London & Glasgow, UK. January 26, 2015 — Tracy Hopkins formally joins Stream Technologies today as SVP, Low Power Radio Networks (IoT). Previously with Neul, Tracy’s appointment underlines Stream’s commitment to enabling leading edge wireless technologies for M2M and IoT.
Nigel Chadwick, Stream Technologies’ CEO comments, “We are rapidly globalising our IoT-X platform and ecosystem. Low Power Radio Network (LPRN) technology is predicted to enable data transit for a high proportion of end point sensors and other devices. This wireless layer will be crucial to smart city, smart home and other IoT (Internet of Things) deployments. As with cellular and satellite, Stream continues to focus on quality of service and Tracy’s LPRN technical and commercial know-how complements our existing expertise.”
“Stream’s LPRN push will benefit significantly from Tracy’s experience and knowledge, ultimately benefiting our enterprise customers as well as MNOs and other partners within the IoT-X ecosystem. In particular, this is of value to organisations with plans to roll out IoT solutions utilising LoRa, Orion, Wi-Fi or other LPRN-based connectivity layers,” Chadwick adds.
Tracy Hopkins says, “It is with great pleasure that I join Stream Technologies; I am extremely excited to be able to work with Nigel, Kevin and the Stream team. My experience with the IoT at Neul has illustrated the many challenges yet to be overcome before we can genuinely say that the widely predicted more than 50 billion device ‘utopia’ is upon us, that IoT networks are seamlessly integrated into our daily life and adding ‘real’ value. These challenges can include: spectrum, technology, cost, security and of course business models — the large and complex value chain required to deliver an IoT ‘end to end’ solution offers both challenges and new opportunities.”
“There is no ‘one size fits all’, for instance a smart city deployment will need several physical layer solutions to address all of the applications that collect data from the city. High bandwidth for closed circuit TV (CCTV), quality of service (QoS) for critical infrastructure and transport, coverage and low power for parking and environmental monitoring, mobility for tracking, are just a few examples. Then, of course, there is the question of how do you manage all of these connections,” she says. “IoT-X offers a unique Unified Access Connectivity Environment that uniquely addresses these challenges by providing connectivity-agnostic enablement. This allows mobile network operators (MNOs) and enterprise customers to simply provision and manage application-specific end points, across multiple physical layer technologies; cellular, satellite, Wi-Fi and low power radio networks, from a single platform.”
Hopkins adds, “As the majority of these more than 50 billion connections will use non-cellular physical layer technologies, I am excited to drive the low power radio network element for Stream. Stream’s customers will be able to utilise all of the existing as well as new, emerging physical layer technologies to provide a complete IoT offering. IoT-X allows all of the specific application verticals with their unique physical layer requirements to be provisioned and managed from the same place. The rapidly growing IoT-X ecosystem ensures that Stream’s customers also have access to a trusted network of technology providers, already integrated into the IoT-X platform allowing them to build complete end-to-end IoT solutions — from the sensor to the application, adding significant value to their own IoT offerings.”
“IoT-X is valuable to MNOs seeking an immediate and comprehensive LPRN play in M2M and IoT, as well as enterprise end customers seeking cost-effective and resilient solutions based on this wireless technology — irrespective of type or protocol. I look forward to ‘enabling the IoT’, in a very real way with Stream and making a dent in that ubiquitous more than 50 billion!” she concludes.
