Orange Business launches IoT Connect Anywhere

France-based Orange Business Services has announced the launch of IoT Connect Anywhere, its new low-power wide area (LPWA) connectivity offering.

The LoRa based IoT Connect Anywhere service provides on-premise connectivity suitable for a range of applications.

Orange is targeting sectors including energy and fluid management, on-site tracking, geo-fencing, waste control, environmental metering, lighting and parking monitoring in smart cities.

The service does not require any major hardware investment, and the LoRa LPWA standard consumers around 15 times less energy than a cellular network.

As well as LoRa's in-built encryption, Orange is offering secure transport between the gateway and the network and data delivery over HTTPS. The service is meanwhile backed by Orange Business Services' Datavenue IoT and analytics platform.

Edmund Yick, who was last month appointed Orange Business Services' general manager for Hong Kong and Taiwan, said the introduction of IoT Connect Anywhere to Hong Kong will support the HKSAR government's smart city agenda.

“With the allocation of HK$500 million to promote further technology adoption by departments and the establishment of the Smart Government Innovation Lab in the Policy Address 2018, it is evident that transforming Hong Kong into a smart city remains a top priority of the Hong Kong government,” he said.

“To ensure a successful and integrated transformation, the adoption of IoT across public and private sectors is vital. With more scalable and affordable IoT solutions now available, it is high time that Hong Kong enterprises utilize these solutions to build resilience, keep up with the pace of the advancements and reap the fruits of a world class smart city.”