Q1: How would you describe the current state of IoT?
A1: IoT has gone from the nascent testing stage to the rapid growth stage. The curve is straight up and to the right from a macro standpoint. What will influence the curve is the corresponding growth in the ecosystem of devices and applications. The two things go together. If one lags the other, network deployments will slow down. We are in the middle of the fast growth phase of the marketplace.
Q2: Senet was one of the earliest pioneers of LoRa technology. How have things evolved?
A2: Things have changed dramatically as Senet started originally in the propane tank monitoring business as an end to end solution provider. At that time we built everything – software applications, end devices and the network. That business was very successful as it reached many thousands of devices in less than 5 years. We eventually sold the business and today the buyer is one of our largest customers. Senet now focuses on building networks that can scale to millions of devices per customer. The ecosystem of devices and applications has also matured significantly. Finally, LoRaWAN is here to stay and is recognized that it will be around for the long term. One thing that has not changed is the uniqueness of Senet as being one of the most technologically experienced LoRa companies in the world. This capability set makes a huge difference with customers.
Q3: What are the most common questions that customers and partners ask?
A3: One of the key questions is around how a customer gets network connectivity. If you are trying to solve the problem of a connected business, connecting everything and understanding the options is top of mind. Senet has a great product strategy with a combination of public, private, and semi-private networks and business models that allow us to monetize non-customer devices roaming onto a customer network which provides unique revenue sharing opportunities. Pricing is also a top question to understand how the connectivity fits into the larger digital transformation project. The customer’s attention finally turns to network operation after deployment.
Q4: Where is the opportunity in the market today?
A4: For Senet, the early adopters at scale are in the utility space. We completed 72 network designs for municipal system water utilities in the past year. We are building anywhere from three to four networks a quarter, and sometimes that many a month. The next big opportunity is with natural gas utilities. Not only for metering but also for safety applications such as leak detection. Once the networks are live, they can be used for other opportunities like enterprise applications for environmental and condition monitoring, and asset tracking.
Q5: What does the next year look like for the industry?
A5: We will see a continuation of LoRa network growth from 2020 and much more scale deployments. This year was about building out the network infrastructures, 2021 will see the devices start to catch up to the network. We will also see the continued evolution of the application and device ecosystem. Finally, the next year will see the continuation of a trend of large, brand name companies participating in the LoRa ecosystem.
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