uCIFI Alliance: Kerlink joins international smart-network leaders to end dependence on proprietary IoT solutions

June 28, 2018

Kerlink and other market leaders from across the smart city, smart energy and Internet of Things network sectors have launched the uCIFI Alliance to develop an open source, multi-transport wireless networking technology and data model that will unlock these markets by eliminating their dependence on proprietary solutions.

The alliance co-founders noted that cities and utilities around the world continuously deploy smart IoT projects for managing streetlights, parking, traffic, waste collection, power grids, metering and other applications. But network owners face a hurdle to either integrate multiple proprietary systems and APIs or deal with a dependence on single-source suppliers for network hardware or software layers.

In addition to ending customers’ dependence on single-source suppliers, the alliance will work to dramatically reduce the complexity for device suppliers and integrators to deliver data and services in a consistent manner regardless of the underlying network.

Joining Kerlink in the announcement at the IoT Tech Expo Europe in Amsterdam were alliance co-founders EDMI, a worldwide leader in smart energy solutions, and Schréder, a global leader in smart street lighting. They were joined by Engie and ST Engineering Electronics, and pioneering end-customers, such as Sibelga (Belgium), the Brussels utility; Auckland Transport (New Zealand), and Nantes Metropole (France).

“Bringing smart technologies to the world’s municipalities and power-and-water suppliers allows tremendous efficiency in delivery of services, while dramatically increasing convenience for end users. But cities and utilities often have to untangle a host of unnecessarily complicated technical details to deploy their smart networks, which delays launch and adds cost. The uCIFI Alliance is committed to promoting simple, cost-efficient, open-source wireless networking references to unlock the full potential of these smart networks.”

Yannick Delibie, Kerlink co-founder and chief technology innovations officer