CommuniThings announced today the commercial launch of the first smart-parking solution over NB-IoT technology, in partnership with Orange.
The “Shop & Drive” solution presented in Liège today assists commuters to find available parking space via a mobile application while stimulating shopping activities through increased vehicle rotations at each spot. The Smart Parking solution running on Orange Belgium’s Mobile IoT network introduces low-power wireless sensors and open-data applications serving residents, retailers and municipalities.
CommuniThings is one of the 3 start-ups selected by Orange Fab BeLux, Orange accelerator program for start-ups, focusing on supporting them to scale up thanks to business partnerships with Orange in Belgium and Luxembourg as well as internationally.
Improved shop & drive experience in Liège
Etay Oren, CEO of CommuniThings, explains:
“With the Smart Parking solution we developed for the city of Liège, users can view real-time parking occupancy on their smartphone and even navigation to the available space. Once parked, they are allowed 30 minutes of free parking in order to carry out necessity shopping. Parking controllers are informed in real-time of the parking duration. Parking managers receive statistics on usage patterns per parking and comparative analysis between periods (hours, days etc.). Previous deployments showed a threefold increase in number of vehicle rotations per spot. We are also very proud to launch this Smart Parking solution over the NB-IoT technology and we look forward to deepen our cooperation with Orange’s technical experts to introduce additional dedicated low-power solutions for different segments across cities and enterprises.”
Smart Parking solution on Orange IoT network
The Smart Parking solution is built on Orange Belgium’s nationwide Narrowband-IoT network, launched in 2017. This technology has unique advantages: it allows very long battery life of the connected equipment and reduces the cost of the electronic components inside the connected objects. It also enables full bidirectional communication between the object and the network allowing firmware updates over the air. Its signal penetration inside buildings is very strong and in the future the connectivity abroad (roaming) on other operators’ mobile IoT networks is guaranteed. By making use of Orange’s NB-IoT network, CommuniThings has the most reliable solution for IoT connectivity as it operates in a licensed radio spectrum. And thanks to the SIM card it guarantees secure connectivity through stringent authentication and encrypting the data in transit.
Orange Fab helps CommuniThings grow
Michaël Trabbia, CEO of Orange Belgium, elaborates:
“We are very proud of supporting CommuniThings and its mobile IoT solution launched on our NB-IoT network. CommuniThings was one of the winning start-ups of the first season of Orange Fab BeLux, the accelerator program of the Orange Group that helps scale-ups who develop new products and innovative services in sectors such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, grow.We look forward to helping CommuniThings grow their business further, in Belgium as well as internationally, thanks to a win-win business oriented partnership. Thanks to Orange Fab, CommuniThings also got the opportunity to present their products and services on Orange booth at VivaTech, the world rendezvous for start-ups and leaders in Paris. Last but not least, we are preparing the next season of Orange Fab BeLux so I invite all start-ups and scale-ups to visit orangefab.be and enter an application form to benefit from this kind of opportunity.”
