MDEC, TM team up with LoRa Alliance for Internet of Things ecosystem

Its chief executive officer Datuk Yasmin Mahmood (pic) said the initiative would focus on bringing private and public partnerships as a conduit to build critical mass in BDA adoption and innovation.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Digital Economy Corp (MDEC) and Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM), via its unit VADS Lyfe Sdn Bhd, have joined LoRa Alliance to beef up the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem in the country.

In a joint statement on Thursday, they said the collaboration with the LoRa Alliance, an open non-profit association for driving the adoption of IoT, is aimed at sharing best practices to create awareness and support the development and implementation of the LoRa protocol in Malaysia.

The LoRa protocol is a new wireless wide area network technology for interconnecting devices with low-bandwidth connectivity, focusing on the long range which theoretically goes beyond a 10km-20km radius, and is power efficient.

"The key interest in LoRa technology is to help establish the IoT ecosystem to capture local and global demand while strengthening the enabling environment," it said.

MDEC chief executive officer Datuk Yasmin Mahmood said that as the lead information and communications technology (ICT) agency for Malaysia, it would help the LoRa Alliance create awareness in the country, while working with key stakeholders to derive impactful IoT implementation with LoRa technology.

MDEC will also support the LoRa Alliance and its members' entrance into MSC Malaysia.

Meanwhile, TM said it will embark on a nationwide Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) via a low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) development based on LoRa technology.

"When implemented, TM will become the pioneer in this region to commercially deploy LoRa infrastructure, thus creating new market opportunities for TM and other IoT businesses to leverage on," it said.

VADS Lyfe chief executive officer Massimo Migliuolo said as a member of the LoRa Alliance, it would actively develop new solutions for its smart services offering through the Internet of Small Things.

VADS Lfye, a wholly-owned unit of TM, was established in 2009 with the aim of developing and providing smart city solutions. - Bernama