A new Australian startup plans to build a dedicated, open network platform specifically to help drive machine-to-machine communications and the Internet of Things in Australia – and has already engaged both federal government and regulators. National Narrowband Network Communications was co-founded by telecoms veteran David Spence along with Rob Zagarella, who has built a long and distinguished career in software and hardware support for smart meters and other key IoT elements.
Zagarella, who serves as director of NNNCo, revealed the details of the firm at a Sydney workshop of Communications Alliance’s freshly formed IoT Think Tank. He said that, historically, one of the biggest barriers facing otherwise valid business cases for M2M had been the cost of connecting very large numbers of devices and sensors to existing networks. “There have [also] been a lot of technical barriers around range of communications, penetration of signals, battery power and power consumption,” he added. “And access to data is key; having an open and interoperable platform that can drive innovation locally, but being able to leverage best practice overseas.”