The future isn’t LPWAN
IDC FutureScape’s report that contains its Worldwide Internet of Things 2017 Predictions includes this:
‘Prediction 2: Despite Hype on the Benefits of Low-Power Wide Area Networks, such as LoRa and Sigfox, Its Unlicensed Spectrum and Lack of Quality of Service Will Cause Companies to Focus It on Noncritical Applications – with 3% Deploying by 2018’
This is consistent with Nick Hunn’s predictions in i2O’s thought piece on communications protocols for loggers.
The next big thing is more often a variant of the old thing than it is a revolution.
The implications of this are that anyone selecting LPWAN as its communication protocol for logging will have to pay more to install and maintain the technology with no certainty that it will be supported in the longer term.
Mobile phone communications technologies on the other hand are already pervasive and likely to endure.
i2O’s next generation logger offers 2G and 3G connectivity. It will in future also offer 4G connectivity and a pathway to 4G NBIoT.
