We are pleased to announce that a free trial of Soracom Cloud Camera Services (SoraCam) is now available for customers in Japan.

The SoraCam free trial allows you to test an ATOM Cam Swing device that is managed by Soracom and view footage recorded to the cloud. Additionally, with the ATOM app, you can view live footage from the ATOM Cam Swing and control its pan and tilt.

Please note:

• Each trial session has a time limit of 30 minutes, however there is no limit to the number of sessions.
• The free trial cannot be used with your own SoraCam devices.
• Customers already using SoraCam are not eligible for the free trial.

To start the free trial, sign in to your Soracom account from the User Console, then click Menu → Soracom Cloud Camera Services → Devices, and click Start SoraCam Free Trial. For more information, please refer to the SoraCam Free Trial documentation (Japanese).

As previously announced on August 25, 2023, the following changes have now been applied to the format of the filename when exporting images or videos from Soracom Cloud Camera Services:

• Milliseconds will be added to timestamps.
• The timestamp(s) will refer to the date/time that the video was recorded rather than the date/time that the file was exported.

For more details about the changes, please refer to the Upcoming changes to filename format when exporting SoraCam files announcement.

As of September 7, 2023, prices for the following Japan-only devices have been revised. Prices are in Japanese Yen (¥) and include Japanese consumption tax.

WN-CS300FR LTE Router

• Old price: ¥13,200 (includes a ¥1,500 Soracom platform service coupon)
• New price: ¥12,100 (includes a ¥500 Soracom platform service coupon)

For more details, please visit the product page (Japanese).

Teltonika RUT240 Industrial LTE Router

• Old price: ¥31,680 (includes a ¥1,980 Soracom platform service coupon)
• New price: ¥28,380 (includes a ¥1,980 Soracom platform service coupon)

For more details, please visit the product page (Japanese).

Soracom maintains a Status Dashboard website where we post official information regarding Soracom service issues and system maintenance activities.

We will be changing the URL of the Status Dashboard as follows:

• Current Status Dashboard URL: https://status.soracom.com/
• New Status Dashboard URL: https://status.soracom.io/

In addition, we will be making several improvements to enhance the usability and functionality of the Status Dashboard.

Effective date

The new Status Dashboard will be available on October 4th, 2023.

Once the new Status Dashboard is available:

• Past events will be reflected on the new Status Dashboard.
• Events after this date will be posted to the new Status Dashboard, but are not guaranteed to be posted on the current Status Dashboard.

Additionally, the current Status Dashboard will be shut down on December 31st, 2023, and users will be automatically redirected to the new Status Dashboard.

What to do

• Keep using the current Status Dashboard for now.
• Starting on October 4th, use the new Status Dashboard to get the latest Soracom service status information.
• Update any bookmarks to the new Status Dashboard.
• If you use the current Status Dashboard's RSS feed, add the new Status Dashboard's RSS feed to keep receiving updates.

We apologize for any inconvenience this update may cause and greatly appreciate your understanding and cooperation. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the SORACOM Support team.

This is a notice that the createOperator and verifyOperator APIs have been discontinued. These APIs were previously provided to allow customers to programmatically generate Soracom accounts, but have now been removed to improve security.

Please note that you can still register new accounts using the normal Sign up screen of the User Console. For more information on account creation, please refer to the Create a Soracom Account documentation.

4GPi communication module for Raspberry Pi by MechaTracks Co., Ltd. is now available from the Soracom IoT Store.

The 4GPi is a 4G/LTE module designed specifically for Raspberry Pi single board computers. Simply attach it to your Raspberry Pi, set up the dedicated tool to add cellular connectivity, and start developing IoT devices.

The 4GPi is designed with power configurations and operational stability in mind, making it suitable not just for PoC and prototyping but also for product integrations.

4GPi

• Availability: Japan only
• Price: 27,500 yen (tax included)
• Bundled with a 2,000 yen Soracom platform coupon (valid for 6 months, applicable to services with Japan coverage only)

For more information, please refer to the product page (Japanese).

This is a notice that the old SIM Management interface has now been discontinued according to the schedule announced previously, and is no longer available. Any users who have not yet switched to the new SIM Management interface will now be automatically redirected.

As mentioned in the previous announcement, the new SIM Management interface provides several significant improvements:

• Support for managing Subscription Containers
• Up to 20 times faster loading performance
• Improved usability and design following the Soracom Design System
• Dedicated SIM details URLs for bookmarking and easy sharing

For additional details about difference between the old and new interfaces as well as how to resolve SAM User permission errors with the new interface, please refer to the previous announcement. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the Soracom support team.

When exporting images or videos from Soracom Cloud Camera Services, a filename is automatically generated for each file. With this update, the format of the filename will change as follows:

• Milliseconds will be added to timestamps.

  Before this change: yyyy-mm-dd-HH-MM-SS

  After this change: yyyy-mm-dd-HH-MM-SS-fff

  Please note that when exporting from the Soracom User Console, the milliseconds will be set to 000. To include the actual milliseconds, please export files using the Soracom API.

• The timestamp(s) will refer to the date/time that the video was recorded rather than the date/time that the file was exported, such that the exported files will remain consistent with their recording date, regardless of when you export them.

  For example, if a video was recorded at 2023-08-01 00:00:00.000 and a still image from the video was exported at 2023-08-12 12:34:56.789, the timestamp in the filename will now refer to the time of recording.

  Before this change: 2023-08-12-12-34-56 (the date/time the image was exported, without milliseconds)

  After this change: 2023-08-01-00-00-00-000 (the date/time the video was recorded, including milliseconds)

  When exporting videos, two timestamps will now be included in the filename, corresponding to the start and end date/time of the recording.

The full specifications of the generated filenames are as follows:

Current Filename Specification

Currently, the filename generated for each exported file consists of the following information, joined by an underscore _:

• Export operation timestamp (example: 2023-08-12-12-34-56)
• Operator ID (example: OP0123456789)
• Device ID (example: 7CDDDEADBEEF)
• Device Name (example: MyCamera)
• Export ID (example: 12345678-abcd-9012-efab-345678901234)
• File extension (.jpg for images or .zip for videos)

Example filename when exporting an image:

2023-08-12-12-34-56_OP0123456789_7CDDDEADBEEF_MyCamera_12345678-abcd-9012-efab-345678901234.jpg

Example filename when exporting a video:

2023-08-12-12-34-56_OP0123456789_7CDDDEADBEEF_MyCamera_12345678-abcd-9012-efab-345678901234.zip

Updated Filename Specification

After this update, the file name generated will consist of the following information:

• Recording timestamp, including milliseconds
  • For images, the start date/time (example: 2023-08-01-00-00-00-000)
  • For videos, the start and end date/time (example: 2023-08-01-00-00-00-000_2023-08-01-00-05-00-000)
• Operator ID (example: OP0123456789)
• Device ID (example: 7CDDDEADBEEF)
• Device Name (example: MyCamera)
• Export ID (example: 12345678-abcd-9012-efab-345678901234)
• File extension (.jpg for images or .zip for videos)

Example filename when exporting an image:

2023-08-01-00-00-00-000_OP0123456789_7CDDDEADBEEF_MyCamera_12345678-abcd-9012-efab-345678901234.jpg

Example filename when exporting a video:

2023-08-01-00-00-00-000_2023-08-01-00-05-00-000_OP0123456789_7CDDDEADBEEF_MyCamera_12345678-abcd-9012-efab-345678901234.zip

Effective date

This update will take effect on September 11, 2023.

Please note that the effective date may change without prior notice.

We kindly ask customers who may be affected by this change to update their systems or file management practices as necessary. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact the Soracom Support team.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

As previously announced, SIM IDs have been added to the service usage history CSVs as of August 24, 2023.

With this update, each line of the service usage history CSVs will also include the SIM's 19- or 32-digit SIM ID. As the SIM ID uniquely identifies each physical SIM regardless of whether Subscription Containers have been added, you will be able to easily track the total service usage for a particular SIM no matter which of its IMSIs were active.

For download instructions and additional information on service usage history CSVs, please refer to the following documentation:

• SORACOM Air
• SORACOM Beam
• SORACOM Funk
• SORACOM Funnel
• SORACOM Harvest Data

The corresponding export stats APIs have also been updated accordingly.

We would like to inform customers that the format of service usage history CSVs is scheduled to be updated to include SIM IDs.

Service usage history CSVs provide detailed usage information, such as how much data each SIM has consumed, or how many Soracom Beam or Soracom Harvest requests each SIM has sent during a specified timeframe.

Until now, SIMs could be identified in these service usage history CSVs using their 15-digit IMSI number. However, with the use of Subscription Containers, a single physical SIM may contain more than one IMSI, and the service usage history data will be attributed according to the IMSI that was active at the time of usage.

With this update, each line of the service usage history CSVs will also include the SIM's 19- or 32-digit SIM ID. As the SIM ID uniquely identifies each physical SIM regardless of whether Subscription Containers have been added, you will be able to easily track the total service usage for a particular SIM no matter which of its IMSIs were active.

For download instructions and additional information on service usage history CSVs, please refer to the following documentation:

• SORACOM Air
• SORACOM Beam
• SORACOM Funk
• SORACOM Funnel
• SORACOM Harvest Data

Update Schedule

This update is scheduled to take effect on August 24, 2023.

Using column names from the header row

As we continue to improve usage history features, the CSV format (such as the order of its columns) may occasionally change over time. Therefore, when programmatically processing these CSVs, we recommend referencing each line's values based on the column name found in the first line (the header row) of each CSV file, rather than column number. This will allow your scripts or programs to continue referencing the correct data, even if the column order changes.

If you need assistance with referencing the data in a CSV file using column names rather than column numbers, please don't hesitate to contact our support team.