SIGFOX North America, a provider of dedicated connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT), has joined the trade association, the IoT M2M Council (IMC) as the group’s newest sustaining company and board member.
SIGFOX recently announced it will build out its public network in 100 US cities in the coming year. Meanwhile, the IMC is crossing the threshold of 18,000 members worldwide, and growing at a rate of almost 300 new members weekly.
“We look at the IMC as a unique membership group in the Internet of Things (IoT) sector, comprised of individuals that are in need of deploying connected devices. Our membership is a chance to educate potential users about the benefits of low-power wide area dedicated IoT connectivity solutions, and an opportunity for SIGFOX to gather more input about their needs,” said Allen Proithis, president of SIGFOX, North America. LPWA is a low bandwidth technology that greatly reduces the power consumption and cost of connecting devices in the field.
“SIGFOX has over 7 million devices registered on its networks around the world, and the IMC’s global reach and coverage of a wide range of vertical markets were also key factors in their decision,” said IMC executive director, Keith Kreisher. SIGFOX’s corporate headquarters are in France, with offices in Boston, Dubai, Madrid, Munich, San Francisco and Singapore. The IMC counts roughly 30% of its membership from Europe, 30% from North America, with the rest spread across the globe.
IMC members identify as serving 25 different vertical markets, including energy, healthcare, transportation, retail, building/construction, manufacturing, and public infrastructure. Awareness of LPWA connectivity has steadily increased among the group’s membership over the last several quarters, according to surveys taken by the IMC. “We look at our technology as key to allowing scores of new categories of devices to be connected, and it’s important to have this kind of quantitative barometer for what we’re trying to accomplish,” said Proithis.
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