Drei has selected Actility’s flagship carrier-grade IoT network server and platform ThingPark™ Wireless to operate the national LoRaWAN network in Austria.  

ThingPark Wireless is the preferred IoT network platform solution for service providers rolling out national IoT connectivity services and solutions. Actility’s ThingPark Wireless multi-technology platform powers almost all large scale LoRaWAN network deployments worldwide, and it is designed for security, scalability, and a set of features and qualities that make it truly carrier-grade. The modular platform supports the latest specifications of the LoRa Alliance, enabling seamless interconnection with both other licensed and unlicensed public networks as well as LoRaWAN-based local/private networks.

ThingPark Wireless enables Drei to monetize IoT connectivity and accelerate the adoption of IoT solutions at scale across multiple industries. It also facilitates the transformation of sensor data into business insights for customers of IoT services by adding comprehensive data processing and exposure services to ease the integration with any third-party business application.

The IoT Platform provides bi-directional drivers for the LoRaWAN device ecosystem and automatically implements scalable mediation connectors to all major data/application platforms including Azure IoT Hub and IoT Central, AWS IoT and Greengrass, Cumulocity,  SAP, ThingWorx, and many others.

Drei is also connected to ThingPark Exchange. This is the first and the leading IoT Peering Hub for public and local/private LoRaWAN networks and satellites. It also supports Helium and Sigfox networks, currently connecting over 25 networks worldwide. 

A Professional IoT Network Serving Many Use Cases

According to Drei, the expansion of the network across Austria is progressing rapidly. The nationwide network provided by Drei will become the basis for use cases related to industry 4.0 (including smart factories), energy companies, solution providers, smart cities, retail and facility management, leveraging the vast ecosystem of devices.

Stadtwerke Wolfsberg is using Drei’s network for its smart water meter initiative, enabling households to always stay up-to-date on their water consumption and costs as well as eliminating time-consuming manual meter reading reports.

The network targets smart city and industrial applications, including telemetry data transmission for heat, water, gas, and electricity meters.

LaaPlus, a real estate company based in Laa an der Thaya, uses Drei’s LoRaWAN network to connect smart meters and heat meters. LaaPlus is planning to expand the use of the network to include water meters.

LoRaWAN wide area connectivity requires an energy budget that remains an order of magnitude below competing technologies. As battery replacement is a key driver of utility telemetry, LoRaWAN has become a preferred choice for new utility metering projects.