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IoT firm UnaBiz intros low-power GPS trackers to monitor black bears in Japan

Singapore-based Sigfox operator and IoT service provider UnaBiz is providing low-power GPS trackers to monitor Asian black bears in Japan, and help keep the peace with local residents. The company is working with the Picchio Wildlife Research Centre, a wildlife tour operator and conservation company...

Edzcom, Nokia install private 5G for sports broadcasts, vehicle tests at Finnish KymiRing

The KymiRing motorsports venue in Finland is to get its own private 5G network to augment media streaming and television broadcast services, as well as to help with testing autonomous and connected vehicles. Local private networking specialist Edzcom has been appointed to manage the...

The role of operators in the weird science of Industry 4.0 (a ramble on private 5G)

Some quick (perhaps not fully-formed) thoughts on the supply and management of private 5G networks for industry. These come from a series of conversations for an upcoming report (and webinar) about the kind of service level agreements (SLAs) that might go to under-write industrial-grade...

Over 572m smart electricity meters to be installed in APAC in 2021-25

  A total of 572.3 million smart electricity meters are forecast to be deployed in China, India, Japan and South Korea during the 2021–2025 period, according to a new study by IoT research firm Berg Insight. At the end of 2019, the overall smart meter penetration...

Nokia strikes deals for LTE smart-grid in Denmark, 5G university-campus in Japan

Nokia has announced a deal with Danish network operator and internet provider Cibicom to deploy an LTE network in the 450MHz band to underpin mission critical services and “mass volume IoT adoption”. Separately, the Finnish vendor has said it is working with broadband provider...

Cox launches smart traffic pilot in downtown Las Vegas

  Cox Communications has launched a pilot partnership with the city of Las Vegas to trial its smart curbside management solution from Cox2M, which is aimed at reducing downtown traffic congestion. The goal of the new pilot project is to reduce traffic congestion in downtown Las...

Deutsche Telekom ramps up NB-IoT and LTE-M roaming in bid to offer global IoT

Deutsche Telekom has said it is now offering NB-IoT connectivity in 20 countries and LTE-M in 10 countries. The company has outlined new cellular IoT contracts for water irrigation with Spanish manufacturer Hidroconta, in-building lighting with German lighting specialist Fischer Akkumulatorentechnik, storm damage monitoring...

SNCF tests LoRaWAN to track rail assets as LoRa Alliance bids for GS1 certification

The LoRa Alliance is working with SNCF to monitor rail assets in France and test the feasibility of adding LoRaWAN as a carrier tech in GS1 standards. It is engaged with GS1 in Europe, the European arm of the GS1 standards body for the...

“An exciting adventure” – Nokia opens 5G/6G lab in Australia to drive Industry 4.0

Nokia has announced a five-year deal with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to build and run a 5G innovation facility at the university’s Tech Lab campus in Sydney, Australia. The new lab will see Nokia and UTS test 5G use cases with partners...

UK IoT firm Eseye gets boost as TELUS plugs-in IoT roaming, pumps-in £15m

Canadian operator TELUS has launched a global cellular IoT roaming service with IoT connectivity management provider Eseye, and pumped £15 million (CAD$26.3m, USD$20.88m) of investment into the UK-based firm at the same time.  The new roaming service, a white-labelled version version of Eseye’s AnyNet platform,...

Once upon a time in the (New) West – how LoRa is looking to strike gold on the IoT trail

Note, this article is continued from a previous post, entitled ‘IoT is not about LoRa vs Sigfox anymore; it is about Design Process X vs Design Process Y’. Click here to see the previous instalment. Picking up the thread again, we hear that the cost-sensitive...

Sony Semiconductor intros NB2 IoT chipset with 2G fallback for tracking, monitoring

Sony Semiconductor Israel has released a new cellular IoT chipset for NB-IoT networks. The firm’s low-power Altair ALT1255 chipset is designed for LTE Cat NB2 devices, running the Release 14 version of the NB-IoT protocol. It is geared for low-power wide-area (LPWA) IoT devices...

Private 5G for industrial IoT in smart ports – payback in two years, says Ericsson

Shipping ports can make money back on key private 5G-based automation systems in less than two years, reckons Ericsson, and make valuable gains (178-percent returns) within five. The Swedish vendor has worked with Germany-based industrial IoT provider ifm electronic, along with commission management consultancy Arthur...

Europe announces major release, review of public-private 5G funds to spur economy

The European Commission has published a major review of funding for 5G-based and 5G-related industrial transformation, including €10 billion of new public-private partnership (PPP) funding to drive the region’s digital and green agendas, and a series of “ambitious” recommendations to raise venture funding in...

Up the creek – Telia tells CRE market to get on board with IoT, or go down with the boat

The commercial real estate (CRE) market is in dire straits, and desperate for change. It was up the creek already, even before Covid-19 forced the current, holed the boat, and swiped the paddle. And even if the latest IoT tech promises to furnish old...

100,000 units, ‘and growing’ – Wirepas, Ingy strike monster deal for indoor smart lighting

IoT connectivity provider Wirepas has closed a monster-sized deal with smart lighting provider Ingy for 100,000 units of its mesh networking solution, to be combined with Ingy’s indoor lighting control solutions. It is the biggest smart lighting deal to date for Finland-based Wirepas, providing...

Smart traffic management systems to save cities $277bn by 2025, says report

Smart traffic management systems will save cities $277 billion by 2025, by reducing traffic congestion. The figure is a rise of 55 percent on the 2021 savings forecast, of $178 billion in 2021. Traffic emissions will be reduced alongside. The uplift will come mainly...

From 5G to 6G with Industry 4.0 – and the $1tn telco boom that might never come

(Am I really going to write this?) 6G is a trillion dollar opportunity, apparently. So says the headline in a PR missive about a new report from research firm IDTechEx, making a stab at forecasting the next generation of mobile comms, even before the...

‘IoT is not about LoRa vs Sigfox anymore; it is about Design Process X vs Design Process Y’

The low-power wide-area (LPWA) end of the IoT sector is characterised by the capabilities and limitations of its main connectivity technologies. But this is wrong. These technologies – the likes of LoRaWAN, Sigfox, and NB-IoT – should not be so easily reduced to a...

Druid signs with Pierson, Winncom for CBRS-based private LTE deployments

Private cellular network vendor Druid Software has announced new distribution deals for its private LTE core networking solution in the US with Nebraska-based network engineering firm Pierson Wireless and Ohio-based network distributor Winncom Technologies. Both firms will sell the Irish firm’s RAEMIS core networking...

Sigfox chief Le Moan exits, replaced by USA boss, as IoT firm kickstarts new ‘evolution’

Sigfox co-founder and chief executive Ludovic Le Moan has stepped down from the French IoT firm with immediate effect. He has been replaced by Jeremy Prince, who has served as president of the company’s US operations since March 2019. Le Moan founded Sigfox in 2009...

Deutsche Telekom to build ‘a million square metres’ of private 5G at Hanover Fairground

Trade fair operator Deutsche Messe has secured a private 5G licence from German network agency BNetzA for the Hanover fairground in Germany, home to Germany’s flagship Industrie 4.0 event. It has recruited Germany-based carrier Deutsche Telekom to set up “one of the largest 5G...

Vodafone intros 10cm GNSS positioning to zone-in on ‘needle in industrial IoT haystack’

Vodafone is launching a higher-accuracy GNSS-based positioning technology for enterprises to remotely track vehicles, machines, and devices to within 10 centimetres, compared to around three metres with standard satellite systems. It is using an assisted GNSS system, which introduces various correction techniques and analytics,...

Volkswagen reaches for the cloud with Microsoft to orchestrate smart cars

Volkswagen Group is to build a cloud-based ‘automated driving platform’ on Microsoft Azure to accelerate development of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving functions for group car brands. Developers of vehicle-based IoT systems will be able to work off a single engineering...