Everynet hooks up with Crown Castle for national IoT network

Everynet has cemented a deal with Crown Castle that will help it build out a national LoRaWAN-powered Internet of Things (IoT) network that initially will cover 36 US metropolitan areas.

That planned deployment, based on Semtech's LoRaWAN technology and a 15-year commitment with Crown Castle, also includes dozens of logistic "intersections," such as airports and seaports, that serve as major thoroughfares for cargo.

Figure 1: Everynet's initial deployment also includes dozens of logistic 'intersections,' such as airports and seaports.
(Source: Everynet)

Everynet, which expects that large, initial part of the network to go live by the end of 2021, will underpin those plans by connecting to Crown Castle's tower assets, which currently cover nearly 40,000 cell towers and about 80,000 route miles of fiber. Everynet's network deployment will center on installations of LoRaWAN gateways on Crown Castle's infrastructure.

As it has done with other infrastructure partners in markets such as Brazil, Indonesia, Puerto Rico, Italy, Spain, Ireland and Iceland, Everynet's US IoT network will operate under a neutral host model whereby it takes on the capital expenditures of a buildout that is backed by a network operations center and the requisite backhaul connectivity.

Tom Nelson, Everynet's chief customer officer, likens it to a "simple, bulk wholesale" approach that does not require customers and partners to dole out capital and buy, for instance, the gateways that connect into Everynet's LoRaWAN platform.

"We are playing at that network layer," he adds, noting that Everynet's network will be made to connect up with any devices or apps that support LoRaWAN products and technologies.

Companies and other entities that want to take advantage of Everynet's network "don't have to worry about building out a RAN, building out the network, getting the hardware, getting the backhaul, any of that," explained Nelson, an exec who previously was with Cisco's IoT cloud business (coming on board via Cisco's $1.4 billion acquisition of Jasper in 2016) and Sprint. "No capex. They just basically leverage the network … It's a cost-effective way to enable connections."

Nelson said privately held Everynet is fully funded for the US deployment, but declined to say how much the company has raised.

Everynet is using LoRaWAN to target a growing enterprise IoT market that requires wide coverage, low power and small bits of data. That piece of the market is starting to cover multiple use cases, including remote meter reading, water loss protection, smart grid monitoring and management, as well as "cold chain" monitoring for vaccines that need to stay at a proper, low temperature as they move from suppliers to distribution centers.

Nelson also sees Everynet's IoT network playing a potential role as 2G and 3G networks are sunset, potentially abandoning devices that will still require some form of connectivity to function. LoRaWAN networks, he says, could provide another option for connected devices that don't require much data.

Neutral host model could open doors

Everynet has not announced any partners for its coming US network, but Nelson said potential customers include mobile network operators, MVNOs and ISPs that are looking to bundle in Everynet's network and build services and apps on top.

Everynet is far from alone in pursuing the enterprise IoT market using LoRaWAN. A notable company in that sector is Comcast-owned MachineQ, which now uses an over-the-top deployment model to pursue business in and out of Comcast's US cable markets.

Nelson said Everynet would certainly be open to working with a company such as MachineQ, which is now starting to ramp up its sales and marketing activities.

"As you think about a national network, there could be some opportunities there in the future," Nelson said, noting that Everynet is already part of the LoRa Alliance roaming group for Europe. "I think a national footprint certainly could be complementary."

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— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading