We are pleased to announce that Soracom Air IoT SIMs are now available in a commercial grade embedded SIM version.

Compared to the existing industrial grade embedded SIM, the new commercial grade version features different hardware characteristics (such as operating temperature range, moisture resistance, shock resistance, and memory processing) that make it suitable for devices that do not require the higher specifications of the industrial grade version, at a lower price.

• Product Name: SORACOM Air Embedded SIM Commercial Grade
• Product Code: SGECL01
• Size: 5x6mm
• Price: $5.00 USD (tax excluded) / 1 piece (available in increments of of 3,000 pieces)

These new commercial grade embedded SIMs are available with either plan01s or plan01s - Low Data Volume subscription plans installed. When purchasing, please select the subscription plan you would like to use with the SIM.

For detailed specifications, please refer to the Soracom Air IoT SIM Datasheet.

The existing industrial grade embedded SIM will still be available for purchase, and will now be sold under the new product name SORACOM Air Embedded SIM Industrial Grade, with product code SGEIL01.

As announced in July 2021, the Soracom Beam MQTT Entry Point platform version 201509 was scheduled to be discontinued on January 20, 2022, with any Beam MQTT configurations still using this version to be migrated to the newer version 201912.

However, during the process of migrating existing Soracom Beam MQTT Entry Point configurations, a number of customers reported unexpected communication instability with version 201509. As a result, we have decided to temporarily postpone the discontinuation and to amend our support policy for this version.

The updated policy is as follows:

• Soracom Beam MQTT Entry Point platform version 201509 will remain available for use for the time being, and will instead be deprecated on August 1, 2022. After this date, version 201509 will continue to be available for use, however Soracom will no longer guarantee connectivity with MQTT brokers.
• Technical support for version 201509 will be available until August 1, 2022. After this date, technical support this version will not longer be provided.
• The date and procedures for discontinuing version 201509 will be announced at a later date.

If you are currently using the MQTT Entry Point platform version 201509 and would like to migrate to the newer version 201912, please refer to the SORACOM Beam: MQTT Entry Point documentation for migration precautions and details.

If you have any questions about the impact of these changes on your devices, please contact our support team at your earliest convenience.

We are excited to announce that Binary Parser, a feature for Soracom Air devices that converts binary data into JSON, now supports MessagePack (hereafter MsgPack).

In many applications, a device may be configured to send data to a server or to the cloud using JSON format, often for compatibility with cloud services or simply to make the data easier to work with. However, sending data using JSON results in relatively high data usage due to JSON syntax requirements. MsgPack is a binary serialization format which allows a device to easily compress JSON data before it is sent, effectively reducing data usage.

Once data has been compressed and sent, it needs to be converted back to its original format so that a server or cloud service can understand it. With this update, you can now configure Binary Parser to convert MsgPack-compressed data back to JSON by simply entering @msgpack in the Binary Parser format setting. From there, the original JSON data can be sent to Soracom Harvest for storage and data visualization, or to Soracom Beam, Funnel, or Funk in order to forward the data to a server or a cloud service.

Since Binary Parser's conversion occurs after the data arrives at Soracom, cellular data usage can be reduced considerably.

Note: In order for Binary Parser to convert data, your device must be configured to send data to Unified Endpoint unified.soracom.io, or to the corresponding endpoint for Soracom Beam, Funnel, Funk, or Harvest. Data that is sent directly to a server or a cloud service will not be modified by Binary Parser.

MsgPack is available in more than 50 programming languages across many libraries, making it easy to implement in a wide variety of devices. For more information, refer to the official MessagePack site.

Custom Binary Parser formats can still be defined for bit-by-bit data conversion.

We have made architectural improvements to the User Console that reduces its loading time by about 50%. This improvement will take effect on January 13, 2022 and will be available for all users.

We will continue to strive to improve the user experience.

As of January 1, 2022, prices for the following Japan-only devices have been revised. Prices are in Japanese Yen (¥) and include Japanese consumption tax.

Cigar Socket GPS Tracker RT299 Starter Kit

• Old price: ¥21,780 (includes a ¥1,980 Soracom platform service coupon)
• New price: ¥22,880 (includes a ¥2,080 Soracom platform service coupon)

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

Vehicle GPS Tracker T366L Starter Kit

• Old price: ¥21,780 (includes a ¥1,980 Soracom platform service coupon)
• New price: ¥24,090 (includes a ¥2,190 Soracom platform service coupon)

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

When uploading a WASM module on the Soralet management screen on the User Console, an error message too many soralet versions will be displayed if the number of uploaded WASM module versions has reached the Soralet limit. In order to continue uploading a new module, you had to cancel the upload, delete one of the old versions, and retry the upload again.

With this update, if you have already reached the Soralet limit for the number of WASM module versions, you can now delete the an older version without cancelling the upload:

A "Delete and retry" button will now allow you to automatically delete the oldest unused module version and re-upload the new module.

Note that in order to prevent accidental deletion of an older version that is still in use, this action will only delete the oldest version that is not currently referenced in any group's SORACOM Orbit configuration. If you prefer to choose a different version to delete, you must still cancel the upload and separately select a version to delete.

As announced by multiple security authorities on December 9, 2021, the Apache Log4j Library Vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228) is a critical security issue that could allow a vulnerable system to be compromised by an attacker. The following is a summary of the impact of this vulnerability on the Soracom platform and actions taken by Soracom to prevent system compromise:

• We have confirmed that all necessary security patches needed to fix the vulnerability have been applied to the Soracom system components affected by this vulnerability.
• We have additionally performed an internal audit of system components to determine if any breach or exploit has occurred, and have confirmed that none of Soracom's systems, such as customer data, have been compromised.

At this time, all systems are operating normally, and there is no need for Soracom customers to perform any actions in response to this vulnerability.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this vulnerability, please feel free to contact the Soracom support team at your earliest convenience.

Every month, a billing notification is sent to your email address, as well as any additional email addresses configured to receive billing notification emails, to let you know that your monthly service invoice is ready. You can log in to the Soracom User Console and access the Invoices section to view your invoice, as well as to download a PDF version for your records.

With this update, you can now opt to have the PDF version of the invoice attached to the billing notification email. When enabled, a copy of the PDF invoice will be sent directly to your email, as well as your other billing notification email. This can be helpful in larger organizations where you would like the invoice to be sent directly to an accounting department, without the need to log in every month.

You can enable this setting by logging in to the Soracom User Console and accessing the Email Settings section.

Please note that the monthly billing notifications, as well as the copy of the PDF invoice if enabled, are only sent to customers using credit card payment, and only for monthly services provided in the Global Coverage region. For other payment methods, billing notifications will be sent according to the payment method terms. Billing notifications are not sent for services provided in the Japan Coverage region.

We are excited to release the S+ Camera Design, a new model of the S+ Camera series of edge AI cameras.

Compared to the original S+ Camera Basic, the S+ Camera Design brings a more stylish design and improved installation experience.

• Supported subscriptions: plan-D (built into the device)
• Availability: Japan only
• Price: 49,800 yen

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

We are excited to launch the S+ AI Market, a marketplace within the Soracom Mosaic console where you can purchase third party AI algorithms developed by Soracom partners and seamlessly install them in compatible S+ devices.

As of December 1, 2021, the Package20™ (Japanese) is available on the S+ AI Market, which provides a set of 20 image recognition algorithms developed by AI Dynamics Japan. Package20™ will be available free of charge during December 2021.

For more information on how to use the S+ AI Market, please refer to the S+ AI Market (Japanese) documentation.