Orbiwise
Energy Efficient IoT Infrastructure

By 2020, the Internet of Things (IoT) will connect approximately 30 billion devices online, a milestone that was hard even to imagine a few years ago. However, the herculean task to be accomplished ahead is the creation of an infrastructure that seamlessly manages the data deluge, the common device additions and the expansion of the IoT family beyond cities and countries. Didier Hélal, Senior Director, Strategic Accounts, explains how his organisation, Orbiwise's solution suite aims to bridge the existing gaps in the realm by utilisation of the Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) networks. Employment of the company's LPWA-powered solutions helps client objects grasp information from the physical world and seamlessly transport it into the digital world.

"Orbiwise believes in the development of an IoT low data rate infrastructure that mimics the connectivity capabilities of a cellular network, but consumes much lesser power and is cost-effective," Hélal mentions. The company's flagship is the OrbiWAN, which adheres to the LoRaWAN™, a media access control protocol recommended for wide area networks. OrbiWAN offers a string of advantages to the customers and has also helped Orbiwise steer ahead of its peers in the IoT landscape. The prime benefit of OrbiWAN is its scalability, and the deployment permutations that are possible are many.

A simple OrbiWAN server can support a few gateways and devices. However, additional virtual machines can even seamlessly accommodate a gadget explosion. The industry veteran mentions that his company's network solution doubles the deployment of gateways, with a sophisticated brain of the network–giving the company an edge over competitors.

Orbiwise's solution suite also includes the Orbilink, a miniature base station. As compared to the traditional base stations, Orbilink is significantly compact, relatively easier to install, making it ideal for commercial and residential spaces where fast rollouts are preferred. Incredibly, the performance of the LoRaWAN™ compliant solution is equivalent to the legacy base stations, despite its compact size.

Orbiwise's expertise in the deployment of low power wide area network paved the way for its recent collaboration with TATA group, an Indian enterprise chain comprising of 100 companies located across six continents. The Indian multi-national empire chose Orbiwise to build a national IoT network by the adoption of its unique solutions. Additionally, the organisation is also a trusted networking partner of the multi-billion dollar IT giant Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).

The organisation has expanded significantly in the short span since its inception and currently has offices located in Switzerland, Macedonia, India, and the US. The company boasts of amassing customers from several parts of the globe, including China, Japan and Argentina. "Our team is engrossed in the evaluation of the 5G and Cellular IoT protocols, apart from an extension of our LoraWAN™ capabilities. We aim to strengthen our research and development capabilities four-fold this year," says Hélal revealing a glimpse of the company's roadmap. He throws a surprise by mentioning that the company recently devised a solution to eradicate noise pollution in a city by effective utilisation of the IoT. Hence, apart from constructing cost-effective energy efficient network meshes for better communication, Orbiwise is also striving towards applications that eradicate environmental hazards by effective utilisation of the IoT.