Glasgow-headquartered Boston Networks has launched a £6m Internet of Things network - called IoT Scotland – based on 500 LoRa wireless gateways situated throughout the country.
The project is part funded by £2.7m from the Scottish Government with further support from Scottish Enterprise, Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and private sector investment from Boston Networks.
Glasgow will be over 99% covered via 22 gateways which are being installed across the city - making it the most LoRa covered city in the UK, with the potential to become the smartest, claims Boston Networks.
A full roll out is planned by March 2021 with Boston Networks installing and managing all devices.
Boston Networks Chief Technology Officer Falk Bleyl said: "There will be a forecasted 25 billion IoT devices connected by 2025 and only a small number will be connected to the Internet using 3G, 4G or WiFi.
"LoRa networks like IoT Scotland are going to become increasingly important. They have the potential to be as disruptive to businesses as the Internet has been already to our daily lives.
"IoT Scotland can revolutionise the use of smart technologies and will be rolled out in cities, towns and rural areas across the country.
"It allows a wide range of users, from public sector organisations to small IoT start-ups to multinationals to focus on the deployment of sensors and applications, rather than network build.
"There is already interest from other parts of the UK in what we're doing here in Scotland, and there is potential for us to roll-out similar infrastructure elsewhere."
Councillor Angus Millar, Depute City Convener for Economic Growth for Glasgow City Council and Chair of the Digital Glasgow Board, said: “Glasgow is already recognised as being successful in the delivery of projects through its smart cities programme and the expansion of initiatives such as Intelligent Street Lighting, and our Digital Glasgow Strategy will see the further roll-out of many projects that will bring great social and economic benefit to our people, businesses and organisations.”
Linda Hanna, Managing Director at Scottish Enterprise, added: “Using data effectively helps businesses make better informed decisions about their operations and can lead to new revenue streams by understanding more about their customers, products and services.
“IoT Scotland offers Scottish companies access to a network to do this, and at the cost of just a few pence per month.”
Pictured: Boston Networks CEO Scott McEwan (left) with Falk Bleyl