Actility Partners with Foxconn to Tap Opportunities in Rapidly-growing IoT Market in China

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Actility is partnering with Foxconn Technology Group (Foxconn), the biggest contract electronics manufacturer worldwide, to launch ThingPark China, a collaborative initiative to deliver a comprehensive suite of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to the Chinese market. By integrating Actility’s innovative ThingPark IoT platform and Foxconn's leading vertical information and communications technology services and solutions, ThingPark China will offer end-to-end IoT services from sensors and gateways to network management and SaaS solutions. ThingPark China will begin business operations in the third quarter of 2016.

"China is an opportunity like no other IoT market," says Actility CEO Mike Mulica. "It's growing 30% a year, and a third of the world's 15 billion connected things in 2020 will be in China. Foxconn is the perfect partner for Actility, because it is a company with world-class expertise to drive innovation at scale, as well as unrivaled market access to industrial and urban China. ThingPark China delivers on our goal to serve the vast Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) IoT markets across China."

"We are delighted to be collaborating with Actility on this exciting initiative, which is another step in our ongoing efforts to create an Internet of Things ecosystem that supports our strategic focus on providing innovative products and solutions to realize smarter lives," says Fang-Ming Lu, Executive Vice President of Foxconn. "IoT has the potential to transform cities, industry and transport, and also the way we live and work. The synergies generated by bringing together Foxconn’s design, manufacturing and technology capabilities and Actility’s expertise in LPWA networking technology, will enable us to capitalize on the immense opportunities presented in the IoT era."

ThingPark China will initially focus on delivering solutions to customers in China. In addition to deploying ThingPark Wireless connectivity, network operations and data management, both as SaaS and "on-premise" services, ThinkPark China will also resell LPWA gateways, which serve as essential hubs connecting sensors in the field to public or private communications networks.

China's rapidly-growing IoT market is supported by partnerships between industry and government at the national and local levels, and some of the first customers for ThingPark China will be "smart cities", using LPWA technology to connect sensors measuring air and water pollution, and traffic flows, and noise metering, among other uses. Other applications already in development or early deployment include energy efficiency management, manufacturing efficiency enhancement and connected healthcare. The first consumer uses for the technology in China include solutions to help parents monitor their children's safety.

"This is the most exciting time to get into the most exciting market in IoT," concludes Mulica. "With our partners at Foxconn, we know ThingPark China is going to be one of the most dynamic and powerful forces in the IoT business anywhere in the world. Together we are going to ride the explosive growth of the next major technology wave in China and the wider Asian market."