Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1423232
Report Title: Wi-Fi & LoRaWAN ® deployment synergies Issue Date: September 2019 Version: 1.0. final version 4 LoRa Alliance & Wireless Broadband Alliance Confidential & Proprietary Copyright © 2019 Today Wi-Fi is most often deployed to support critical IoT use cases whereas LoRaWAN ® is utilized for massive IoT use cases. When used in tandem, the two technologies support a vast array of IoT use cases in the following verticals: • Smart building / smart Hospitality • Smart cities / smart villages • Smart venues • Smart automotive and transportation • In-home consumer Technical options to deploy Wi-Fi and LoRaWAN ® in a mutualized infrastructure are covered in later sections with the purpose of highlighting that an existing Wi-Fi infrastructure can be easily leveraged to deploy LoRaWAN ® as plug-in on Access Points (APs) or in Customer Premise Equipment. The level of integration (colocation or equipment convergence) will depend on coverage needs, sensor density and business requirements like SLAs. Technical integration will be discussed from the frontend (equipment) and backend integration (cloud) viewpoints, also covering security and interconnection processes. The lower cost and operation efficiency of a mutualized rollout compared to the deployment of both Networks separately will become obvious. Testimonials in later sections from Wi-Fi providers deploying LoRaWAN ® will reinforce the message that Wi-Fi and LoRaWAN ® are widely implemented globally in real use cases supported by a strong ecosystem, while also being strongly synergistic. Examples of these use cases include: • Equipment suppliers working on mutualized software and hardware solutions (e.g.: Multi-Tech[38], Gemtek, Ufi, or Ruckus have combined Wi-Fi / LoRaWAN ® access points). • IoT device makers offering embedded Wi-Fi & LoRaWAN ® combined solutions, such as multi- technology trackers like Abeeway, OFO, Maxtrack, Chipsafer, and Gemtek. • Cities or public bodies moving to IoT: ER-Telecom in Russia deploying citywide Wi-Fi and LoRaWAN ® in top 60 cities [4] or city of Calgary who has complemented its Wi-Fi network with a LoRaWAN ® infrastructure. • MNOs driving a harmonized licensed and unlicensed strategy such as Orange [5] and BT [6]. • Unlicensed operators focusing on LoRaWAN ® IoT strategy like Unitymedia [7] in Germany, and Tata Communications in India, Charter and Comcast in the US. • Roaming / Interconnection leaders driving a harmonized strategy to interconnect multiple IoT Connectivity technologies such as Orange, Syniverse, or BSG. Lastly, we expect that simultaneous deployments of Wi-Fi and LoRaWAN ® to support IoT will have long term benefits. Both technologies have a strong history of market success, long term roadmaps and have a clear direction to support the future 5G world.