The LoRa Alliance™, the global association of companies backing the open LoRaWAN™ protocol for the Internet of Things (IoT) low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs), develops and supports the LoRaWAN protocol, a major wireless technology for long-distance communication / low power consumption LPWA necessary for IoT expansion. In Japan, on November 14, 2018, the world's first national organization of the LoRa Alliance "The LoRa Alliance Japan Marketing Taskforce" will be established.

Among the major LPWA wireless technologies, LoRaWAN is the leading open standard. More than 500 companies worldwide are members of the LoRa Alliance and LoRaWAN technology’s use is rapidly expanding. Domestic interest in Japan has also increased, with results of demonstration experiments successfully reported by many companies, and further deployments planned for the future.

The LoRa Alliance Japan Marketing Taskforce was established to share information and ideas among related LoRa Alliance member companies to promote the dissemination and use of LoRaWAN in Japan.

Specifically, The LoRa Alliance Japan Marketing Taskforce will promote the following activities

· Activities to raise awareness of LoRaWAN, and share information · Training of IoT engineers who can build systems using LoRaWAN · Summarize requirements in the Japanese market and report back to the LoRa Alliance for further development of the standard

The LoRa Alliance Japan Marketing Taskforce will contribute to the development of IoT in Japan through the above activities.

Current Participating Companies List

Automagi Co., Ltd.

SMK Corporation

ST Microelectronics Corporation

TDK Corporation

Cisco Systems LLC

Semtech Japan LLC

Sense Way Co., Ltd.

Softbank Corporation

Next Field Co., Ltd.

Renesas Electronics Corporation

Yokogawa Electric Corporation

Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.

EASEL Corporation

ACCESS Co., Ltd.

Braveridge Co., Ltd.

M2B Communications Inc.

Greenhouse Co., Ltd.

Macnica Corporation

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Shinko Shoji Co., Ltd.

Oi Electric Co., Ltd.

NEC

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Ryodenshoji Co., Ltd.

Companies participating in the LoRa Alliance Japan Marketing Task Force must be official members of the LoRa Alliance. Participation is open to all members of the LoRa Alliance with business interests and activities in Japan.

• What is LPWA

LPWA is an abbreviation for "Low Power Wide Area" and is a generic term for wireless communication technology capable of "long-distance communication with low power consumption". The maximum communication speed is about 100 bps and the communication distance is up to about 50 km, which is suitable for IoT, M2M communication and is widely used.

• What is LoRaWAN™

The LoRaWAN protocol is a type of wireless communication technology LPWA (Low Power Wide Area / Low Power Long Distance communication) capable of long-range communication with low power consumption and is the name of the "wireless network standard" defined by the LoRa Alliance. It is a communication standard for IoT, and it is widely used worldwide.