Standards Group formed to enable Internet of Things growth

ARM, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, CSR and Neul sign up as Promoters – more partners now needed

SANTA CLARA, Calif. & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Weightless, the global organisation responsible for delivering royalty-free open standards to enable the Internet of Things, today announced a new Special Interest Group (SIG) to accelerate the adoption of “Weightless” as a wireless wide area global standard for machine to machine (M2M) short to mid-range communications.

“CSR has a business strategy to be a major supplier in M2M applications with low energy SoCs with wireless connectivity. Weightless presents potential to address some M2M market applications such as smart meters, asset tracking and remote sensors. Contributing in the SIG will help CSR to better understand market needs.”

ARM, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, CSR and Neul have today formally signed the ‘SIG Promoter Agreement’ which details how they will back Weightless’s mission to establish a new standard and encourage its adoption worldwide. The Weightless standard this group will define is on track for completion in early 2013.

Weightless argues that a standard designed specifically for short to mid-range machine communications within white space is needed. Weightless technology has been optimised for this specific scenario and is delivered as a royalty-free open standard.

The formation of the SIG is a major step in building a new Communications Global Standard for M2M and Internet of Things (IoT). The Special Interest Group has been formed to support a rapidly expanding need to meet the demands of embedded intelligence everywhere, creating efficiencies in countless ways by giving the world access to data, the means to analyze it and then to act upon it in a managed way.

This means a common set of standards that deliver the key requirements for M2M communications, including a chipset cost under $2, a range of up to 10km and a battery life of 10 years.

Professor William Webb, CEO of Weightless
“This is a very important milestone for Weightless. The SIG now has a Board comprising leading players spanning processors, networks, chipsets and innovative wireless technologies. Weightless has gained a solid legal framework enabling royalty-free licensing of terminal-related technology. Our plan is to rapidly grow membership from our current base of 50 high-technology companies and I would strongly encourage interested parties to join this world-changing initiative.”

Mike Muller, chief technology officer, ARM
“The Internet of Things requires new thinking about technology. As data levels soar across the world, new ways need to be found to ensure wireless communication can be seamless. This includes the next wave of connectivity across smart grids, enhanced healthcare, smart cities, asset tracking, sensors and future applications as yet unimagined. With common standards we can all benefit from intelligence embedded and connected everywhere, so the ARM team is excited about the huge potential this standard will unlock.”

Paul Brodrick, Utilities Business Development Director, Cable&Wireless Worldwide
“Having another agreed standard is going to accelerate the growth and acceptance of M2M communications. I believe that the work of the SIG will help to bring the benefits of smarter short to mid-range communications to a much wider audience.”

Dr. Steven D. Gray, CTO of CSR plc
“CSR has a business strategy to be a major supplier in M2M applications with low energy SoCs with wireless connectivity. Weightless presents potential to address some M2M market applications such as smart meters, asset tracking and remote sensors. Contributing in the SIG will help CSR to better understand market needs.”

James Collier, CEO Neul Ltd
“The IoT is the engine for economic growth in the next decade, much of which will come from new and innovative applications. This new generation of smart devices and applications simply haven’t been possible before the emergence of a ubiquitous IoT communication network. Weightless will enable this new growth and Neul is excited to be part of the SIG that will make it a reality.”

About Weightless

Weightless, based in Cambridge, UK, is the world’s leading white space M2M standards body.

Machine communications, often termed M2M, has long been forecast to be a sector with massive growth. Recent forecasts of 50 billion connected devices by 2020 from cars to sensors to traffic lights to healthcare applications and much more.

Weightless’ central mission is to co-ordinate industry players to foster the development of a new and revolutionary communications standard (called Weightless) to enable efficient machine-to-machine communications in white space.

Weightless is currently signing up members http://www.weightless.org/account/register, and has strong traction from a wide variety of industry players.

Further details can be viewed at http://www.weightless.org.

About TV White Space

White space is the unused and underused parts of the wireless spectrum. For example, around the world many TV channels are left vacant in most locations. Weightless technology initially opens up these channels and will also allow underused frequencies within other UHF licensed and unlicensed bands be used efficiently for wireless communication.

About ARM

ARM designs the technology that is at the heart of advanced digital products, from wireless, networking and consumer entertainment solutions to imaging, automotive, security and storage devices. ARM’s comprehensive product offering includes RISC microprocessors, graphics processors, video engines, enabling software, cell libraries, embedded memories, high-speed connectivity products, peripherals and development tools. Combined with comprehensive design services, training, support and maintenance, and the company’s broad partner community, they provide a total system solution that offers a fast, reliable path to market for leading electronics companies. Find out more about ARM by going to http://www.arm.com/.

About Cable&Wireless Worldwide

Cable&Wireless Worldwide provides integrated communications and data hosting services to large enterprises and mid-market customers in both the public and private sectors. With an unrivalled heritage and a globally significant network Cable&Wireless Worldwide can provide robust secure and resilient connectivity to over 150 countries.

To find out more, visit www.cw.com.

About CSR

CSR is a global provider of innovative silicon and software solutions for the location-aware, media-rich, cloud-connected world. Our platforms are optimized for the automotive navigation and infotainment, digital cameras and imaging, connected home infotainment and wireless audio markets. We provide solutions to complex problems in the audio-visual, connectivity and location technology domains across a broad range of markets, with a technology portfolio that includes GPS/GNSS systems, Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi®, FM, NFC, aptX® and CVC™ audio codecs, JPEG, MPEG, H.264 imaging, PDL printing, microcontrollers, DSPs and broadband receivers. CSR's technology solutions and market platforms enable its customers to deliver a superior user experience and are adopted by leaders in the auto, computer, home and mobile markets. More information can be found at www.csr.com.

About Neul

The name Neul is pronounced like ‘fuel’ and is from the Gaelic word for 'Cloud'.
Neul was formed in Cambridge, UK in 2010 by a group of entrepreneurs with successful track record. The core management team was responsible for building Europe's most successful fabless semiconductor company, CSR.

Neul aims to unify the fragmented world of Internet of the Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, with the world’s first white space wireless system and a new, open M2M communications standard called Weightless.

Neul is transforming wireless data communications being the first to enable access to large amounts of unused and underused UHF spectrum, vastly reducing the costs of base stations and the terminals needed for wide area wireless networks. This will enable Neul’s customers to build networks and applications that offer completely new kinds of devices, services and business models.

Neul’s vision is to bring about a revolution in the way devices and applications communicate. Towards the predicted 50 billion connected IoT and M2M devices, through smart metering to local broadband delivery, transportation and beyond. Neul is helping to create 'the internet of everything'.

Further details can be viewed at http://www.neul.com.