LPWA (NB-IoT, LTE-M) sensor-based applications will be used for smart cities of the future

Shanghai, China, June 28, 2017 Huawei, together with BeWhere Inc., a Canadian industrial Internet-of-Things (IoT) solutions company, today announced they will partner to develop Mobile IoT Low Power Wide Area (M-IoT LPWA) (NB-IoT, LTE-M) applications to enable the deployment of smart cities technologies.

This is the first partnership in the Canadian M-IoT ecosystem between a solutions company and Huawei to develop viable solutions that utilize the latest technology in M-IoT LPWA. As a global leader in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Huawei encourages industry ecosystem development by seeking out companies such as BeWhere to foster healthy partnerships.

The LPWA sensor prototype was developed in Canada by BeWhere, and has been selected by Huawei to be showcased in the Huawei booth at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Shanghai. The annual MWC Shanghai event attracts vendors, operators, and industry stakeholders from around the world, and will provide a platform for BeWhere to showcase this product globally.

This sensor uses Huawei’s Boudica 120 chipset, the world’s first 3GPP-based NB-IoT commercial chipset. Following the success of its low power Bluetooth-based sensor, BeWhere believes this cellular-based LPWA sensor will bring broader usage to end-users. With the Internet of Things (IoT) market predicted to grow to a billion devices by 2020, developers are increasingly in need of low-power and M-IoT LPWA carrier grade devices to enable IoT applications. These low-impact devices are a critical component of IoT, as they will minimize adding load to utility grids and limit the need for battery changes.

“Huawei Canada is pleased to be working with BeWhere to develop M-IoT solutions and applications that will make cities smarter and more livable. As we work with our Canadian operator partners to develop solutions and applications, it is great to have a Canadian-led solution to help make these solutions a reality. We are excited about the future of M-IoT and look forward to conducting field trials with our partners,” said Steve Lu, Vice President, Huawei Canada.

“We are thrilled to partner with Huawei on the development of the next generation M-IoT,” said Owen Moore, CEO of BeWhere. “We look forward to continuing our collaboration on both the creation and distribution of innovative and disruptive technologies that will revolutionize the IoT industry.”

Realizing the potential of IoT LPWA solutions in smart cities requires collaboration among all parties in the ecosystem, including telecom operators and LWPA solution providers to focus on developing innovative capabilities, technology solutions and partnerships. The partnership with Huawei and BeWhere reflects a next generation collaboration to bring together customers, technology providers, and partners from various industry verticals to explore future mobile application scenarios, drive business innovations, and build an open ecosystem.