Why momentum is gathering for Wi-SUN technology
by Phil Beecher, President, The Wi-SUN Alliance
The momentum of support for Wi-SUN technology is really beginning to gather pace and this has been echoed by a sharp spike in growth of the Wi-SUN Alliance membership base of 60 per cent over the past year. The backing for Wi-SUN has been reinforced still further by independent research from Rethink Technology which estimates that companies in the Wi-SUN ecosystem are set to enjoy continued growth at 20% CAGR, as mesh network technology begins to reach into new verticals and different business models are developed or implemented.
We have welcomed 70 new members to the consortium in the past 12 months including product vendors and utility companies to take our total membership figures to 180. There are four tiers of membership available: Promoters, Contributors, Adopters and Observers. Together with 19 new Contributors, 47 new Adopters and 2 Observers, we also added two new Promoter members: Itron, who acquired Silver Spring Networks earlier this year, became Promoters in January 2017 and Landis + Gyr Technology became Promoter members in September 2017. Both of these organisations have nominated members of their staff to become Directors of the Wi-SUN Board.
We have been and continue to look at new ways in which we can expand our membership. Recent changes in the wireless spectrum have created market opportunities and in reply, we have made a concerted effort to reach telecoms carriers across Europe as well as more vendors and utility operators.
As an organisation the Alliance has a truly global reach with representation in every corner of the world from Asia Pacific (Australia, China, India, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Taiwan), the Americas (Brazil, Canada, USA), Europe (Denmark, Finland, France, Spain, Sweden, UK) and South Africa. Between them, these globally recognised member companies offer more than 80 products creating an ecosystem that currently stretches to a phenomenal 89 million Wi-SUN capable devices worldwide (Navigant Research: https://www.navigantresearch.com/).
As the leading technology in large-scale outdoor networking, Wi-SUN is the most widely deployed IoT technology worldwide and the opportunity to extend this support and growth even further is huge as we push ahead with our Field Area Network (FAN) certification program.
Membership of the Wi-SUN Alliance is open to all industry stakeholders and includes silicon vendors, product vendors, services providers, utilities, universities, enterprises and municipalities and local government organisations. If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of joining the Wi-SUN Alliance, please view the following video of Colton Ching, Senior Vice President Planning & Technology, Hawaiian Electric Company: Colton Ching at Wi-SUN Members Meeting. Please visit here to obtain more information on becoming a member.
Contact us at the Wi-SUN Alliance today to become a member.