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Sigfox sets sights on support for manufacturing, supply chain

The IoT specialist has new offerings designed to allow manufacturers to easily adopt IoT

French IoT connectivity provider Sigfox has launched a suite of new services for the provision of internet of things (IoT) connectivity with an emphasis on low-cost components to support manufacturing and supply chain operations.

Admiral Ivory is a simplified connectivity service which makes it possible to transform any short-range wireless device into a long-range IoT device based on a hardware component that costs of 20-cents.

The French firm said Admiral Ivory opens the door to creating connected, disposable assets and one-time IoT applications. Through Admiral Ivory, it will be possible to connect and track small parcels and letters, which offers a significant opportunity for industrial packing, logistics and retail industries.

This complements Sigfox’s low-cost connectivity solution, now named Sigfox Admiral Blue. The technology enables inexpensive modules from as little as $2 to send packets of information over long distances, while using very little power, the company said.

Sigfox also announced a new offering for manufacturers looking to use devices globally, which means the devices can run in any part of the world. The new product, dubbed Sigfox Monarch, is a cognitive service that support connectivity worldwide by allowing IoT devices to recognize and automatically adapt to local communications standards.

Sigfox’s technology operates in unlicensed bands worldwide, with radio frequencies ranging from 862 MHz to 928 MHz. Using unlicensed bands enables devices to send their data to the cloud while using little power, at very low cost. Sigfox Monarch provides a radio recognition service enabling devices to manage the radio frequency changes, without any additional hardware such as GPS or Wi-Fi chipset.

Sigfox also said that this new offering is tailored for logistics, freight, and consumer goods industries.

These new services add an extra layer of functionality to the existing Sigfox geolocation service. Atlas, previously known as Sigfox Geolocation, is an integrated geolocation function, which uses radio-signal analysis to determine the device’s location. Unlike GPS, the service does not increase power consumption and requires no extra hardware, beyond the already-integrated Sigfox chip.

“Each of these services radically reduce the costs and barriers to entry for manufacturers that want to break into the IoT market. Manufacturers will benefit from faster time to market, lower cost of production and the ability to deliver greater customization for each device,” Ludovic Le Moan, CEO at Sigfox, said.

ABOUT AUTHOR

Juan Pedro Tomás
Juan Pedro Tomás
Juan Pedro covers Global Carriers and Global Enterprise IoT. Prior to RCR, Juan Pedro worked for Business News Americas, covering telecoms and IT news in the Latin American markets. He also worked for Telecompaper as their Regional Editor for Latin America and Asia/Pacific. Juan Pedro has also contributed to Latin Trade magazine as the publication's correspondent in Argentina and with political risk consultancy firm Exclusive Analysis, writing reports and providing political and economic information from certain Latin American markets. He has a degree in International Relations and a master in Journalism and is married with two kids.