Product Change Notification Number - PCN 10072021-003 (mPower - MTR)

I. Overview

mPower MTR 5.3.5 is for use on the MultiConnect® rCell 100 Series cellular router devices.

mPower MTR 5.3.5 Includes:

New Feature: AT&T 3G Sunset – Impacts on 4G Devices

Available for download starting October 2021.
See part numbers impacted for details

II. Suggested Action Plan

Customers

1. Download mPower MTR 5.3.5
2. Evaluate in their environment
3. Deploy to fleet of devices
4. Additional information
• Technical inquiries: support.multitech.com
• Sales inquiries: email sales@multitech.com

Distributors

• Forward this announcement to others within your organization who are actively involved in the sale or support of programmable IoT gateways
• Notify existing customers of this new firmware and encourage them to download, evaluate, and update their device fleet – ESPECIALLY IF CUSTOMERS DEPLOY DEVICES ON THE AT&T NETWORK

III. mPower MTR 5.3.5 Overview

MTR 5.3.5 is built upon MTR 5.3.0 For details about MTR 5.3.0, refer to Software Release Notes - MTR 5.3.0

New Features (mPower MTR 5.3.5):
MTR 5.3.5 includes the following new feature:

1. AT&T 3G Sunset – Impacts on 4G Devices
   • MTR 5.3.5 includes important updates to the current cellular module firmware defaults. These changes will help avoid service interruption for certain MultiTech 4G products impacted by the impending AT&T 3G network sunset.
     • Current cellular module default: Voice Centric
     • New cellular module default: Data Centric
     
     
   • Overview of MTR 5.3.5 solution:
     1. Once a device is updated to MTR 5.3.5, the wireless carrier for the cellular module will be determined.
     2. If the wireless carrier is AT&T, MTR 5.3.5 updates the cellular module firmware default
        a. Current default: Voice Centric (CEMODE=1)
        b. New default: Data Centric (CEMODE=2)
     3. Models Impacted: MTR-LNA7, MTR-LAT1
     4. If a wireless carrier other than AT&T is recognized (i.e. Verizon Wireless), no changes to the cellular module firmware defaults are made
     
     
   • Additional Resources
     • AT&T Overview of 3G Sunset: https://iotdevices.att.com/att-iot/3GSunset.aspx
     • MultiTech Overview of AT&T 3G Sunset Impact on 4G Devices
       • MultiTech PCN: AT&T 3G Sunset-Impacts on 4G Devices (Select LTE Cat 4 Models Only)
     • 4G/LTE voice-capable cellular modules, integrated into many brands/vendors of cellular products, including MultiTech, are configured for voice-centric signaling by default. Many of these 4G/LTE devices are likely to arrive at a “No Service” condition after 3G sunset -- even for data-only applications unless action is taken beforehand
     • To avoid service interruption for some 4G/LTE Category 1, 3 and 4 products impacted by the impending AT&T 3G network sunset, we recommend upgrading to MTR 5.3.5
   • [GP-988] [GP-1111]

IV. mPower MTR 5.3.5 Schedule

There are multiple versions of mPower Edge Intelligence firmware available for customer evaluation and final release.

• DeviceHQ
• Cloud-based IoT Device Management
• MTR 5.3.5 Availability: October 2021
• DeviceHQ login: https://www.devicehq.com/sign_in
• Instructions: Upgrading Firmware Using DeviceHQ
• Downloadable Versions: MTR 5.3.5 Availability: October 2021
• Visit https://www.multitech.com/brands/multiconnect-rcell-100-series
• Locate and select the correct model number from the Product Listing
• Visit DOWNLOADS tab and select mPower 5.3.5 from the list of available firmware downloads
• Instructions: Upgrading Firmware Using Device Web Interface

V. mPower MTR 5.3.5 Upgrade Process

At any time in the upgrade process, customers can contact support.multitech.com.

Minimum System Requirements (mPower MTR 5.3.5)
To install MTR 5.3.5, the MultiConnect rCell 100 Series router must be upgraded to MTR 5.0.0 or higher. Customers that are running earlier versions of mPower should use the following upgrade process:

Upgrade Using MultiTech DeviceHQ
At any time in the upgrade process, customers can contact support.multitech.com.

DeviceHQ can update the firmware running on any supported device. Since devices have no live connection to DeviceHQ, firmware updates are made the next time a device checks into DeviceHQ.

Instructions:

1. Visit https://www.devicehq.com
2. Sign in to your account using your email address and password.
3. Click Devices. The device list page opens.
4. Click the name of the device you want to update. You can update firmware on filtered devices or selected devices.
• If you select individual devices, you update firmware on selected devices or the filtered devices.
• If you do not select devices you update the firmware on the filtered devices.
5. Click Schedule and select Upgrade Firmware. From the list of firmware that appears, select the name of the firmware file. A confirmation message appears, informing you that the new firmware is to be applied to the device when the device next checks in.
6. To confirm that you want to update the firmware click OK.

Updating Multiple Devices
• It is recommended that updates be scheduled for no more than 25 devices at one time
• If more than 25 devices are to be updated, schedule the second group of 25 devices after the first 25 updates are complete
• Continue scheduling groups of 25 devices until the entire fleet is updated
• Refer to help file within DeviceHQ for more information

Upgrade Using Device Web Interface
At any time in the upgrade process, customers can contact support.multitech.com.

It is recommended that customers backup their configuration before performing an upgrade.

• If the firmware upgrade fails, or it does not show the login page again, wait an additional 10 minutes.
• Power off and on the hardware and log in using the web interface to check the version.
• If the version does not show the latest, then the upgrade was not successful.
• Try to perform the firmware upgrade again by repeating all the steps.

Instructions:

1. Before upgrading, reboot the device.
2. Visit https://www.multitech.com/brands/multiconnect-rcell-100-series
3. Locate and select the model number from the product listing
4. For the model number selected, open the DOWNLOADS menu
5. Select the latest firmware version. Download and unzip it to a known location
6. Open the device web interface
   a. Select Administration > Firmware Upgrade. The Administration: Firmware Upgrade pane opens
   b. Click Choose Firmware Upgrade File button:
   i. Click Browse to find where the firmware file resides that you want to apply
   ii. Select the file and click Open. The file name appears next to the Choose Firmware Upgrade File button. Make sure you select the correct BIN file; otherwise, your device can become inoperable.
   c. Click Start Upgrade.
   d. A message about time needed to upgrade appears. Click OK. A progress bar appears indicating the status of the upgrade. When upgrade is completed, your device reboots.
   e. After the firmware upgrade is complete, verify your configuration to make sure it is what you expected.

Notes:

• The new firmware is written into flash memory.
• It may take up to 10 minutes to upgrade the firmware. Do not interfere with the device power or press the reset button during this time.

VI. mPower MTR 5.3.5 Ordering Part Numbers Impacted

The following ordering part numbers are impacted by these updates:

Model Name Ordering Part Numbers
MultiConnect® rCell 100 Cellular Routers
Status: Active (1)	Status: Active (1)	Status: EOL (2)
MTR-LNA7-B07 (1) MTR-LNA7-B07-HZ (1)    MTR-LNA7-B07-US (1) MTR-LNA7-B10 (1) MTR-LNA7-B10-HZ (1) MTR-LNA7-B10-US (1)	MTR-LEU7-B07 (1) MTR-LEU7-B07-EU-GB (1)    MTR-LEU7-B10 (1) MTR-LEU7-B10-EU-GB (1) MTR-LEU7-B07-HZ (1) MTR-LEU7-B10-HZ (1)	MTR-LAT1-B07 (2) MTR-LAT1-B07-US (2) MTR-LAT1-B08 (2) MTR-LAT1-B08-US (2) MTR-LAT1-B09 (2) MTR-LAT1-B09-US (2) MTR-LAT1-B10 (2)    MTR-LAT1-B10-US (2)

Footnotes:

	Hardware Status	Manufacturing Updates	Comments
(1)	Active	n/a Download only	Active devices continue to ship with earlier mPower versions Customers are encouraged to evaluate MTR 5.3.5 firmware and update device fleets as needed
(2)	EOL	n/a Download only	EOL devices are no longer shipping from MultiTech Customers are encouraged to evaluate MTR 5.3.5 firmware and update device fleets as needed

VII. mPower™ Edge Intelligence

mPower™ Edge Intelligence is MultiTech’s embedded software offering, building on the popular application enablement platform, to deliver programmability, network flexibility, enhanced security and manageability for scalable Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions.

mPower Edge Intelligence simplifies integration with a variety of popular upstream IoT platforms to streamline edge-to-cloud data management and analytics, while also providing the programmability and processing capability to execute critical tasks at the edge of the network to reduce latency, control network and cloud services costs, and ensure core functionality – even in instances when network connectivity may not be available.

In response to evolving customer security requirements, mPower Edge Intelligence incorporates a host of security features including signed firmware validation, enhanced firewall and VPN settings, secure authentication and more.

VIII. Additional Information

If you have any questions regarding this Product Change Notification/Software Release Notice, please contact your MultiTech sales representative or visit the technical resources listed below:

World Headquarters – USA
+1 (763) 785-3500 | sales@multitech.com

EMEA Headquarters – UK
+(44) 118 959 7774 | sales@multitech.co.uk

MultiTech Developer Resources:
www.multitech.net
An open environment where you can ask development related questions and hear back from MultiTech engineering or a member of this community.

Knowledge Base:
http://www.multitech.com/kb.go
Immediate access to support information and resolutions for all MultiTech products.

MultiTech Support Portal:
support.multitech.com
Create an account and submit a support case directly to our technical support team.

MultiTech Website:
www.multitech.com