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Samsung slings simoleans at Sigfox for things-on-cells standard

Yay, another connectivity-for-things protocol

Samsung has become the latest backer of French company Sigfox, which is trying to pitch an IoT-over-cellular protocol for low-throughput communications.

While the company bullishly says it offers “global cellular connectivity” for things that need cheap, low power communications, its current footprint is a handful of European locations (France, the UK, Spain, Portugal and The Netherlands; Denmark is slated for 2016).

Endorsement by a powerhouse like Samsung is therefore a big deal for the company – so much so that France's economy minister Emmanuel Macron showed up to the press conference to get in on the grip 'n' grin action.

The Sigfox technology will be incorporated into Artik, the technology Samsung debuted in May.

Some Artik modules already include WiFi connectivity, but adding cellular with Sigfox means developers working in the Korean vendor's open environment can create kit for field rather than in-building applications.

Samsung's president and chief strategy officer Young Sohn says the integration “makes it simpler for developers to create low-cost, low-power devices and services that easily connect to the network.”

The “ultra narrow-band” technology Sigfox offers is designed to offer ThingsTM long-range communications at low power, while letting small chunks of spectrum carry lots of messages. The company wants to see its radio protocols sit alongside WiFi, GSM and Bluetooth in the IoT market (and natch, selling lots of radio modules under the Samsung program won't be a bad thing either).

Samsung hasn't announced how much it's tipped into the company, which earlier strung together a €100 million capital raising. ®

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