every four years,
establishes the topics for study by the ITU-T study groups which, in turn, produce Recommendations on these topics.
The approval of ITU-T Recommendations is covered by the procedure laid down in WTSA Resolution 1.
In some areas of information technology which fall within ITU-T's purview, the necessary standards are
prepared on a collaborative basis with ISO and IEC.

NOTE
In this Recommendation, the expression "Administra tion" is used for conciseness to indicate both a
telecommunication administration and a recognized operating agency.
Compliance with this Recommendation is voluntary. However, the Recommendation may contain certain
mandatory provisions (to ensure, e.g., interopera bility or applicability) and compliance with the
Recommendation is achieved when all of these mandator y provisions are met. The words "shall" or some
other obligatory language such as "must" and the nega tive equivalents are used to express requirements. The
use of such words does not suggest that compliance with the Recommendation is required of any party.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
ITU draws attention to the possibility that the pr actice or implementation of this Recommendation may
involve the use of a claimed Intellectual Property Right. ITU takes no position concerning the evidence,
validity or applicability of claimed Intellectual Propert y Rights, whether asserted by ITU members or others
outside of the Recommendation development process.
As of the date of approval of this Recommendation, ITU had not received notice of intellectual property,
protected by patents, which may be required to im plement this Recommendation. However, implementers
are cautioned that this may not represent the latest info rmation and are therefore strongly urged to consult the
TSB patent database at http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/ipr/ .

 ITU 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication ma y be reproduced, by any means whatsoever, without the
prior written permission of ITU.

Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) iii Table of Contents
Page
1 Scope …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. … 1
2 References……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1
3 Definitions ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. . 1
3.1 Terms defined elsewhere …………………………………………………………………….. 1
3.2 Terms defined in this Recommendation ………………………………………………… 1
4 Abbreviations and acronyms ……………………………………………………………………………. 2
5 Conventions …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2
6 Introduction of the IoT ……………………………………………………………………………………. 2
6.1 Concept of the IoT ……………………………………………………………………………… 2
6.2 Technical overview of the IoT …………………………………………………………….. 3
7 Fundamental characteristics and high-lev el requirements of the IoT ……………………… 5
7.1 Fundamental characteristics ………………………………………………………………… 5
7.2 High-level requirements ……………………………………………………………………… 5
8 IoT reference model ………………………………………………………………………………………… 6
8.1 Application layer ……………………………………………………………………………….. 7
8.2 Service support and application support layer ………………………………………… 7
8.3 Network layer ……………………………………………………………………………………. 7
8.4 Device layer ………………………………………………………………………………………. 8
8.5 Management capabilities …………………………………………………………………….. 8
8.6 Security capabilities ……………………………………………………………………………. 9
Appendix I – IoT ecosystem and business models ………………………………………………………… 10
I.1 Business roles ……………………………………………………………………………………. 10
I.2 Business models ………………………………………………………………………………… 11
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………………………. ………. 14

Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) 1 Recommendation ITU-T Y.2060
Overview of the Internet of things
1 Scope
This Recommendation provides an overview of the In ternet of things (IoT) with the main objective
of highlighting this important ar ea for future standardization.
More specifically, this Recomm endation covers the following:
– IoT-related terms and definitions
– concept and scope of the IoT
– characteristics of the IoT
– high-level requirements of the IoT
– IoT reference models. IoT ecosystem and business models-related information is provided in Appendix I.
2 References
None.
3 Definitions
3.1 Terms defined elsewhere
This Recommendation uses the following term defined elsewhere:
3.1.1 next generation network (NGN) [b-ITU-T Y.2001]: A packet-b ased network which is
able to provide telecommunication services and able to make use of multiple broadband,
QoS-enabled transport technologies and in which service-related functions are independent from
underlying transport-related technologies. It enable s unfettered access for users to networks and to
competing service providers and/or services of th eir choice. It supports generalized mobility which
will allow consistent and ubiquitous provision of services to users.
3.2 Terms defined in this Recommendation
This Recommendation defines the following terms:
3.2.1 device :
With regard to the Internet of things, this is a piece of equipment with the
mandatory capabilities of communication and the op tional capabilities of sensing, actuation, data
capture, data storage and data processing.
3.2.2 Internet of things (IoT) : A global infrastructure for the information society, enabling
advanced services by inte rconnecting (physical and virtual) things based on existing and evolving
interoperable information and communication technologies.
NOTE 1 – Through the exploitation of identifica tion, data capture, processing and communication
capabilities, the IoT makes full use of things to offer services to all kinds of applications , whilst ensuring that
security and privacy requirements are fulfilled.
NOTE 2 – From a broader perspective, the IoT can be perceived as a vision with technological and societal
implications.
3.2.3 thing : With regard to the Internet of things, this is an object of the physical world (physical
things) or the information world (virtual things), which is capable of being identified and integrated
into communication networks.

2 Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) 4 Abbreviations and acronyms
This Recommendation uses the foll owing abbreviations and acronyms:
2G Second Generation 3G Third Generation AAA Authentication, Authorization and Accounting CAN Controller Area Network DSL Digital Subscriber Line FCAPS Fault, Configuration, A ccounting, Performa nce, Security
ICT Information and Communication Technology IoT Internet of Things ITS Intelligent Transport Systems LTE Long Term Evolution NGN Next Generation Network PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
5 Conventions
None.
6 Introduction of the IoT
6.1 Concept of the IoT
The Internet of things (IoT) can be perceive d as a far-reaching vision with technological and
societal implications.
From the perspective of technical standardization, the IoT can be vi ewed as a global infrastructure
for the information society, enabling advanced se rvices by interconnecting (physical and virtual)
things based on existing and evolving inte roperable information and communication technologies
(ICT).
Through the exploitation of identif ication, data capture, processi ng and communication capabilities,
the IoT makes full use of "things" to offer services to all kinds of applications , whilst ensuring that
security and privacy requirements are fulfilled.
NOTE – The IoT is expected to greatly integrate l eading technologies, such as technologies related to
advanced machine-to-machine comm unication, autonomic networking, data mining and decision-making,
security and privacy protection and cloud computing, with technologies for advanced sensing and actuation.
As shown in Figure 1, the IoT adds the dimensi on "Any THING communication" to the information
and communication technologies (ICTs) which already provide "any TIME" and "any PLACE"
communication.

Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) 3 Y.2060(12)_F01Any TIME communication
– on the move
– night
– daytime- outdoor
– indoor (away from the computer)
– at the computerAny PLACE communication
– between computers
– human to human, not using a computer
– human to thing, using generic equipment
– thing to thing
Any THING communication

Figure 1 – The new dimension introduced in the Internet of things [b-ITU Report]
Regarding the IoT, things are objects of the physical world (physical things) or of the information
world (virtual world) which are capable of be ing identified and integrated into communication
networks. Things have associated inform ation, which can be static and dynamic.
Physical things exist in the physical world and ar e capable of being sensed, actuated and connected.
Examples of physical things include the surro unding environment, industrial robots, goods and
electrical equipment.
Virtual things exist in the information world and are capable of bei ng stored, processed and
accessed. Examples of virtual things include multimedia content and application software.
6.2 Technical overview of the IoT
Figure 2 shows the technical overview of the IoT.

Figure 2 – Technical overview of the IoT
A physical thing may be represented in the info rmation world via one or more virtual things
(mapping), but a virtual thing can also exis t without any associat ed physical thing.

4 Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) A device is a piece of equipmen t with the mandatory capabilitie s of communication and optional
capabilities of sensing, actuation, da ta capture, data storage and data processing. The devices collect
various kinds of information a nd provide it to the informati on and communication networks for
further processing. Some devices also execute ope rations based on information received from the
information and communication networks.
Devices communicate with other devices: they communicate through the communication network
via a gateway (case a), through th e communication network without a gateway (cas e b) or directly,
that is without using the communi cation network (case c). Also, comb inations of cases a and c, and
cases b and c are possible; for example, devices can communicate with othe r devices using direct
communication through a local network (i.e., a network providing local connectivity between
devices and between devices and a gateway, such as an ad-hoc network) (case c) and then
communication through the communication networ k via a local network gateway (case a).
NOTE 1 – Although Figure 2 shows only interactions taking place in the physical world (communications
between devices), interactions also take place in the information world (exchanges between virtual things)
and between the physical world and the information world (exchanges between physical things and virtual
things).
The IoT applications include various kinds of app lications, e.g., "intelligent transportation systems",
"smart grid", "e-health" or "smart home". The a pplications can be based on proprietary application
platforms, but can also be built upon common se rvice/application support platform(s) providing
generic enabling capabilities, such as authen tication, device management, charging and accounting.
The communication networks transfer data captured by devices to appl ications and other devices, as
well as instructions from applications to devi ces. The communication networ ks provide capabilities
for reliable and efficient data transfer. The IoT network infrastructure may be realized via existing networks, such as conventional TCP/IP-based netw orks, and/or evolving networks, such as next
generation networks (NGN) [b-ITU-T Y.2001].
Figure 3 shows the different type s of devices and the relationshi p between devices and physical
things.
Y.2060(12)_F03Data capturing
device
Data carrying
deviceData
carrierSensing/actuating
deviceGeneral deviceCommunication networks
Physical
thingPhysical thingPhysical
thing
Figure 3 – Types of devices and their relationship with physical things
NOTE 2 – A "general device" is also a (set of) physical thing(s).
The minimum requirement of the devices in the IoT is their support of communication capabilities.
Devices are categorized into data-carrying devi ces, data-capturing devices, sensing and actuating
devices and general devices as described as follows:
– Data-carrying device: A data-ca rrying device is attached to a physical thing to indirectly
connect the physical thing with the communication networks.
– Data-capturing device: A data- capturing device refers to a re ader/writer device with the
capability to interact with physical things. The interacti on can happen indirectly via
data-carrying devices, or direc tly via data carriers attached to the physical things. In the
first case, the data-capturing device reads information on a data-carrying device and can

Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) 5 optionally also write information give n by the communication networks on the
data-carrying device.
NOTE 3 – Technologies used for interaction betw een data-capturing devices and data-carrying
devices or data carriers include radio frequency, infrared, optical and galvanic driving.
– Sensing and actuating device : A sensing and actuating devi ce may detect or measure
information related to the surrounding environm ent and convert it into digital electronic
signals. It may also convert di gital electronic signals from th e information networks into
operations. Generally, sensing and actuating de vices form local networks communicate
with each other using wired or wireless comm unication technologies and use gateways to
connect to the communication networks.
– General device: A general device has embe dded processing and communication capabilities
and may communicate with the communica tion networks via wired or wireless
technologies. General devices include equi pment and appliances for different IoT
application domains, such as industrial machines, home elect rical appliances and smart
phones.
7 Fundamental characteristics and hi gh-level requirements of the IoT
7.1 Fundamental characteristics
The fundamental characteristic s of the IoT are as follows:
– Interconnectivity: With regard to the IoT, anything can be in terconnected with the global
information and communication infrastructure.
– Things-related services: The IoT is capable of providing thing-related services within the
constraints of things, such as privacy protection and semantic consistency between physical
things and their associated virt ual things. In order to provide thing-related services within
the constraints of things, bot h the technologies in physical world and information world
will change.
– Heterogeneity: The devices in the IoT are heterogeneous as based on different hardware
platforms and networks. They can interact with othe r devices or service platforms through
different networks.
– Dynamic changes: The state of devices ch ange dynamically, e.g., sl eeping and waking up,
connected and/or disconnected as well as the context of devices including location and
speed. Moreover, the number of devices can change dynamically.
– Enormous scale: The number of devices that need to be managed and that communicate
with each other will be at least an order of ma gnitude larger than th e devices connected to
the current Internet. The ratio of communicat ion triggered by devices as compared to
communication triggered by humans will noticeably shift towards device-triggered communication. Even more critical will be the management of the data generated and their
interpretation for application purposes. This relates to semantics of data, as well as efficient data handling.
7.2 High-level requirements
The following provide high-level requiremen ts which are relevant for the IoT:
– Identification-based connectivity: The IoT need s to support that the connectivity between a
thing and the IoT is established based on the thing's identifier. Also, this includes that possibly heterogeneous identifiers of the diffe rent things are proce ssed in a unified way.
– Interoperability: Interoperability needs to be ensured among heterogeneous and distributed
systems for provision and consumption of a variety of information and services.

6 Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) – Autonomic networking: Autonomic netw orking (including self-management,
self-configuring, self-healing, self-optimizing and self-pro tecting techniques and/or
mechanisms) needs to be supporte d in the networking c ontrol functions of the IoT, in order
to adapt to different application domains, di fferent communication environments and large
numbers and types of devices.
– Autonomic services provisioning: The services need to be able to be provided by capturing,
communicating and processing au tomatically the data of things based on the rules
configured by operators or cu stomized by subscribers. Auto nomic services may depend on
the techniques of automatic data fusion and data mining.
– Location-based capabilities: Location-based capa bilities need to be supported in the IoT.
Something-related communications and services will depend on the location information of
things and/or users. It is n eeded to sense and track the location information automatically.
Location-based communications and services ma y be constrained by laws and regulations,
and should comply with security requirements.
– Security: In the IoT, every 'thing' is connected which results in significant security threats,
such as threats towards confidentiality, authenti city and integrity of both data and services.
A critical example of security requirements is the need to integrate different security
policies and techniques related to the variet y of devices and user networks in the IoT.
– Privacy protection: Privacy protection needs to be supported in the IoT. Many things have
their owners and users. Sensed data of things may contain private information concerning
their owners or users. The IoT needs to support privacy pr otection during da ta transmission,
aggregation, storage, mining and processing. Pr ivacy protection should not set a barrier to
data source authentication.
– High quality and highly secure human body rela ted services: High quali ty and highly secure
human body related services needs to be suppor ted in the IoT. Diffe rent countries have
different laws and regula tions on these services.
NOTE – Human body related services refer to the services provided by capturing, communicating
and processing the data related to human static features and dynamic beha viour with or without
human intervention.
– Plug and play: Plug and play capability needs to be supported in the Io T in order to enable
on-the-fly generation, composition or the acquiri ng of semantic-based configurations for
seamless integration and coope ration of interconnected thi ngs with applications, and
responsiveness to app lication requirements.
– Manageability: Manageability ne eds to be supported in the Io T in order to ensure normal
network operations. IoT applications usually wo rk automatically with out the participation
of people, but their whole operation process shou ld be manageable by the relevant parties.
8 IoT reference model
Figure 4 shows the IoT reference m odel. It is composed of four layers as well as management
capabilities and security cap abilities which are associated with the four layers.
The four layers are as follows:
– application layer – service support and ap plication support layer
– network layer
– device layer.

Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) 7
Figure 4 – IoT reference model
8.1 Application layer
The application layer cont ains IoT applications.
8.2 Service support and application support layer
The service support and application support laye r consists of the following two capability
groupings:
– Generic support capabilities: The generic support capabilities are common capabilities
which can be used by different IoT applications, such as data processing or data storage.
These capabilities may be also invoked by specifi c support capabilities, e.g., to build other
specific support capabilities.
– Specific support capabilities: The specific supp ort capabilities are particular capabilities
which cater for the requirements of diversified applications. In fact, they may consist of
various detailed capability groupings, in orde r to provide different support functions to
different IoT applications.
8.3 Network layer
This consists of the following two types of capabilities:
– Networking capabilities: provide relevant co ntrol functions of netw ork connectivity, such
as access and transport resource control functi ons, mobility management or authentication,
authorization and accounting (AAA).
– Transport capabilities: focus on providing conne ctivity for the transpor t of IoT service and
application specific data information, as well as the transport of IoT-related control and
management information.

8 Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) 8.4 Device layer
Device layer capabilities can be logically ca tegorized into two ki nds of capabilities:
– Device capabilities :
The device capabilities in clude but are not limited to:
Direct interaction with the communication netw ork: Devices are able to gather and upload
information directly (i.e., without using gateway capabilities) to the communication
network and can directly receive informa tion (e.g., commands) from the communication
network.
Indirect interaction with the communication netw ork: Devices are able to gather and upload
information to the communication network indire ctly, i.e., through gate way capabilities. On
the other side, devices can indirectly receive information (e.g., commands) from the
communication network.
Ad-hoc networking: Devices may be able to construct networks in an ad-hoc manner in
some scenarios which need increased scalability and quick deployment.
Sleeping and waking-up: Devi ce capabilities may support "s leeping" and "waking-up"
mechanisms to save energy.
NOTE – The support in a single device of both capabiliti es of direct interaction with the communication
network and indirect interaction with th e communication network is not mandatory.
– Gateway capabilities :
The gateway capabilities include but are not limited to:
Multiple interfaces support: At the device la yer, the gateway capab ilities support devices
connected through different kinds of wired or wireless technol ogies, such as a controller
area network (CAN) bus, ZigBee, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. At the network layer, the gateway
capabilities may communicate th rough various technologies, su ch as the public switched
telephone network (PSTN), second generation or third generation (2G or 3G) networks,
long-term evolution networks (LTE), Ethern et or digital subscriber lines (DSL).
Protocol conversion: There ar e two situations where gatewa y capabilities are needed. One
situation is when communications at the device layer use diffe rent device layer protocols,
e.g., ZigBee technology protocols and Bluetoot h technology protocols, the other one is
when communications involving both the devi ce layer and network layer use different
protocols e.g., a ZigBee technology protocol at the device layer and a 3G technology
protocol at the network layer.
8.5 Management capabilities
In a similar way to traditional communication ne tworks, IoT management capabilities cover the
traditional fault, configuration, accounting, perform ance and security (FCAPS) classes, i.e., fault
management, configuration management, accoun ting management, performance management and
security management.
The IoT management capabilities can be categorized into generi c management capabilities and
specific management capabilities.
Essential generic management cap abilities in the IoT include:
– device management, such as remote device activation and de-act ivation, diagnostics,
firmware and/or software updating, de vice working status management;
– local network topology management;
– traffic and congestion management, such as the detection of network overflow conditions
and the implementation of resour ce reservation for time-critical and/or life-critical data
flows.

Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) 9 Specific management capabilities ar e closely coupled with applicat ion-specific requirements, e.g.,
smart grid power transmission line monitoring requirements.
8.6 Security capabilities
There are two kinds of security capabilities: generic security cap abilities and specific security
capabilities. Generic security capabilities are independent of applications. They include:
– at the application layer: aut horization, authentication, applic ation data confidentiality and
integrity protection, privacy protecti on, security audit and anti-virus;
– at the network layer: authorization, au thentication, use data and signalling data
confidentiality, and signa lling integrity protection;
– at the device layer: authentication, authori zation, device integrity va lidation, access control,
data confidentiality and integrity protection.
Specific security capabilities are closely coupled with applica tion-specific requirements, e.g.,
mobile payment, security requirements.

10 Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) Appendix I

IoT ecosystem and business models
(This appendix does not form an integral part of this Recommendation.)
I.1 Business roles
The IoT ecosystem is composed of a variety of busin ess players. Each business player plays at least
one business role, but more roles are possible. The identified Io T business roles are shown in
Figure I.1.

Figure I.1 – IoT ecosystem
NOTE – The identified business roles and their relati onships as described in the IoT ecosystem do not
represent all possible relevant roles and relationships which can be found across IoT business deployments.
I.1.1 Device provider
The device provider is responsible for devices pr oviding raw data and/or content to the network
provider and application provider according to the service logic.
I.1.2 Network provider
The network provider plays a central role in the IoT ecosystem. In particular, the network provider
performs the following main functions:
– access and integration of resources provided by other providers;
– support and control of the IoT capabilities infrastructure;
– offering of IoT capabilities, including networ k capabilities and res ource exposure to other
providers.
I.1.3 Platform provider
The platform provider provides inte gration capabilities and open inte rfaces. Different platforms can
provide different capabilities to application providers. Platform capabilities include typical
integration capabilities, as well as data storage, data processing or device management. Support for
different types of IoT applic ations is also possible.

Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) 11 I.1.4 Application provider
The application provider utilizes capabilities or resources provided by the network provider, device
provider and platform provider, in order to provide IoT applicatio ns to application customers.
I.1.5 Application customer
The application customer is the user of IoT appl ication(s) provided by the application provider.
NOTE – An application customer may represent multiple applications users.
I.2 Business models
The IoT ecosystem players may have a variet y of relationships in real deployments.
The motivations for this variety of relationships are based on different possible business models.
This appendix examines only some IoT business m odels from the perspective of telecom service
and network operators. From this perspective, five business models are described below.
I.2.1 Model 1
In model 1, player A operates th e device, network, platform a nd applications and serves the
application customer directly , as shown in Figure I.2.
In general, telecom operators and some vertically integrated businesses (such as smart grid and
intelligent transport systems (ITS) busine sses) act as player A in model 1.

Figure I.2 – Model 1
I.2.2 Model 2
In model 2, player A operates the device, network, and platfo rm, and player B operates the
application and serves the application customers, as shown in Figure I.3.
In general, telecom operators act as player A, other service providers as player B in model 2.

Figure I.3 – Model 2
I.2.3 Model 3
In model 3, player A operates the network a nd platform, player B operates the device and
applications and serves the applicati on customers, as shown in Figure I.4.
In general, telecom operators act as player A and other service providers act as player B.

12 Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012)
Figure I.4 – Model 3
I.2.4 Model 4
In model 4, player A only operates the network and player B operates the device and platform,
providing applications to th e application customers, as shown in Figure I.5.
In general, telecom operators act as player A, other service providers a nd vertically integrated
businesses act as player B in model 4.
NOTE – A variation of this model does not include a platform provider and associated platform
functionalities (player B only provides applications).

Figure I.5 – Model 4
I.2.5 Model 5
In model 5, player A only operates the network, player B operates the platform, and player C
operates devices and provides applications to the application customers, as shown in Figure I.6.
In general, telecom operators act as player A, othe r service providers act as player B, and vertically
integrated businesses act as player C in model 5.
NOTE – A variation of this model does not include a platform provider and associated platform
functionalities (player B only provides applications).

Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) 13
Figure I.6 – Model 5

14 Rec. ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) Bibliography

[b-ITU Report] ITU Internet Reports (2005), The Internet of Things .
[b-ITU-T Y.2001] Recommend ation ITU-T Y.2001 (2004), General overview of NGN .

Printed in Switzerland
Geneva, 2013
SERIES OF ITU-T RECOMMENDATIONS
Series A Organization of the work of ITU-T
Series D General tariff principles
Series E Overall network opera tion, telephone service, service operation and human factors
Series F Non-telephone telecommunication services
Series G Transmission systems and media, digital systems and networks
Series H Audiovisual and multimedia systems
Series I Integrated services digital network
Series J Cable networks and transmission of televisi on, sound programme and other multimedia signals
Series K Protection against interference
Series L Construction, installati on and protection of cables and other elements of outside plant
Series M Telecommunication management, including TMN and network maintenance
Series N Maintenance: interna tional sound programme and tele vision transmission circuits
Series O Specifications of measuring equipment
Series P Terminals and subjective and objective assessment methods
Series Q Switching and signalling
Series R Telegraph transmission
Series S Telegraph services terminal equipment
Series T Terminals for telematic services
Series U Telegraph switching
Series V Data communication over the telephone network
Series X Data networks, open system communications and security
Series Y Global information infrastructure, Internet protocol aspects and next-generation
networks
Series Z Languages and general software aspects for telecommunication systems