Sigfox parent Unabiz has continued to make good on its word to unify low-power wide-area (LPWA) network technologies by striking a deal with LoRaWAN network operator and system provider Senet to allow Sigfox customers to utilise public LoRaWAN in the US, and hybrid LoRaWAN solutions to run on public Sigfox infrastructure elsewhere. It follows a similar deal last week with Dutch LoRaWAN group The Things Industries.
It also appears to run somewhat contradictory to claims, in these pages, from the LoRa Alliance last week that the Sigfox-LoRaWAN tie-up was a more one-sided affair, with international Sigfox traffic now running onto LoRaWAN infrastructure. A press release from Unabiz and Senet makes clear a future aspect of the deal will be to “create future global 0G (Sigfox) network access outside of North America for customers deploying hybrid solutions”.
However, the initial scope of the arrangement is for Unabiz customers to gain access to public LoRaWAN infrastructure in the US, importantly – where Sigfox, under previous ownership, tried and failed to stand-up public LPWA network infrastructure. The paid said: “The partnership will initially focus on helping multiple Unabiz global customers enter the North American market… using Senet’s public LoRaWAN network… [and] platform.”
Senet’s platform-as-a-service allows customers to bring their own gateways and interconnections to deploy private LoRaWAN networks. It went on to say the pair will, down the line, collaborate to allow Senet’s customers to “seamlessly leverage the Unabiz global 0G network powered by Sigfox 0G technology”. Sigfox claims public networks, of varying expanse and coverage, in 70-odd markets.
Unabiz said: “The strategic alliance between Unabiz and Senet is a part of Unabiz’s technology convergence movement which accelerated when the IoT company acquired the Sigfox 0G technology 12 months ago. Both companies are excited about the expansion of their service offerings and support of customers who rely on hybrid solutions to scale globally.”
Henri Bong, chief executive at Unabiz, said: “We want our customers to focus on the value that massive IoT can bring instead of worrying about which technology to use, coverage issues, and the cost of deployment. Through our partnership with Senet, our customers can achieve economies of scale by roaming between public 0G network infrastructure, and Senet’s public… and private LoRaWAN network capabilities across North America.”
He added: “This move will also allow our ecosystem partners and solution makers to develop hybrid solutions that service a wider market and use cases, further bringing down the cost of massive IoT. It is a win-win situation.”
Bruce Chatterley, chief executive at Senet, commented: “A single technology approach is simply not good enough or fast enough for our customers. By interconnecting our network offerings, both Senet and Unabiz can instantly overcome the geographical limits of our network availability, allowing our customers to expand based on their unique application needs. We share in the Unabiz vision that IoT, and LPWAN technology specifically, can bring massive benefits to businesses and society. To this end, we are excited about becoming a key Unabiz strategic partner for North America, which represents one of the largest IoT opportunities in the world.”
