BROWSING: Sensors

There were two high profile pieces of M&A news in the IoT hardware space in the last week. First up, on Friday 29th July, Telit and Thales announced that they were combining the assets of Telit with those of Thales’ IoT hardware business into...

Well, it didn’t take long; “advanced talks” between Semtech and Sierra Wireless, as reported yesterday, have quickly concluded, with US firm Semtech confirming a deal to acquire its Canadian counterpart for $1.2 billion. The deal, subject to final approval, will bring together Semtech’s LoRa/LoRaWAN...

The latest release of the 5G New Radio (NR) standard has, at last, fixed a problem for cellular-based sensor comms with the emergence of a cut-down version of 5G for massive-scale IoT deployments. On paper, anyway; in reality, the news only confirms a waypoint...

Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) has said it will invest a further $100 million in 5G, AI, and IoT startups via its Singtel Innov8 corporate venture arm. The new funds will take its total capital commitment to $350 million. New investments will be focused on early-...

Italian-American IoT module maker Telit is to acquire the cellular IoT unit of French aerospace, defence, and security company Thales in return for a quarter-share of its expanded industrial IoT business. Thales will take a 25 percent stake in the expanded Telit business, headquartered...

Sigfox is back from the dead in South Africa, after local Sigfox operator SqwidNet was canned a year ago by parent company Community Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH) because of a lack of demand. This week, following Sigfox’s rescue by Unabiz in France and “extensive...

Swedish ferry company Stena Line has deployed a dual-band LoRa/LoRaWAN-based network, with IoT gateways and devices in unlicensed spectrum, on its Stena Hollandica roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) passenger ferry, following work by US chipmaker and LoRa-owner Semtech, together with Netherlands-based IoT companies SkyLab and HeNet. The...

Sunderland City Council and the University of Sunderland in the UK have appointed BAI Communications (BAI), already engaged on a 20-year deal with the city council to build and operate a 5G network to support municipal services and the local manufacturing sector, to also...

Philippe Chiu has been sleeping for three hours a night, he says, for six months. He has taken to power-napping, like he is “at college again”, he says. “Twenty minutes gets you three hours. And it works – because it is good sleep. So,...

KDDI-owned Soracom is offering satellite IoT connectivity via its global IoT connectivity platform, following a deal with Switzerland-based nanosatellite operator Astrocast. The deal enables Soracom to offer a “blended IoT connectivity solution”, it said, affording solution providers and enterprise customers a way to also...

Some new light on the murky, creeping digital change taking place in the automotive sector, long-considered the flashiest venue for Industry 4.0 (but highly secretive and deeply conservative), and specifically at one of its blue riband manufacturers, in the original home of Industrie 4.0; German...

France-based Eutelsat and UK-based OneWeb have signed a provisional takeover deal, which values OneWeb at $3.4 billion, and would, if pursued and passed, would create a European satellite rival for the likes of SpaceX-owned Starlink. The pair have agreed to combine their satellite connectivity...

Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors is to work with Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) to jointly develop new compute and connectivity platforms for software-defined electric vehicles, offering varying degrees of autonomy. Foxconn will use NXP’s chip portfolio to produce electronic componentry for electrification, connectivity, and...

Volkswagen-owned automotive software company CARIAD has appointed Franco-Italian semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics (ST) to develop a system-on-chip (SoC) for a new line of Volkswagen vehicles based on the CARIAD software platform. At the same time, the parties “are moving to agree” that silicon contract manufacturer...

Note, this article is not about remote 5G surgery! A couple of press notes across the desk at Enterprise IoT Insights this week make a play of 5G security in hospital settings. Firstly (in no order), Spain-based network operator Telefónica is working with US...

US public LoRaWAN operator Senet has struck a deal with IoT network and analytics software outfit Iota Communications (IotaComm) to deliver LoRaWAN connectivity and IoT solutions in both 915 MHz and 800 MHz spectrum. LoRaWAN operates in unlicensed 915 MHz spectrum by default; IotaComm...

KDDI-owned IoT connectivity provider Soracom has announced a deal with France-based outfit IDEMIA, a supplier of identity-related security services, to offer enterprise customers an optimised low-power embedded SIM (eSIM) with its power-constrained cellular IoT products in North America and Europe. IDEMIA’s eSIM proposition, called DAKOTA...

Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities (THKMC), a voluntary welfare organisation in Singapore, has deployed a number of air quality sensors from IoT provider Unabiz, via Finnish Sigfox operator Connected Finland, at two care homes in Singapore following a corporate social responsibility (CSR) assessment to...

Telefónica is looking to offer a 5G-based dual-mode terrestrial-and-satellite service for NB-IoT connectivity. Its digital services business, Telefónica Tech, and managed services division, Telefónica Global Solutions (TGS), are working with Barcelona-based satellite telco operator Sateliot to run Release 17-level IoT data over both ground-based...

Frankfurt-based airport operator Fraport, which operates Frankfurt Airport in Germany, has commissioned IT service provider NTT to build the “Europe’s largest private 5G campus network” (so-far announced), it has said. Work on the project will begin in the third quarter, with network tests in...

IoT connectivity platform provider Wireless Logic has acquired IoT MVNO Mobius Networks, a distributor of Vodafone M2M and IoT data SIMs for local government and smart cities, for an undisclosed sum. The all-UK deal follows on the heels of Wireless Logic’s acquisition of data...

JD.com, the other mega China-based online retailer, has been running at least 100 “self-developed” automated guided (or “ground”) vehicles (AGVs) over a private 5G network, apparently from local vendors Huawei and ZTE, to automate certain pick-and-pack supply chain operations at its busiest warehouse complex...

Analyst house Dell’Oro Group has adjusted down its near-term forecast for the private LTE and 5G market. It said its calculations show that radio access network (RAN) shipments and revenues are “again coming in below expectations, resulting in another markdown”. The market will roughly...

The war in Ukraine is being fought through many unconventional means. One of the most prominent relates to energy supply and dependence. In 2021, about two-fifths of the gas that Europeans burned came from Russia. The war has boosted already high prices of oil...