Amazon, Intel, DISH, Tata and Arduino, among others, have joined the LoRa Alliance variously as sponsor and contributor members, the group has announced.
Amazon has joined as sponsor, along with German electricity distribution network operator Netze BW. Both companies are eligible to be elected to the board, vote for board seats, and participate in all committee work.
New contributor-level members include US chip firm Intel, Indian telco Tata Communications, US television and telecoms operator Dish Network, and Switzerland-based open-source company Arduino.
Interlink Electronics, Paige Wireless, Thingstream, and Unitymedia NRW have also joined as contributor members.
The LoRa Alliance organizes around 3,000 members from 500 different companies, in the development of LoRaWAN specifications and the LoRaWAN certification programme.
Donna Moore, chief executive and chairwoman of the LoRa Alliance, commented: “It is a huge endorsement of the LoRa Alliance to have so many recognized global brands coming on board from all areas of the IoT ecosystem to advance our work and technology.”
Most of the new members provided quotes in the press release that went with the announcement, with the exception of Amazon, Intel, and Dish. They explained their roles in terms of developing the IoT sector and LoRaWAN adoption.
Fabio Violante, chief executive at Arduino, said: “For the past few years Arduino has been on a journey to make available its hardware and IoT cloud platforms not only to makers and educators but also to enterprises, by releasing several families of connected products designed for IoT applications. In this scenario long range and low power connectivity plays a fundamental role.”
Nick Lechner, manager of LoRaWAN for Netze BW, commented: “The LoRa Alliance is driving the standardization and further development of LoRaWAN, making an important contribution to the further introduction of IoT. As the operator of energy networks in Baden-Württemberg, we want to use LoRaWAN both for smart utility use cases and to provide capacities especially for Smart City applications.”
Alok Bardiya, head of IoT at Tata Communications, said: “We are committed to developing an IoT ecosystem in India, bringing all the various players with this space – from developers, start-ups, device manufacturers etc. under one system to provide end-to-end IoT solutions to Indian customers. With the largest IoT network based on LoRaWAN technology in India, we are excited about the opportunity that this network enables in terms of improving worker safety, saving energy costs by smart lighting or even asset and energy monitoring.”
Neil Hamilton, chief business development officer at Thingstream, commented: “Being part of the LoRa Alliance enables us to provide our customers with a choice of MQTT based connectivity options depending on their use case; this well-organized working body provides the ideal platform to collaborate.”
