Getting Started
Welcome
Welcome to the onboarding guide for the SIM for Things (SFT) APIs. This resource is designed to quickly help developers understand, integrate, and automate management of their global IoT deployments,. By using these advanced APIs, you can drive automation and optimize your business processes, ensuring seamless integration into your existing systems,.
The SFT API acts as the primary tool to help you launch, manage, and monetize your international IoT business through a single global network and platform. All functionalities of the SFT solution are available through these APIs. Key operations you can automate include creating device endpoints, assigning custom data plans (Addon Plans), and managing connectivity modes (Prepaid or Postpaid).
This documentation focuses on concepts, use cases, and integration guidance. Detailed API reference documentation is available at https://api.sft.bics.com/. That reference documentation is reused and linked from this guide where applicable.
How to Use These Docs
This documentation is organised to support both initial onboarding and day-to-day implementation.
Recommended reading order
Getting Started – platform overview and documentation structure
Core Concepts – terminology and data models used by SFT
Use Cases – common integration scenarios and API flows
API Reference – endpoint-level implementation details
Examples & Troubleshooting – practical examples and problem resolution
API reference documentation
All SFT API definitions, including endpoints, request parameters, and example payloads, are documented in our online Documentation which contains the more updated information and can be found at https://api.sft.bics.com/
The Latest version of this documentation, 4.20, has been migrated and it is also available in our portal API Documentation Rel 4.20 in order to be used for this guide
This onboarding guide:
Explains when and why APIs are used
Describes integration flows and dependencies
References the existing API documentation for implementation details
⚠️ Documentation gap
The following still needs to be completed:
Consistent cross-links from Use Case pages to the relevant API reference pages
Alignment of terminology between this guide and the migrated Postman documentation
Environments & Base URLs
SFT APIs are currently available only in the Production environment.
There is no separate sandbox or test environment. All API interactions are executed against the live SFT platform.
The Production environment provides:
A single, stable base URL
Customer-specific credentials
Isolated data per customer account
Base URL
All API requests must be sent to:
https://sft.bics.com
Access credentials and permissions are provided during customer onboarding and are documented in the API reference.
⚠️ Documentation gap
The following topics should be clarified or expanded in future revisions:
Whether a sandbox or test environment is planned
Any usage constraints or safeguards for testing in Production
Data retention and availability rules in the Production environment
Authentication Overview
All SFT APIs require authentication.
In general:
A client must authenticate before invoking any API
Authentication returns an access token
The access token must be included in subsequent API requests
Details and more information such as:
Authentication mechanism
Required headers
Token lifetime
Error responses
are documented in the Authentication APIs section of the API reference documentation.
This guide provides context on when authentication is required, while the API reference describes how to authenticate.
⚠️ Documentation gap
The following should be added:
A simple authentication sequence diagram
Common causes of authentication errors (401 / 403)
Token expiration and refresh behaviour
Next Steps
Review Core Concepts to understand SFT terminology and models
Use Use Cases to identify relevant APIs for your integration scenario
Refer to the API Reference and Postman collections for implementation