SIGFOX and Glen Canyon Corp. have announced plans to connect 1 million meters to the SIGFOX network in the coming year. Glen Canyon already has installed more than 20 million meters in China, Africa and the U.S., supported by its AMI, or advanced metering infrastructure. As a critical part of smart-utility systems, AMI provides regular, two-way communication between smart meters and energy providers, which allows them to closely monitor usage and allows their customers to moderate their consumption according to cost at the time of use.
Both small and inexpensive, Glen Canyon’s NEXGEN Smart Meters are certified SIGFOX Ready to provide economical, energy-efficient, two-way transmission of data over the SIGFOX global network. Thanks to SIGFOX’s connectivity, meters perform real-time measurement of energy consumption and time-of-use. Users can also perform demand reading, power-outage reporting, remote disconnect (load shedding for commercial and industrial customers) and choose a prepayment plan.
“The SIGFOX network is an obvious choice for Glen Canyon’s low-cost, plug-and-play smart meters, because it is fully in line with our commitment to provide highly functional but affordable smart meters to utilities around the world,” said Glen Canyon CEO John Heibel. “We designed our meters to provide valuable, real-time data at the lowest cost possible, and the SIGFOX network enables that better than any alternative. Plus, having tested all LPWA solutions, we have found that SIGFOX clearly outperformed other solutions in regards to cost of radio modems, deep indoor penetration and reliability.”
The agreement, following SIGFOX’s network rollout in San Francisco and 10 European countries, underscores the company’s ability to work with diverse partners, including national network operators, governments, SME’s and startups, to bring its dedicated IoT network to multiple users around the world.
“Glen Canyon offers electricity providers an inexpensive, low-energy and multi-functional smart meter that can rapidly expand implementation of smart grids on every continent,” said Stuart Lodge, SIGFOX executive vice president, global sales & partners. “This is the beginning of a partnership that we expect to help establish smart grids in many countries, as the SIGFOX network is deployed worldwide, and it demonstrates how the network can help innovative companies grow their business.”
The vast majority of smart utilities that will be connected to the IoT will require very simple, economical and low-energy connectivity to transmit or receive their data. In addition to meeting those requirements, SIGFOX supports a guaranteed service-level agreement for customers, and simple subscription-based pricing. Those advantages, all packaged with one contract, will allow Glen Canyon to bundle the meters and its AMI services in a turnkey solution wherever the SIGFOX network is operating.
