Wi-SUN Alliance Announces Further Growth and Strengthens Global Membership as Arm and Silicon Labs Join Wi-SUN Board of Directors

Wi-SUN Alliance, a global ecosystem of member companies, has announced another growth year as it drives the worldwide adoption of wireless solutions for smart cities, smart utilities and other large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) applications through interoperable standards.

Wi-SUN Alliance membership, which includes semiconductor and product vendors, service providers, utilities, universities, enterprises, municipalities and government organisations, is up 27 per cent in the last 12 months. This has been further strengthened with Arm and Silicon Labs, two of the largest global semiconductor companies, upgrading their membership to become promoter members and joining the Wi-SUN Alliance Board of Directors.

Wi-SUN Alliance has also accelerated the growth of its FAN (Field Area Networks) Certification Program, which certifies devices for use by utilities, city developers and other service providers. Following its launch in 2018, the FAN program has seen certifications increase by 38 per cent in the first half of this year. At DistribuTECH 2020 in January in San Antonio, Texas, members collaborated to demonstrate the first multi-vendor Wi-SUN FAN network, featuring certified devices from multiple vendors.

Phil Beecher, President and CEO of Wi-SUN Alliance comments: “Wi-SUN Alliance has had an exceptional year as we continue to expand our reach into all corners of the globe. Our members are world-leading organisations, and with Arm and Silicon Labs increasing their level of engagement within the Alliance, it will not only increase the strength of our ecosystem, but will also help drive the next phase of the Wi-SUN FAN specification and certification program.”

Silicon Labs boasts more than 15 years of experience in mesh networking solutions, with more than 250 million mesh nodes deployed to date. The company’s Wireless Gecko platform supports a wide range of mesh options including Wi-SUN FAN.

Abhijit Grewal, Senior Marketing Manager at Silicon Labs, says: “Wi-SUN FAN is an ideal solution for street lighting, power distribution, smart meters and so many other smart utility and smart city large-scale infrastructure applications. Wi-SUN offers significant advantages versus other LPWAN standards due to its scalability and multi-vendor interoperability, and provides one of the world’s best mesh networking solutions for smart, connected applications that require long-range, low-power wireless connectivity supporting IPv6. We are delighted to join the Wi-SUN Board to help drive advancement of the IEEE 802.15.4(g) standard.”

Part of Wi-SUN Alliance for three years, Arm believes Wi-SUN mesh networking technologies are key enablers for energy, utilities and smart cities, key markets for its Arm® Pelion™ IoT platform.

Thomas Herbst, Director Strategic Market Development at Arm, adds: “Wi-SUN technology enables organisations to cost effectively and securely connect devices, which is critical in allowing organisations to scale their IoT deployments. We are working with the Wi-SUN Alliance on standards that drive the ubiquitous adoption of Wi-SUN and broad commercial availability across the value chain from silicon vendors, device OEMs/ODMs, infrastructure vendors, operators, and service providers.”

According to the latest figures from Navigant Research more than 96.5 million Wi-SUN-capable devices are deployed globally as utilities and service providers deploy smart technologies and IoT applications to deliver energy savings, reduced maintenance costs and enhanced safety.

With demand growing for interoperable wireless solutions in smart cities and utilities, Wi-SUN is at the forefront of some of the biggest advanced metering and smart lighting projects around the world, including 500,000 streetlights in Miami, as well as the City of London, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Paris and Tokyo.

Wi-SUN Alliance milestones:
• Wi-SUN Alliance has seen its membership grow around the world and now has members in over 27 countries across North America, LATAM, APAC, South Asia, Japan, and EMEA.
• 30 Wi-SUN FAN certified products are now available from 12 members, including Cisco, Itron, Landis+Gyr, and Renesas.
• The next phase of the Wi-SUN FAN profile specification and certification program will include higher data rates, with lower latency and a certification program to support battery-operated devices, enabling new applications to be supported.
• Wi-SUN Alliance has recently partnered with DLMS User Association: https://www.dlms.com/home

To learn more about Wi-SUN and to become a member: https://wi-sun.org/become-a-member-2/

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Notes and links for editors:

• Wi-SUN FAN Demos from DistribuTECH 2020: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7FfWNmyxG2XNx8iOnphj...

• Wi-SUN Blog – ‘Delivering interoperability with Wi-SUN FAN Certified Devices at DistribuTECH 2020’: https://wi-sun.org/latest-news/delivering-interoperability-w...

• Interoperability blog from Wi-SUN member Exegin: https://wi-sun.org/latest-news/exegin-and-wi-sun-alliance-me...

• Avangrid/EPRI white paper: ‘Interoperability Strategy for an AMI Deployment in the US’: https://www.cired-repository.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.124...

About Wi-SUN Alliance
Wi-SUN Alliance is a global non-profit member-based association made up of industry leading companies. Its mission is to drive the global proliferation of interoperable wireless solutions for use in smart cities, smart grids and other Internet of Things (IoT) applications using open global standards from organisations, such as IEEE802, IETF, TIA, TTC and ETSI. With more than 250 members worldwide, 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.

For more information, please visit: www.wi-sun.org.

Wi-SUN Alliance and the Wi-SUN Alliance logo are trademarks of the Wi-SUN Alliance.

Media contact:
Amanda Hassall, Consultant
Origin Comms
T: 07855 359889/01628 822741
amanda@origincomms.com