An Internet of Things (IoT) forum has been launched to help drive the deployment of wide-area IoT technologies across both licensed and unlicensed spectrum.
The Wireless IoT Forum said its aim was to promote the deployment of the IoT by providing market representation for companies involved in building M2M ecosystems, including operators, vendors, app developers, SMEs, chipmakers and systems integrators.
Further, it promised to promote and help market the benefits for complete IoT ecosystems in order to drive open standards and reduce fragmentation. In doing so, companies throughout the IoT value chain will be able to turn their attention to the needs of end-users, the group claimed.
The non-profit organisation is the brainchild of former Senaptic CEO and Small Cell Forum Director Will Frank, who has teamed up with IET President and former Neul executive William Webb to pilot the group.
A full roster of the Forum’s founding members will be announced at the M2M World Congress in London on 28 April.
William Webb, CEO of the Wireless IoT Forum, said: “The wireless Internet of Things is bringing connectivity and control to an order of magnitude more devices, however there is a very real risk of fragmented standards and technologies holding back the development of the market.”
“There has also been a tremendous amount of work done in the IoT world across a wide range of technologies. As in the cellular world, the success of this will lie in the promotion of open standards. The Forum will work tirelessly to make this a reality in the IoT world.”
[Read more: The IoT needs to move beyond “cartoonish” hype, says IMC chair]
Chairman Will Franks added: “We are delighted to have helped bring together key industry players with the common goal of driving standardisation and interoperability. These players have the vision to recognise the need to collaborate to create robust technology platforms while competing to create dynamic markets.”
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