Iridium Taps Mavenir to Power Cloud-Native Core for Satellite IoT and D2D
The deployment supports Iridium’s strategy to offer 3GPP standards-based NTN capabilities over its existing satellite network, while maintaining readiness for future D2D offerings.
Mavenir, the cloud-native network infrastructure provider building the future of networks, announced it has been selected by Iridium Communications Inc., a leading provider of global voice and data satellite communications, to deploy the Core Network of its Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), helping to enable – 3GPP based Direct-to-Device (D2D) services.
In support of Iridium NTN DirectSM, Mavenir will deliver its fully containerized, cloud-native Converged Packet Core solution, hosted in Iridium’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud environment. The deployment supports Iridium’s strategy to offer 3GPP standards-based NTN capabilities over its existing satellite network, while maintaining readiness for future D2D offerings.
“This collaboration with Iridium is a strategic milestone in Mavenir’s mission to enable seamless connectivity across terrestrial and non-terrestrial domains. By deploying our cloud-native Converged Packet Core on AWS, we’re helping Iridium deliver global NB-IoT services today – It’s a powerful demonstration of how Mavenir’s flexible, scalable core solutions can adapt to meet the evolving needs of satellite-driven networks.”
– Ashok Khuntia, President, Core Networks, Mavenir
Mavenir’s solution includes a full suite of core network functions – such as Converged Session Management Function, Converged User Plane Function, Policy Control, Subscriber Management, Network Exposure Function, and messaging capabilities – supported by a centralized operations and analytics platform. The solution is designed for high availability and geo-redundancy across multiple AWS regions.
“As we prepare to launch Iridium NTN Direct, our partnership with Mavenir will help ensure a strong foundation for the service. Whether it’s for IoT or D2D, Iridium NTN Direct will provide a truly global, reliable, and future-ready solution for MNOs, chipmakers, and consumers worldwide.”
– Tim Last, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Iridium
The project enables easy integration with Iridium’s existing provisioning and billing systems, while also supporting NB-IoT traffic delivery across multiple interfaces including IP, UDP, TCP, and Non-IP Data Delivery (NIDD). Future evolution toward 5G NR will allow Iridium to use the same backend infrastructure for a smooth and low-downtime migration path to D2D connectivity.
This latest win enhances Mavenir’s growing NTN portfolio and highlights its ability to enable satellite operators with proven, standards-compliant packet core solutions that are optimized for cloud-native deployment environments.
