Wireless IoT Forum Announces Founding Board

30 June 2015 – The Wireless IoT Forum, a body working to accelerate the wide scale adoption of wireless wide-area networking technologies dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced its founding members and board. The Forum’s board comprises: Accenture, Arkessa, BT, Cisco, Telensa and WSN.

The forum’s mandate is to remove fragmentation and drive consolidation around a minimal set of standards for both licensed and license-exempt wireless solutions. The Forum aims to develop a clear set of requirements through engagement with end-users as well as a use-case driven roadmap for the ecosystem of technology companies, apps developers and operators.

The independent, not-for-profit organization aims to work with relevant stakeholders to agree core requirements that inform and accelerate understanding, standards development & consistent, supportive regulation. It will also work to promote and market wireless IoT to and for wireless network operators, infrastructure providers, fixed line network operators, application developers, utilities, semiconductor companies, radio technology providers, module developers, system integrators and end user organisations.

“The IoT market is gathering significant momentum around the globe, with new technologies and use cases being announced daily,” said William Webb, CEO, Wireless IoT Forum (above). “However the risk presented by fragmentation remains very real. Without widely-agreed open standards we risk seeing pockets of proprietary technology developing independently, preventing the benefits of mass-market scale. We are delighted today to be announcing our inaugural membership and to begin work to drive towards a collective view on the right way to deliver widespread IoT services.”

“The IoT is growing at an unrelenting pace, but it’s important that the entire ecosystem co-operates around open standards in order for it to reach its full potential,” said Aidan Quilligan, managing director, Accenture Digital Mobility. “That’s why it’s important that the Forum works with key ecosystem members from the start, in order to create the right conditions for the mass market, without duplicating the work being done by existing standards bodies. Open standards represent the only way to begin the process of overcoming fragmentation in the IoT, and as part of the Forum, we will help drive this forward.”

“As the success of the GSM standard in the mobile world showed, working to open industry standards is critical to creating the necessary situation for mass market success,” said Mark Harrop, Director, Business Development (Mobile Programme), BT. “By aligning the complete value chain in defining and promoting these standards the Wireless IoT Forum is ideally suited to make the Internet of Things a success.”

"IoT, and in particular smart cities, is a fast-growing applications market that combines innovative wireless solutions with new ecosystem combinations,” said Will Gibson, CEO of Telensa. "The WIoTF is committed to aligning a diverse group of industry pioneers around key common approaches, so that IoT can build on early success to reach its undoubted potential."

“We are excited to be a part of such a groundbreaking group of individuals and companies working together to drive the IoT agenda,” said Feng Guo, Director Solution Center, WSN Tech. “As key players in this space, we recognize the need for competition to create dynamic markets but also the need for collaboration when promoting and supporting standardization and interoperability. These conditions are key to ensuring successful and timely IoT deployment worldwide,”

The Forum is actively recruiting new members. For enquiries and more information about joining contact – info@wiotf.org

About the Wireless IoT Forum
The Wireless IoT Forum aims to drive the deployment of the Internet of Things worldwide by reducing fragmentation and through the promotion of open standards and an increased focus on the needs of end-users. The Forum has been created to encourage the widespread adoption of wireless wide-area networking technologies in both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. It will work with key stakeholders from across the value chain to agree requirements that inform and accelerate standards development and deployments. For further information visit www.wiotf.org.

Wind River Enhances Simics for Agile IoT Development

30 June 2015 – Wind River®, a world leader in delivering software for the Internet of Things (IoT), has introduced the latest version of Wind River Simics®. Simics accelerates software development by delivering ground-breaking development capabilities and facilitates Agile software practices through the use of simulation technologies.

The latest updates to Simics include accelerated simulation performance and expanded capabilities for enhancing access, collaboration, and automation for software developers. Additionally, the process for modeling, debugging, and model asset reuse has been further improved to deliver a simpler user experience. Other new improvements provide additional capabilities enabling agile and automated testing with shorter feedback loops.

New features include the following:

• Greater performance: Simulation performance has been enhanced for tightly coupled multi-core and multiprocessor systems on multi-core hosts. Testing on parallel workloads shows performance increases of up to seven times when simulating an eight-core Linux symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) target on an eight-core host. Coupled with its existing performance technologies, Simics can efficiently simulate ever more complex targets to deliver the benefits of simulation for any target system.
• Easier test automation: Simplified scripting interfaces and fault injection framework allow easier use of Simics in test automation environments.
• Simpler collaboration: A checkpoint server allows easier management of checkpoints across teams. Users can share the system state of their simulations with others.
• Additional quick-start platforms: Immediate access to three quick-start platforms (Intel®, ARM®, and Power) allows every Simics user to enable early prototyping and tooling integration.
• Improved modeling support: Enhanced support for SystemC models with a new SystemC library and improved debugging tools help teams get models up and running quickly.

IoT and intelligent systems are pushing the boundaries for developers, creating challenging demands such as increasingly complex designs, greater intelligence and connectivity, and tightened development schedules. As development timelines become tighter, IoT developers are turning to Agile practices, which require constant on-demand access to the system, more efficient and faster collaboration between teams, and higher levels of automation.

“IoT is pushing the embedded community to re-evaluate the development lifecycle,” said Chris Rommel, vice president for IoT and Embedded Technology at VDC Research. “The increasing scale and complexity of IoT systems are forcing developers to adapt. Agile practices are one of the methods more engineers are now using to address these process challenges and improve access, collaboration and overall development efficiencies across their teams.”

“The demands of creating IoT systems are necessitating new development processes. As innovation cycles become shorter, embedded developers must increasingly adopt Agile and continuous practices,” said Michel Genard, vice president and general manager of system simulation at Wind River (above). “Simics continues to open up new possibilities for Agile development and allows teams to accelerate their timelines, as well as successfully design and test IoT scenarios virtually impossible to replicate via traditional methods. We’re committed to constantly growing our capabilities and investigating new opportunities such as the cloud to offer innovative methods to bring our virtual environment technologies to wider audiences.”

Simics is able to simulate nearly anything from a single chip to systems of any size and complexity. It  provides the access, automation, and collaboration required to implement Agile development practices and to continuously deliver better software, faster. By working from virtual models and eliminating the need for physical hardware (and its limitations) during development, simulation can accelerate development and transform how businesses operate. Developers can push automated testing much sooner in the development cycle, and perform both testing and debugging during design and prototyping phases. All team members can have unlimited access to virtual hardware, allowing new ways of working and improved collaboration throughout the entire lifecycle. Ultimately, developers can dramatically reduce risks of shipping late, overrunning budget, and sacrificing quality.

Simics is part of the Wind River Helix™ portfolio of products enabling IoT advancements. To learn more about how Wind River is addressing the opportunities and challenges of IoT, please visit www.windriver.com/products/helix/.

About Wind River
Wind River, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel® Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), is a global leader in delivering software for the Internet of Things. The company has been pioneering computing inside embedded devices since 1981, and its technology is found in more than 2 billion products. Wind River offers a comprehensive portfolio of solutions for addressing the system-level challenges and opportunities of IoT that is backed by world-class global professional services, award-winning customer support, and a broad partner ecosystem. Wind River delivers the software and expertise that enables the innovation and deployment of safe, secure, and reliable intelligent systems. To learn more, please visit www.windriver.com.

Source: Wind River

Sierra Wireless Selected by BNP’s Arval for Global Telematics Solution

29 Jun 2015 – Sierra Wireless today announced that Arval, a leader in full service vehicle leasing, fleet management, and usage-based insurance owned by BNP Paribas, has selected Sierra Wireless device-to-cloud technology to build its new global telematics solution.

The Arval telematics solution leverages the Sierra Wireless AirVantage® cloud, enabling Arval and its customers to monitor and manage a vehicle’s usage through a telematics on-board unit wirelessly connected to the cellular network with Sierra Wireless AirPrime® embedded modules. Targeted at enterprise fleet managers, the service enables them to track mileage, fuel consumption, driver behavior, and maintenance, as well as utilize usage-based insurance (UBI) models for cost savings.

Arval selected Sierra Wireless because the AirVantage cloud provides an accelerated development path. The cloud platform was already built and integrated with AirPrime embedded modules, and was able to easily connect to third-party application servers and their own web applications. With the wireless integration and management already covered, Arval was able to focus on the portion of the solution that offers value and differentiates it from competitors. In addition, AirVantage leverages standard device protocols, making it compatible with a wide variety of connected devices and future-proof in terms of compatibility with additional devices and services as Arval expands its service offering.

“We were looking for a technology partner to help us enhance our business and our customer service offering,” said Paul Gourley, Technology Director for Arval. “Sierra Wireless delivered the expertise and global scale we needed, delivering a full solution that integrates the devices, the device data, our mobile network operator’s infrastructure, and our back-end IT systems. This solution vastly simplified the process of bringing our new services to market and will enable us to scale rapidly as we deploy internationally.”

“Arval is an industry leader with a clear vision of how a connected service model can enable the company to better serve its customers and enhance its core business,” said Emmanuel Walckenaer, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Solutions for Sierra Wireless (above). “This collaboration demonstrates the value of a device-to-cloud solution in accelerating innovation in transportation and fleet management, but the model works across many industries and applications. We enable an organization to focus on developing the portion of the solution that is unique and tailored to its customers, knowing that the wireless connectivity and communication functions are already integrated and tested.”

The AirVantage cloud is an integrated platform of services that enables organizations to quickly build and deploy IoT solutions, managing devices, subscriptions, and application data through a single interface worldwide. AirVantage provides the data services to securely collect, store, and organize data streams so they are easily available to web and mobile applications, enterprise systems, or analytics tools. AirVantage also helps customers manage large deployments with dashboards and APIs to monitor the health of machines in the field and update them when required.

Please visit the Sierra Wireless website for more information about AirVantage cloud, AirPrime wireless modules, and the company’s solutions for transportation and fleet management.

About Sierra Wireless     
Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ:SWIR) (TSX:SW) is building the Internet of Things with intelligent wireless solutions that empower organizations to innovate in the connected world. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of 2G, 3G and 4G embedded modules and gateways, seamlessly integrated with their secure cloud and connectivity services. OEMs and enterprises worldwide trust Sierra Wireless’s innovative solutions to get their connected products and services to market faster.

Sierra Wireless has more than 900 employees globally and operates R&D centres in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.sierrawireless.com.

Source: Sierra Wireless

Advantech Launches Intel IoT Gateway Development Kit

26 June 2015 – Advantech, a global leader in the embedded system market, is pleased to announce comprehensive IoT Gateway Development Kit bundle with Intel Gateway Solutions for Internet of Things (IoT). This solution features a pre-integrated software and hardware platform containing a Linux operating system, security and management features.

This out-of-the-box solution simplifies customer deployment of IoT products and allows secure data aggregation, filtering, and analysis from edge devices to the cloud through Wi-Fi and/or even 4G technologies.

Speed Innovation and Maintain Interoperability
The Intel IoT Gateway development kit is designed to speed innovation and maintain interoperability with legacy systems. Developers quickly develop, prototype, and deploy intelligent gateways that meet emerging IoT market requirements, while maintaining interoperability with legacy systems, including sensors and datacenter servers. This solution is completely pre-configured and pre-validated with hardware, software, and security capabilities, and available now from third-party providers.

• Intel IoT Gateway, based on Intel Quark system-on-chips (SoCs) and Intel Atom processors, bring intelligence to the edge and easily inter operate with existing network applications and services.
• Intel development kits simplify integration, minimize development cost, and accelerate time-to-market with a complete solution that includes a fully configured board, chassis, power supply, antennas, and software.
• Standards-based interfaces enable Intel IoT Gateway to easily connect and inter operate with legacy systems, down to sensors and controllers and up to datacenters and the cloud.
• Kits include software from Wind River and McAfee Embedded Control 6.1 to monitor and protect data security by dynamically managing white lists. Intel provides an integrated software stack with drivers and scripts that support the built-in hardware-based root of trust.

IoT Design-in Services
Advantech leverages Wind River services to deliver a mix of embedded and vertical market expertise. They offer consultative leadership, deep technical capabilities, and innovative industry solutions to help overcome the most strategic and pressing development challenges. Their industry-specific offerings span the entire project life cycle, including consulting, architecture, design, development, porting, integration, and maintenance services; and their state-of-the-art platform simulation and test tools help accelerate deliverables and provide valuable reporting and documentation.

Training Services
Advantech Training Services provide two solutions:

• Online Video: A private link with access code gives access to the official video from Wind River. This video helps the customer understand Intel IoT Gateway solution development.
• Onsite Services: This option is available by customer request for Wind River and Advantech professional trainers who deliver two days of training that helps you understand development and get started quickly.

Online Video Access is the standard offering when you order the Intel IoT Gateway Development Kit from Advantech.

Intel IoT Gateway development kit will be available for order in the third quarter of 2015. For more information, please contact your local Advantech sales office or visit http://www2.advantech.eu/embedded-boards-design-in-services/

About Embedded Core Service
Advantech Embedded Core Services offers design-in oriented services. These streamlined solutions broadly integrate embedded boards, peripheral modules and software. This dedicated focus on Embedded Design-in services fulfills electronic engineering demands at their design-in phase, and brings benefits that shorten the design and integration cycle, minimizing uncertainty and risk. www.advantech.eu/EmbCore

About Advantech
Founded in 1983, Advantech is a leader in providing trusted, innovative products, services, and solutions. Advantech offers comprehensive system integration, hardware, software, customer-centric design services, embedded systems, automation products, and global logistics support. They cooperate closely with their partners to help provide complete solutions for a wide array of applications across a diverse range of industries. Their mission is to enable an intelligent planet with Automation and Embedded Computing products and solutions that empower the development of smarter working and living. For more information, please visit: www.advantech.eu.

Source: Business Wire

Komatsu Reinforces Production with The Internet of Things (IoT)

22 June 2015 – Komatsu today announced that it is embarking on novel production reforms designed to achieve "connected" production which enables real-time connection at all stages from production to sales and information flow through the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology).

Komatsu has been working on large-scale production reforms at plants in Japan since FY2011, with the goal of cutting electric power consumption by half. By adding to this effort the concept of "visualized" information through IoT, Komatsu plans to dynamically improve safety and productivity.

Linking market information directly with production plants will enable Komatsu to build a manufacturing operation in which plants will be actively involved make efforts in finding solutions to customers' problems.

1. "Connected" production
Komatsu is going to "visualize" information concerning production facilities, such as machine tools and robots, and information concerning production line operations through IoT, and then consolidate that information in a shared database. Based on this consolidated information, Komatsu will develop upgraded plans designed to improve per-floor space productivity, reduce manpower and shorten production lead-time.

Komatsu has already connected all robots at its main production plants worldwide through the Internet, promoting real-time access to production conditions. Komatsu is planning to install add-on controllers in machine tools and "visualize" information concerning facilities, enabling the understanding of reason for machinery downtime and thereby increase machinery utilization efficiency in order to dynamically uplift productivity.

2. Direct linkage of market information with production plants
Komatsu is going to link market information directly with its production plants through KOMTRAX (Komatsu Machine Tracking System) which is built into over 380,000 construction equipment units worldwide (as of 31 May 2015) and KOMTRAX Plus for mining equipment.

As plants will aggressively monitor and analyze the conditions of machine operation and abrasion of components, Komatsu and its distributors should be able to improve operations by honing the precision of predicting the lifetime of parts and the best time for overhauls. For its customers, Komatsu will help with the reduction of their lifecycle costs of products by supplying products according to different needs and proposing better ways of using machines.

Komatsu has long emphasized the importance of ICT, and since 2000, it has promoted the "visualization" of machine operation data through KOMTRAX and other means. Recently, by offering its Autonomous Haulage System (AHS) for mining customers and SMARTCONSTRUCTION for construction customers, Komatsu is achieving "visualization" of customers’ jobsite operations.

Komatsu is determined to be continuously innovative in creating new value for customers' jobsite operations by making group-wide efforts to "visualize" both customers' jobsite operations and Komatsu Group's production operations and also, through "connectivity".

About Komatsu
Established in 1921, Kmoatus is a leading provider of industrial-use products and services. Komatsu is an international leader in the field of construction and mining equipment and  also engages in a range of other business, including industrial machinery and vehicles, logistics, electronics and other solutions-based operations.

Source: Komatsu

IEEE Launches Real World “IoT Scenarios”

25 June 2015 – IEEE the world's largest professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, announced today that the Future Directions IEEE Internet of Things (IoT) Initiative has launched a new program to foster the sharing of real world IoT applications across all domains. The IEEE IoT Scenarios contributor program has been created to help those working in the space get exposure for IoT projects, ideas, and services and to provide a venue for sharing best practices and lessons learned.

“The IoT Scenarios program offers a unique opportunity for individuals and companies working on new and exciting applications driving the development of a wide range of IoT technologies to share their insight and achieve broader industry exposure,” said Roberto Minerva, chair, IEEE Internet of Things Initiative. “We encourage those working in the IoT space to contribute to the IEEE IoT Scenarios program and we welcome all IoT-related ideas, whether planned or currently under development.”

The IEEE IoT Scenarios submission process provides a streamlined means to easily upload IoT contributions in PDF format. To find out more about how to contribute, please visit the IoT Scenarios Submission Guidelines page. For example scenario submissions, visit the IoT Scenarios landing page.

To learn more about IEEE Internet of Things, please visit the IEEE IoT home page.

About IEEE
IEEE, a large, global technical professional organization, is dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice on a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics. Learn more at the IEEE Web site.

Source: Business Wire

On-Ramp Wireless and Meterlinq Deploy IoT Network in Italy

24 June 2015 – On-Ramp Wireless, a leading provider of long-range connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced it has partnered with MeterLinq srl, a provider of secure telemetry and remote-management infrastructure for smart metering and smart grid services, to deploy the first wide-area IoT network in Italy. The network, initially built for Italy’s leading natural gas operator Amgas, will provide connectivity for smart metering of natural gas and other industrial applications throughout the region.

The network integrates On-Ramp Wireless’ RPMA® (Random Phase Multiple Access) technology into the MeterLinq MeterNet® solution to deliver comprehensive connectivity for even the most challenging of environments. Connectivity options such as cellular are ill-equipped to provide cost-effective, reliable coverage and data capacity to utility assets that may be underground, widely distributed or in hard-to-reach locations. The innovative RPMA technology delivers proven, industry-leading wireless coverage and capacity and operates in the globally license-free 2.4 GHz band.

“Together with On-Ramp Wireless, MeterLinq can equip Amgas and other energy providers with reliable, scalable, smart metering for critical utility applications,” said Massimo Cesaro, chief technology officer, MeterLinq (above). “These solutions need to be deployed now, not only because of the immense value they offer to energy providers, but because the Italian government mandated all natural gas meters be transitioned to smart meters by 2020. Realistically, energy providers need to deploy solutions now if they hope to comply with the mandates by the issued deadline.”

The MeterLinq RPMA network will initially be deployed to support gas metering, and will extend to water metering in the next phase. A unique aspect of the RPMA network is that it can be used to serve multiple applications and customers once deployed at little to no additional cost. This will allow the current network to seamlessly support a range of industrial applications in the future.

“This latest deployment of the RPMA network is validation for the reliability and performance of On-Ramp Wireless’ technology, especially in supporting multi-application IoT networks,” said Jason Wilson, senior vice president, business development, On-Ramp Wireless. “We’re proud to further extend our global presence and work with MeterLinq to equip industrial IoT users with the connectivity they require.”

About On-Ramp Wireless
On-Ramp Wireless enables long-range connectivity for the IoT. The company’s revolutionary RPMA® technology offers unmatched range, capacity, battery life and performance, operating in unlicensed spectrum. On-Ramp provides a carrier-grade system suitable for public and large-scale enterprise multi-application networks, with proven global deployments in the most demanding environments. A wide range of partners integrate the patented RPMA technology to deliver solutions for smart grid, industrial automation, smart city and other IoT and M2M applications. For more information on On-Ramp Wireless including specific information on how RPMA can solve your connectivity challenges, please visit: www.onrampwireless.com

About MeterLinq srl
Located in Padova, Italy, MeterLinq plans, develops and builds secure telemetry and remote management AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) to provide services and applications for smart metering and smart grid to the energy, gas, water, district heating and CHP (combined heat and power) markets. The company’s reference targets are distributors and retailers of energy services, multi-utilities and public administration. For more information on MeterLinq, visit www.meterlinq.com

Source: OnRamp Wireless

Freescale Unveils World’s Tiniest IOT System

23 June 2015 – Today Freescale Semiconductor unveiled the world’s smallest single chip module (SCM) for the Internet of Things (IoT). As the IoT requires more processing horsepower to be packed into ever smaller spaces, Freescale’s new SCM line of products can integrate hundreds of components including processors, memory, power management and RF parts, which would otherwise be deployed on a six-inch board, into a tiny 17mm X 14mm X 1.7mm package – the size of a U.S. dime.

SCM products are engineered to dramatically reduce time-to-market, allowing an estimated 25 percent reduction in hardware development time – as well as greater than 50 percent reduction in size versus current discrete solutions. The module’s exceptional performance and connectivity allow customers targeting IoT markets to incorporate sophisticated predictive data analytics capabilities into their products, allowing for highly compelling and potentially disruptive end-products.

Freescale’s SCM modules are ideal for applications such as 3D gaming goggles, where battery life and power are important; next-generation IoT drones requiring extreme processing performance for object recognition; and other IoT products, where highly advanced graphics and user interfaces are considered key to more mainstream adoption. Other markets well suited for Freescale’s SCM technology include wearables, next-generation medical equipment and autonomous sensing applications.

“Early-stage companies entering the IoT and portable markets often work with limited resources and must create novel, compelling products in highly constrained form factors,” said Nancy Fares vice president of System Solutions at Freescale. “For these and other businesses targeting highly competitive and fast-growing markets, Freescale’s SCM product line represents a major breakthrough that addresses a host of hardware and software design challenges, allowing them to begin development immediately and focus their efforts on designing highly differentiated applications and products.”

The module announced today, the i.MX 6Dual SCM, is the first in a new SCM portfolio. Designed to function as a computer on a chip it is enabled for DDR memory and combines the performance of Freescale’s i.MX 6Dual applications processor together with a power management integrated circuit (PMIC), flash memory, embedded software/firmware, and system-level security technology including random number generation, cryptographic cipher engines and tamper prevention.

Availability and support
Freescale’s SCM portfolio products are delivered as a fully tested and software-enabled platform for consumer and industrial applications. They feature optimized board support package stacks and are enabled for both Linux and Android. The i.MX 6Dual SCM is planned for availability in August 2015 directly from Freescale, and through Arrow Electronics distribution. Additional products in the SCM product roadmap are planned for release over the next two years.

Freescale’s software/hardware solutions teams and a number of SCM ecosystem partners enable fully embedded component sourcing and enhanced design support to reduce supply chain complexity and overcome development challenges.

About Freescale Semiconductor
Freescale Semiconductor enables secure, embedded processing solutions for the Internet of Tomorrow. Freescale’s solutions drive a more innovative and connected world, simplifying our lives and making us safer. While serving the world’s largest companies, Freescale is also committed to supporting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, enabling the next generation of innovators. www.freescale.com

Sourse: Business Wire

Actility Raises $25m, Led by Ginko Ventures, KPN, Orange, Swisscom and Foxconn

16 June 2015 – Actility, a leading provider of network solutions and managed information systems for the Internet of Things (IoT) market, today announced it has secured a $25 million funding round led by Ginko Ventures. Ginko Ventures leads a prestigious group of investors including tier-one telcos KPN, Orange, Swisscom and Foxconn, along with the existing investors Fonds Ecotechnologies managed by Bpifrance Investissement, Idinvest Partners, and Truffle Capital.

The investment will allow Actility to accelerate its go-to-market strategy for ThingPark, its open standard IoT network solution; funding its operational resources, building a high level of service and continuing to develop technology partnerships to foster a healthy ecosystem. It follows a recently concluded technology partnership between Actility and Swisscom.

A fully integrated platform for nationwide IoT, Actility’s ThingPark™ is designed to enable IoT services for any market sector, offering ready-to-go IoT connectivity plus a full set of ready-to-sell applications in less than one month. It is a Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) radio network built on the LoRaWAN™ standard, developed and supported by the LoRa™ Alliance.

LoRaWAN networks address the three critical elements required for IoT networks connecting billions of devices: low power, long range, and low cost. ThingPark represents the first end-to-end, LoRaWAN interoperable platform to serve the IoT market for every use case.

“Today’s wireless technologies are not optimized for IoT applications which require sensors to be low power and able to run on a battery with very little maintenance. ThingPark provides the technology to connect both long range and low power sensors over unlicensed ISM band spectrum, allowing low cost and fast roll-out of IoT networks for a wide range of IoT applications,” said Olivier Hersent, Founder, CEO and CTO, Actility. “We are delighted to have secured the backing of such prominent communications industry leaders.”

“With more than 50 Billion devices to be connected by 2020, Cisco believes that new scalable IoT infrastructure and services will become key evolution at every scale, for Telcos, cities and corporate campuses,” said Tony Shakib, Vice-President IoE (Internet of Everything) Vertical Solutions at Cisco.

He added: “We backed LoRaWAN as an open technology for IoT and are excited to see today such industry momentum behind Actility, whom we see as a critical partner to make pervasive IoT infrastructure and services.”

“After the rise of personal connected objects such as consumer wearable devices, we are now witnessing the emergence of a second wave: managed connected objects,” said Hersent. “Managed connected objects are creating a more efficient, more sustainable world. With a ubiquitous and cost-effective IoT network in place, utilities for instance will be able to accelerate their smart-metering plans, to optimize the filling of fuel tanks, to increase the use of renewable energy by dynamically controlling thermostats. We have the technology to achieve a paradigm shift in remote monitoring and management - think of instant fire or leak detection, or prevention of loss of valuable equipment using smart tracking. Ubiquitous IoT will have a huge impact in agriculture and other key sectors of the economy. ThingPark is available now, allowing Telecom operators or municipalities to deploy an IoT network in a month.”

“Foxconn Group is transforming to be a High Technology Solution Provider, including Hardware and Software Value creation. Through this strategic investment, we will expand our current collaboration with Actility to bring its LoRaWAN technology and IoT Platform and Solutions to Taiwan, China, and the rest of Asia," said Fang Ming Lu, Executive Vice President of Foxconn. “We will leverage our strong network to accelerate the development of the IoT ecosystem, as well as promote and integrate Actility’s IoT Solutions for Smart Cities implementation in APAC."

Jasper Snijder, SVP New Business at KPN, said: “As a founding member of the LoRa alliance, we’re proud to partner with Actility and contribute to the development of the Internet-of-Things – the next big thing in the digital landscape.”
Pierre Louette, Orange’s Deputy CEO who is also responsible for Orange Digital Ventures said: “Actility’s connected objects platform is based on bringing together its open service approach with the power of networks. This clearly corresponds to the ambition of Orange Digital Ventures to invest in actors that are developing innovative digital services that contribute to change our customers experience and answer the changing desires and needs of our customers. The Internet of Things is an extremely promising new market and it is important for Orange to support the start-ups and developers who are currently working on services that will become part of our future.”

Jean-Paul de Weck, CEO Swisscom Broadcast: “This is a technology that comes at the right time for operators to accelerate the connection of objects. There is set to be a huge increase in the demand for IoT and we see Actility as a key partner as we expand our activities in this market.”

“Actility’s innovative platform combined with operators’ ability to deliver long term network services nationwide are key to the adoption of IoT applications such as utility metering, street lighting, asset tracking or home security that need resilient and cost effective infrastructure in place for many years,” said Dominique Pitteloud, Managing Partner at Ginko Ventures. “Key to the structuring of the investment round was to bring together a set of strategic investors to collaborate on building the infrastructure for the successful deployment of these new services.”

About Actility
Actility is an industry leader in LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) large scale infrastructure with ThingPark®, its next generation, standard-based IoT communication platform. Actility was founded in 2010 by telecom and technology expert Olivier Hersent. Headquartered in Paris, Actility has offices in Belgium, the UK and Singapore. It is a founding member of the LoRa Alliance: the largest, most powerful standards-based effort to enable the Internet of Things. Please visit www.actility.com for more information.

About the The LoRa Alliance
The LoRa Alliance for Wide Area Networks for the Internet of Things is an open, non-profit association of members that believes the internet of things era is now. The Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) specification is intended for wireless battery operated Things in a regional, national or global network. LoRaWAN targets key IoT requirements including secure bi-directional communication, mobility and localisation services. The mission of the Alliance is to standardise LPWAN to enable IoT, M2M, smart city and industrial applications, to guarantee interoperability between operators in one open global standard. Officially launched at the Mobile World Congress in March 2015, the Alliance has already attracted more than 300 members. LoRa is a trademark of Semtech Corporation. Please visit http://lora-alliance.org for further information.

Source: Actility

BulbThings Launches Next-Generation IOT Asset Management Solution

12 June 2015 – Bulb Software Ltd, an innovative UK registered software company today announced the launch of  BulbThings, a smart asset management solution that allows companies to manage from a single platform assets ranging from handheld devices and vehicles to diverse equipment used by their customers.

BulbThings includes the following smart features:

• Single tool to manage a broad range of assets. BulbThings allows customers to understand not only the overall cost of asset usage but also the cost attributed to an individual staff member using a specific asset. This encourages more economical use of assets.
• Simultaneous tracking and management of assets. Customers can follow orders, contracts, events, and departures/ returns of all assets. Additionally, BulbThings provides device-tracking real-time location and usage data.
• Smart Data. BulbThings nalyses data from multiple sources (including connected assets, suppliers’ invoices and asset users) and provides managers with the insight needed to optimise asset usage and cut costs.
• Collaboration. BulbThings is based on the latest web technologies. It can provide real-time notifications and alerts to asset managers, asset users and asset suppliers, enabling each stakeholder to optimise efficiency and minimise cost and stakeholder groups to collaborate in order to optimise efficiency.

“BulbThings enables the most efficient management of enterprises assets,” commented Leslie Depond, Bulb Software Chief Customer Officer (above). “We know from talking to our customers that the BulbThings approach of allowing management of all assets in one place makes it much easier to control everything while keeping down costs. Whether your business is big or small, BulbThings will connect your assets via a single, cloud-based solution. And as more things get connected in the enterprise, BulbThings will allow you to track and manage them all.”

Pricing
BulbThings contains a fully integrated lifecycle management and connected asset management solution. Pricing starts from as little as $2 per asset.

For more information please contact visit http://bulbthings.com.

About Bulb Software
Bulb Software Ltd., headquartered in London, UK, consists of a team of technology and business professionals with extensive digital and asset management industry experience. The company was started when founder Yann Depond realised that there was a growing need for companies to simplify asset management with a versatile solution that managed any type of asset. Using the latest web and emerging IoT technologies, Bulb Software created a new generation of solutions that maximise both efficiency and cost savings.

Contact Information
Email: hello@bulbthings.com

Twitter: @BulbThings

Tel: +44 (0)800 020 9656

Source: Bulb Software