The Internet of Things. Pic: Pixabay

Foxconn teams up with French startup Actility to improve Internet of Things in China

By | 4 July, 2016

THE Internet of Things (IoT) in China needs improving – so says the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, Foxconn Technology Group, as it partners with French startup Actility to launch a new business to do just that.

The new company, which will be based in Hong Kong, is called ThingPark China. The aim of the company is to develop “long-range, low-power sensors” to be applied to areas such as smart city development, agriculture, energy, and industrial management, according to e27.

In a statement on their website, Actility CEO Mike Mulica said: “China is an opportunity like no other to IoT market. It’s growing 30 percent a year, and a third of the world’s 15 billion connected things in 2020 will be in China.”

Mulica added that Foxconn is the perfect partner because of its world-class expertise to “drive innovation at scale”, and its market access to industrial and urban China.

SEE ALSO: WeWork in Shanghai: Co-working space startup opens first office in Asia

Fang-Ming Lu, executive vice president of Foxconn, said the initiative is a step towards their goal of creating an “Internet of Things ecosystem that supports our strategic focus on providing innovative products and solutions to realize smarter lives”.

He said IoT has the potential to transform cities, industries, and transport links, as well as the way people live and work now.

ThingPark China plans to focus on delivering products to their Chinese customers, selling SaaS software, data management tools, network solutions and connectivity solutions.

It also plans to resell Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) gateways, which are essential central points on networks that can cover entire cities, connecting sensors in the field to public or private communications networks.

The company expects its first customers to be “smart cities” using LPWA technology to “connect sensors measuring air and water pollution, traffic flows, noise metering” and the like.

The technology can also be used at a consumer level, for example in helping parents monitor their children’s safety.

Mulica said: “With our partners at Foxconn, we know ThingPark China is going to be one of the most dynamic and powerful forces in the IoT business anywhere in the world.”



READ MORE