SK Telecom said Sunday it has teamed up with Cisco Systems International, the U.S. networking giant, to develop new solutions for the Internet of Things technology that connects all machines via the Web.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding at SKT’s Seoul headquarters on Friday. 

The new solutions would combine SKT’s ThingPlug, an IoT platform that allows different devices and mobile apps to work together, and Cisco’s infrastructure application technology Fog Computing that offers real-time data analysis.

They also plan to jointly develop mobile apps and sensors that would be running on the solutions.

SKT said the agreement comes in preparation for data traffic surge when the next fifth-generation network service is commercialized by 2020. Industry watchers predict more than 50 billion machines, ranging from smartphones to cars, to communicate each other via the Internet in the next five years.

The company said the new solutions aim to reduce data traffic by processing information real-time rather than sending it to cloud servers that are remotely located.

SKT said it would continue to team up with global partners in order to secure its technological edge in the burgeoning IoT market. 

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)