The Actility Newsroom

Actility partners with network operators worldwide to launch ThingPark Exchange, the first LoRaWAN international roaming hub

Actility, the industry leader in Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) network connectivity, today announces ThingPark Exchange, the first hub for international IoT roaming, and the agreement of a number of public LoRaWAN operators around the world to sign up to the service. LoRa Alliance members including Australian operator NNNCo and Finland’s Digita, will connect their LoRaWAN network servers to the Actility ThingPark Exchange platform to enable instant packet roaming between their networks.

“Global roaming between different networks will enable new multi-country use cases and new business models with simpler deployment models,” explains Actility CEO Olivier Hersent. “Although roaming between different LoRaWAN operators has been standardized, it still requires operators to establish individual connections between many public or enterprise operators, making the process long, expensive and inefficient. ThingPark Exchange is the first roaming enablement platform to be fully compliant with the new LoRa Alliance roaming specifications. Now, once set up on the platform, any operator has an instant connection to all the other partner operators.”

The Exchange hub enables LoRaWAN service providers to consistently execute and control their roaming agreements. If necessary, traffic policy and Service Level Agreements (SLA) can be customised through individual commercial agreements.

By joining ThingPark Exchange, service providers will be able to more easily meet their customers’ requirements for global roll-outs. For example, companies active in a several countries or globally will be able to contract with only one operator for their IoT connectivity, instead of a different operator in every country. The chosen single operator, connected to ThingPark Exchange, will be able to make use of other Exchange-connected roaming partners to supply a multi-country connectivity solution for its customer.

“ThingPark Exchange will allow Digita to provide high-quality LoRaWAN services for our customers wherever they are needed globally, whilst simplifying the process of setting up worldwide connectivity arrangements dramatically,” says Digita’s IoT Services Director Ari Kuukka.

“We’re excited by the possibilities ThingPark Exchange opens up,” says NNNCo CEO Rob Zagarella. “Not only international use cases, but also the ability for our customers with regional enterprise or city networks to use roaming between networks to extend coverage for certain use cases throughout Australia.

ThingPark Exchange is a component of Actility’s ThingPark Services Center, which offers a range of services to enrich and augment the capabilities of deployed networks. It includes ThingPark Activation for large-scale device activation; TP Location for one-stop location determination and exposure using a mix of several location technologies; and TP FOTA Server which enables firmware-over-the-air update of devices in the field, increasing their lifetime & enhancing security.

The Actility Newsroom

Actility launches Ecosystem Partner Program

Connexin, the leading smart city infrastructure provider, and Actility, the industry leader in Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) networks, today announce that they are working together to deploy a LoRaWAN IoT communication network for the City of Hull, in the north of England. Specializing in building and operating award-winning Smart City Infrastructure to support the Internet of Things, Connexin works in partnership with local authorities, global technology companies and specialist technology providers to build metropolitan networks and smart city infrastructure.

“This is the infrastructure layer that smart cities have been waiting for: total coverage, indoors and outside.” explains Connexin Head of Smart Cities, Sam Forster. “It will allow sensors and smart devices to be deployed at scale and for innovation in services to be enabled and driven. We are committed to this technology because we feel it is the most powerful way to build Smart City solutions at scale.”
“We’re very proud to have been chosen by Connexin to support their roll-out of a dedicated network for the smart city of Hull,” comments Actility CEO Olivier Hersent. “This network will support more efficient public services and create opportunities in for commercial businesses across the City, and make Hull one of the clear leaders in the UK in deploying IoT for the benefit of its citizens.”
“The attractiveness of the network needs to be looked at in three ways,” expands Sam Forster. “First, for improved and more efficient public services; secondly for special users – emergency services, healthcare and social care – to be able to benefit from smarter services and more real-time data to keep people alive, healthier and improve their well-being; and thirdly, the commercial sector, so retail, parking, food and beverage, entertainment, service providers, estate managers… the list is endless.”

Connexin is deploying the network before having paying customers for it, as an investment in essential infrastructure, pioneering a new approach to enabling smart cities. Once the network is deployed, the company will offer both free and commercial services depending on the use case, end customer and commercial objectives.

Explaining Connexin’s choice of Actility as a partner, Sam Forster says: “Actility is a leader in LoRaWAN and a key player in the LoRa Alliance. The ThingPark multi-tenant platform brings true carrier-grade capacity and management capabilities, and will allow us to operate as a Smart City Operator, providing a network to many different large and small smart services providers. The city council and individuals will be able to run their business across a single network. We are delighted to have Actility as a partner and expect to drive Smart Cities at scale across the UK in the coming years.”

Day: June 7, 2018