Sigfox has strategically partnered with multiple site owners, including tower, rooftop and billboard sites
France-based Sigfox is to expand its dedicated internet of things (IoT) network to 100 US cities, where it will connect everything from factory robots to smoke alarms, washing machines, smart watches, interactive billboards and more.
Currently operating in 18 countries and registering more than 7m devices in its network, Sigfox is the world’s leading provider of a subscription-based, low-power, wide-area (LPWA) communications offer for the IoT.
The company, which was funded last year to the tune of $115m, expanded into Latin America last month, with network deployment underway in Brazil.
Light infrastructure, wide footprint
Sigfox owes its speed of deployment to the fact that its network requires lighter infrastructure than traditional wireless networks and only needs a limited number of sites in order for it to increase its network footprint.
Sigfox has strategically partnered with multiple site owners, including tower, rooftop and billboard sites. Together, the partnerships give the company access to more than 230,000 sites across the US.
‘Sigfox’s low-cost internet of things connectivity complements cellular networks, and allows billions of additional devices to participate in the benefits of IoT’
– ALLEN PROITHIS, SIGFOX
“The US is a huge growth market for internet of things connectivity, especially in smart cities, utilities, shipping and agriculture sectors that require large-scale and cost-effective communication,” said Allen Proithis, president of Sigfox North America.
“Our partnerships with these site owners enables Sigfox to leverage existing sites to rapidly deploy our out-of-the-box connectivity solution in the US market.
“Sigfox’s low-cost internet of things connectivity complements cellular networks, and allows billions of additional devices to participate in the benefits of IoT.”
IDC forecasts that, by 2020, North America will have the world’s third-largest installed base of IoT units (7.5bn) and, correspondingly, the third-largest market for IoT-generated revenue ($1.9trn).
Times Square image via Shutterstock
