Semtech Corp. recently announced that Unidata, an ICT, telecommunications and internet company, has adopted the LoRaWAN technology platform to deploy a low power, wide area network (LPWAN) in Italy. Unidata will also create a showroom, the “LoRa Lab,” near Unidata’s headquarters in Rome to educate and encourage Internet of Things (IoT) solutions and services based on Semtech’s LoRa technology.
Unidata’s LoRa Lab will act as a hub for companies, researchers and others to learn about IoT applications and services and create unique and new solutions based on LoRaWAN.
Semtech’s LoRaWAN technology platform is a comprehensive solution for low power, long-range connectivity, which is essential for LPWANs supporting IoT applications. It offers deep penetrability, secure connectivity, long battery lifetime and streamlined implementation for simple network rollout, as well as integration into existing infrastructure.
“We’re pleased to announce Unidata’s LoRa-based network rollout and LoRa Lab in Rome,” said Marc Pegulu, Vice President and General Manager of Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Product Group. “By adopting LoRaWAN technology and building a hub for LoRa, Unidata is helping to ensure compatibility with a wide range of IoT solutions and will further enhance our community of LoRa users.”
“The new smart cities and territories are in need of technological infrastructures for the IoT that will become the new digital highways of the future IT services,” said Renato Brunetti, president of Unidata. “According to our needs at Unidata, LoRaWAN is the most appropriate technology in terms of sustainability and effectiveness to respond to this ambitious goal.”
Unidata’s LPWAN, based on the standardized LoRaWAN specification, is being deployed initially in Rome and other municipalities in the Lazio region of Italy, which is home to nearly six million people and where it already has extensive fiber optic networks and radio infrastructure. Unidata will roll out additional networks starting in select municipalities in Rome throughout 2016 with plans to cover the entire city by 2017.
LoRaWAN is a specification based on Semtech’s LoRa technology that is standardized by the LoRa Alliance and used in smart metering, smart city, smart building, agriculture and supply chain management applications.
