The LoRaWAN renaissance continues as Here and Actility launch IoT tracking platform

A major new IoT logistics platform is using ultra low-power LoRaWAN wireless technology, in another blow to rivals such as NB-IoT.

LPWAN specialist Actility has been banging on about LoRa for years but, as rival narrowband technology appeared set to be the default IoT wireless standard, went a bit quiet. Recently, however, the tables seem to have turned, with NB-IoT keeping a low profile and the LoRa news picking up again and Actilitiy’s profile rising once more as a consequence.

This partnership with Here Technologies, the former Nokia business unit that it flogged to a consortium of German car companies in 2015, seems like the most significant sign of LoRa’s renaissance yet. It will offer a tracking service for mapping and location data management based on the tech.

“With Here Tracking as a foundation, we can now offer our customers one single interface to manage all their devices,” said Olivier Hersent, CEO of Actility. “This will dramatically improve their life cycle management as all costs related to lost item replacement or search for misplaced items are now becoming obsolete. Together, Here and Actility are seamlessly offering indoor and outdoor asset tracking.”

“In teaming up with Actility, we have found a trusted partner with whom we can offer a full end-to-end tracking solution that can also be customized to fit specific customers’ needs,” said Ajatshatru Kotwal, Director for Product Management at Here. “We are proud to be offering this solution with a leader in the LoRaWAN space and look forward to helping customers gain enhanced visibility of their supply chains.”

The announcement goes on about all the cool things the platform offers, but it seems to be the same kind of logistics service IoT has been promising for years. Let’s not forget, however, that Here is one of the few owners of a mapping platform and Actility has been an LPWAN specialist for as long as Here has existed, so this partnership would appear to have as good a chance as any of succeeding.