New Zealand could be getting another LoRaWAN wide area network for IoT following announcement by French LoRaWAN gear maker Kerlink and Indian tech giant Tata of plans to promote and deploy LoRaWAN IoT networks globally.
Earlier this month Kerlink announced a distribution agreement for New Zealand with Auckland based Access Networks. It said Access Networks would carry and support the full range of Kerlink’s LoRaWAN products and solutions for deployments such as large networks serving smart cities, utilities, ports and harbors, and small private networks for applications such as smart buildings, farms, and warehouses.
Kerlink launched its New Zealand business in 2017 and says it is supporting several rollouts of LoRaWAN Internet of Things networks, including supplying LoRaWAN basestations for Spark’s LoRaWAN network rollout.
Also, in October 2018 Kerlink appointed Melbourne based M2M Connectivity as a distributor for New Zealand and Australia. It said M2M Connectivity would Kerlink products and the expert knowledge of Kerlink’s design services team to support mining, smart agriculture, smart cities and industrial IoT applications in both countries.
Kerlink APAC vice president René Arbefeuille said the deal with Access Networks would help Kerlink expand its global footprint in verticals such as smart buildings, smart cities, smart seaports and smart agriculture.
“Access Networks is a recognised provider of IoT networks for the hospitality, utilities, and telecommunications industries throughout New Zealand and the Pacific Islands,” he said.
Globally, Kerlink announced on 11 June a partnership with Tata Communications Transformation Services (TCTS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Communications, describing the company as, “a partner of choice for the world’s leading communication service providers.”
It said the two companies would “demonstrate to telecom carriers, start-up IoT connectivity providers, cities, and large multinationals how LoRa technology is one of the most responsive and reliable protocols for IoT connectivity …[offering] easily installed and managed networks that include the full range of smart-city applications for lighting, parking, building, energy and refuse management, as well smart agriculture, metering, and safety and security applications.”
Kerlink said it would bring to the partnership its Wirnet basestations for low-power/wide-area (LPWA) connectivity and its Wanesy management centre for deploying and operating networks with optimised total cost of ownership and increased return on investment.