IoT infrastructure and solutions provider VT Networks has finished building a Sigfox-based network in the Republic of Ireland.
The project took less than eight months to build and both companies expect to have more than one million devices connected by 2017.
Among the existing use cases of the network are smart metering, with water meters detecting leaks, building and home security solutions, smart smoke alarms that produce alerts through apps, the tracking and recovery of farm assets, gate sensors that track intruders on farms and machine monitoring.
Ireland has become the sixth European country to have installed a Sigfox network. Finland will have a network installed later this summer.
Rodolphe Baronnet-Frugès, Sigfox Executive Vice-President of Networks and Operators, said: “The founders of VT Networks are visionary, experienced communications executives and they are bringing an entrepreneurial approach to implementing IoT connectivity in every sector of Ireland.
“We expect their experiences in Ireland will set an example for other countries as Sigfox continues its worldwide expansion.”
VT Networks has been holding workshops for developers and start-ups interested in using Sigfox technology.
It is providing free hardware, Sigfox subscriptions and licenses to IoT platforms to computer science students at the National University of Ireland in Maynooth.
This week, it was revealed Sigfox will be working with fellow IoT players Weightless and Telensa on an ETSI project aimed at standardising ultra-narrowband technology. The project could result in greater scale and interoperability between the three companies.