Microsoft Joins the LoRa Alliance Board of Directors

The LoRa Alliance ®, the global association of companies backing the open LoRaWAN ® standard for the Internet of Things (IoT) low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs), today announced that Tony Shakib, general manager/partner of Azure IoT Engineering at Microsoft, has joined the LoRa Alliance board of directors. Microsoft is widely considered a hyperscaler for LoRaWAN, and its participation in the alliance can strengthen the technology’s presence in the LPWAN market. “Having Tony join the LoRa Alliance leadership will further accelerate market adoption of the LoRaWAN standard,” said Donna Moore, CEO and chairwoman of the LoRa Alliance. “Microsoft joins an impressive roster of industry leaders who back the LoRaWAN standard and are committed to its development and the expansion of our ecosystem. Tony’s insight and guidance as an Alliance board director will strengthen and accelerate LoRaWAN end-to-end solutions and zero-touch deployments.”

“Microsoft has invested billions of dollars to enable customers to build digital twins of the physical world,” said Shakib. “The digital twin enables customers to analyze, predict and control environments across industries, whether monitoring production lines, managing worker safety, optimizing supply chains or delighting retail customers. A critical link in these digital transformations is the connectivity fabric, and LoRaWAN has unique capabilities to help fulfil that vision. We are excited to join the LoRa Alliance and deepen our collaboration with members to help our customers succeed in IoT.”

Microsoft has already worked with a number of LoRa Alliance members to deploy LoRaWAN solutions globally on the Azure IoT infrastructure. A few key projects to date include:

About the LoRa Alliance:

The LoRa Alliance ® is an open, nonprofit association that has become one of the largest and fastest-growing alliances in the technology sector since its inception in 2015. Its members collaborate closely and share expertise to develop and promote the LoRaWAN ® standard, which is the de facto global standard for secure, carrier-grade IoT LPWAN connectivity. LoRaWAN has the technical flexibility to address a broad range of IoT applications, both static and mobile, and a robust LoRaWAN Certification program to guarantee that devices perform as specified. Deployed by 150 major mobile network operators globally, LoRaWAN connectivity is available in more than 160 countries, with continual expansion.

Image: AP