MOC signed between Cyberview and Atilze Digital to develop LoRa
Cyberview Sdn. Bhd. and Atilze Digital Sdn. Bhd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Yen Global Berhad, signed a memorandum of collaboration recently with respect to a partnership to build, operate and commercialize a city-wide long range (LoRa) network in Cyberjaya. The MoC signing ceremony was held at Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, with principal collaborators being: YBhg. Dato’ Faris Yahaya, Managing Director of Cyberview and Mr. Gerard Lim, Chief Executive Officer of Atilze. This strategic collaboration aptly positions Cyberjaya as the 1st smart city in Southeast Asia connected with a city-wide LoRa network. LoRa is a ready and available low-power, long-range, wide area network (LPWAN) technology that is much more advanced and is designed to meet the demands of today’s Internet of Things (IoT) applications and services. As impressive as it is, LoRa technology has also been proven to reduce cost due to its minimal infrastructure requirements, fast deployment with minimal configuration, and lower cost of gateway and modules.
From the technology and cost perspectives, LoRa is a necessary catalyst to unlock a next phase of smart city development for Cyberjaya. The collaboration itself is a project initiated by both Cyberview and Atilze in helping Malaysia take its maiden step towards implementing advanced ICT (information & communications technology) within the country. Cyberjaya is a global tech hub that has been selected as a ‘living lab’ or incubator start-up for IoT technologies under the National IoT Strategic Roadmap. Pursuant to the terms and conditions contained within the MoC, Atilze will be obligated to supply the LoRa gateways and antenna systems, nodes and modules, as well as overall access to the IoT data cloud platform for the transmission of the data itself. Upon the completion of the hardware installation and systems integration, Atilze will be tasked to manage, operate and provide the necessary maintenance, service & support services for its LoRa network in Cyberjaya. The LoRa gateways and antennas will be supplied at no extra cost, whilst Cyberview provides access to towers and building rooftops.
“I believe that by adopting the concept of Smart City Living we will improve the quality of urban living standards, safety for the citizens and efficiency of our community. Using LoRa technology, we will enable a cost effective means of implementing viable and relevant IoT applications for Cyberjaya to enhance urban management.” – Mr. Gerard Lim, Chief Executive Officer, Atilze Digital Sdn. Bhd.
The collaboration is valid for a year whereby key IoT applications will be used as a testbed for the pilot project. The IoT applications will focus upon smart city elements, which include intelligent street lighting used to detect movements of pedestrians and motorists, as lights will dim and brighten accordingly to traffic conditions. Environmental management applications include temperature, humidity, barometric, air quality monitors that can be used to gauge and measure general weather conditions and air quality index (AQI). Water gauges are installed to monitor water levels in drains, rivers, lakes, dams & water tanks. Asset trackers are applied to track public buses operating within Cyberjaya city centre. Security systems for homes and offices, as well as smart parking solutions are some other potential upgrades offered by the IoT applications, which complete LoRa’s overall networking system. Setting up and operating a LoRa network without having any real-time or practical applications will serve little purpose for the network per se. The value-added benefits of LoRa are derived from the applications themselves.
“Around this time last year, we set out to develop Cyberjaya into a model ‘Smart and Safe City’ through IoT. With this collaboration, Cyberview and Atilze will be working together to elevate the city towards being a ‘Living Lab’ to nurture and grow IoT talents and businesses. The most exciting thing about this collaboration is the potential that the LoRa networks represent for developers and solution providers looking to test next generation applications that also generate open data in line with Cyberjaya being Malaysia’s Capital of Creation. We invite all ecosystem partners who have ready IoT applications, to work with us and integrate their ready IoT applications to be LoRa enabled, and implemented on Cyberjaya’s LoRa network.” – YBhg. Dato’ Faris Yahaya, Managing Director, Cyberview Sdn. Bhd.
IoT is set to revolutionize businesses and consumers alike, just like what the Internet did in the 90s. A market study undertaken by Forrester Consulting and the International Data Corporation (IDC) has shown that IoT is moving ahead as the leader within the Asia Pacific region. Latest statistics by Frost & Sullivan also suggest that total spending for IoT in Asia Pacific alone amounts to USD10 billion in 2014 which is estimated to grow at some 34.1% to reach USD59 billion by 2020.
