Internet of Things Network Goes Live in Sydney
Sydney, 6 September 2016 – The Federal Minister for Communications and the Arts, Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield today activated a new community Internet of Things (IoT) network at a major industry event in Sydney.
Minister Fifield was the keynote speaker at the inaugural IoT “State-of-the-Nation” workshop and networking event, attended by more than 200 stakeholders from industry, government, the start-up community, academia and the consumer sector.
The workshop, hosted by KPMG, showcased the diverse range of initiatives underway within the IoT Alliance Australia (IoTAA) – the peak body representing a diverse group of more than 125 organisations, dedicated to empowering industry to grow Australia’s competitive advantage through IoT.
The KPMG-IoTAA “Barangaroo Community” gateway is a partnership between KPMG, Meshed, IoTAA and International Towers Barangaroo, based on the LoRaWAN Open Standard for Low Power, Long Range IoT Deployments and will be globally connected to The Things Network.
Operating in the Industrial and Scientific Spectrum at 915MHz, the gateway will allow anyone within a 3-5km radius to connect their IoT devices for free – for prototyping, testing, solution development and learning.
The gateway will support up to 1000 IoT devices and is intended to help local companies, agencies, institutions and students to get on the IoT journey easily and “learn by doing”.
The IoT uses sensors, applications, communications, internet connectivity and analytics to convert real-world information into digital form. Analysis of these and the advent of IoT-related applications have the potential to revolutionise supply chains and entire industrial sectors and create efficiencies that will be genuine game-changers for those industries and economies that exploit it successfully.
Research undertaken for IoTAA projects shows that the IoT, if harnessed, has the potential to add up to $120 billion to the Australian economy by 2025.
“This represents an uplift of up to 2 per cent in Australia’s GDP across a range of environments including factories, retail outlets smart cities and homes, motor vehicles, other transport modes and even human health and fitness – IoT is a pervasive disruptor,” said Communications Alliance CEO and Chair of the IoTAA Executive Council, John Stanton.
“IoTAA’s mission is not only about grabbing opportunities – it is also about managing the risks to network integrity and personal privacy that could occur if we are not vigilant and well prepared.”
“A third arm of necessary activity is to review the Australian regulatory framework through an IoT lens – current regulations were typically not designed to cope with the requirements and challenges that IoT-based networks can present.”
“Now is the time for action!”, KPMG Partner for Technology, Media, Telecommunications and Chair of the IoTAA workstream that focusses on building a collaborative Australian IoT community, Chris McLaren, said.
“As a country we have the opportunity to be an IoT leader in areas of our choosing.
“Working together and in partnership with government we can lift our skills and develop world-leading IoT solutions to deliver immense long-term economic value that will benefit everyone.”
IoTAA was incorporated in July 2016, having emerged from the Communications Alliance IoT Think Tank, established in 2015. IoTAA is hosted and supported by the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) at its Broadway Campus in Sydney.
IoTAA has six Workstreams. They are focused on:
- Building a collaborative Australian IoT Community
- Building a collaborative Australian IoT Community
- Smart Cities and industry verticals that will benefit from IoT
- Open data-sharing principles and privacy issues
- Availability of spectrum for IoT
- Network Resilience and Security; and
- Fostering IoT Start-Ups in Australia
Further information about the work of IoTAA can be found in the Alliance’s current position paper: Seizing the Internet of Things Opportunity for Australia and at www.iot.org.au.
Contact: Leonie Hellmers, IoTAA, 0418 244 382.