Actility launches Ecosystem Partner Program

Connexin, the leading smart city infrastructure provider, and Actility, the industry leader in Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) networks, today announce that they are working together to deploy a LoRaWAN IoT communication network for the City of Hull, in the north of England. Specializing in building and operating award-winning Smart City Infrastructure to support the Internet of Things, Connexin works in partnership with local authorities, global technology companies and specialist technology providers to build metropolitan networks and smart city infrastructure.

“This is the infrastructure layer that smart cities have been waiting for: total coverage, indoors and outside.” explains Connexin Head of Smart Cities, Sam Forster. “It will allow sensors and smart devices to be deployed at scale and for innovation in services to be enabled and driven. We are committed to this technology because we feel it is the most powerful way to build Smart City solutions at scale.”

“We’re very proud to have been chosen by Connexin to support their roll-out of a dedicated network for the smart city of Hull,” comments Actility CEO Olivier Hersent. “This network will support more efficient public services and create opportunities in for commercial businesses across the City, and make Hull one of the clear leaders in the UK in deploying IoT for the benefit of its citizens.”

“The attractiveness of the network needs to be looked at in three ways,” expands Sam Forster. “First, for improved and more efficient public services; secondly for special users – emergency services, healthcare and social care – to be able to benefit from smarter services and more real-time data to keep people alive, healthier and improve their well-being; and thirdly, the commercial sector, so retail, parking, food and beverage, entertainment, service providers, estate managers… the list is endless.”

Connexin is deploying the network before having paying customers for it, as an investment in essential infrastructure, pioneering a new approach to enabling smart cities. Once the network is deployed, the company will offer both free and commercial services depending on the use case, end customer and commercial objectives.

Explaining Connexin’s choice of Actility as a partner, Sam Forster says: “Actility is a leader in LoRaWAN and a key player in the LoRa Alliance. The ThingPark multi-tenant platform brings true carrier-grade capacity and management capabilities, and will allow us to operate as a Smart City Operator, providing a network to many different large and small smart services providers. The city council and individuals will be able to run their business across a single network. We are delighted to have Actility as a partner and expect to drive Smart Cities at scale across the UK in the coming years.”