Daliworks, an Internet of Things (IoT) platform company, is entering the global market through IoT communication technologies such as LoRa and Sigfox, laying the groundwork for a variety of IoT services including remote meter reading.
Daliworks (CEO Soonho Lee) announced on the 13th that it recently began integrating its IoT platform with Sigfox. Sigfox is a French company with IoT network technology; because it can build IoT networks that exchange small volumes of data at low power, it is in the spotlight worldwide. Daliworks expects the collaboration with Sigfox to yield new IoT products and services around October.
Daliworks has applied its IoT platform not only to Sigfox but also to LoRa communications. After signing a business agreement with French IoT company Actility last month, it recently completed integration between the network and the platform. “We plan to launch end-to-end IoT services spanning individual users to enterprises on our service platform,” said Daliworks CEO Soonho Lee. “Commercialization could come as early as September.”
Sigfox and LoRa, where the Daliworks IoT platform is being applied, are IoT communications suited to the internet of small things. They communicate at lower speeds than ordinary networks and can be applied across a wide range of IoT settings — remote control, meter reading, location tracking, and more. Their strength is low power consumption, allowing devices to run for nearly 10 years.
Sigfox uses a technology called ‘UNB (Ultra Narrow Band).’ It can connect to modems through a chipset without base stations or relay equipment, transmitting data up to 10 km in urban areas and up to 50 km in the countryside. It is a communication method under review for building nationwide IoT networks in the United States, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, and elsewhere.
LoRa counters UNB by creating IoT environments with LPWAN technology, communicating up to 20 km. Its hallmark is delivering both wide coverage and low power. It is one of the communication methods SK Telecom adopted to build Korea’s nationwide IoT network.
Both communication methods need a platform before they can become services — that is, a place where service applications can live. The IoT platform Daliworks provides plays that role, serving as the bridge for developing the services each network needs and applying them to the network.
Once integration with both communication technologies is complete, Daliworks will also be better positioned to enter overseas markets, since its IoT platform can ride whichever communication method suits local conditions. Daliworks plans to target Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe first, where market demand already exists.
Working with Sigfox and Actility, it is developing IoT services such as remote meter reading. “We are proposing and discussing a range of projects with global operators,” Lee added. “This will be a springboard for a homegrown Korean IoT service platform to go global.”
<LoRa vs. Sigfox comparison (source: industry data)>
by ETNews, reporter Dongjun Kwon, djkwon@etnews.com
