ABI Research’s Hot Tech Innovators : Wireless Connectivity

• ABI Research’s Hot Tech Innovators Report: Atmosic, InnoPhase, and Wiliot Among the Key Young Companies Solving Major Wireless Connectivity Challenges

ABI Research, a global tech market advisory firm, has identified 10 key companies innovating in the wireless connectivity landscape and helping to address key challenges that the wireless industry is facing today.

“To differentiate from the competition, connectivity start-ups and solution providers are beginning to innovate in a number of different ways. These include reductions in power consumption, range enhancements, investment in emerging audio and light communications technologies, passive IC technologies, closer integration with location technologies, wireless power innovations, and delivering more scalable platforms that better meet the requirements of larger scale wireless connectivity deployments across a number of IoT verticals,” said Andrew Zignani, Senior Analyst at ABI Research.

“One of the major challenges of the IoT has remained that of power consumption and the need for battery replacement or recharging, particularly within commercial or industrial applications such as building automation, RTLS deployments, or wireless sensor networks. Companies such as Atmosic, InnoPhase, and Wiliot are driving innovation in power consumption at the IC level, allowing a wide variety of connected devices to stay powered for longer, and even enable battery-free and energy harvesting usage scenarios. Alongside this, embedded wireless power over distance solution providers, such as Ossia, have the potential to enable battery-powered devices to be placed more flexibly, send data on a more regular basis, and have longer lifespans,” adds Zignani.

Other companies are also innovating with non-conventional connectivity solutions. Chirp’s audio-based networking solution allows devices equipped with speakers and microphones to communicate with one another without the need for a separate dedicated wireless communications chipset, allowing simple provisioning for IoT devices. Meanwhile, PureLiFi is continuing to develop LiFi technology and miniaturize it to ensure it can be integrated within mobile and computing devices soon, while DecaWave’s Ultra-Wide Band solutions provide reliable centimeter level location accuracy for location services.

Addressing some of the scalability headaches of short-range wireless connectivity technologies, Cassia Networks offer long-range Bluetooth solutions for IoT applications, while Wirepas’ decentralized mesh networking solution is helping to address key scalability and interoperability challenges in larger scale wireless deployments such as smart metering, commercial indoor and outdoor lighting, asset management, and wireless sensor network deployments. Mist Systems, now set to be acquired by Juniper Networks, combines advanced enterprise Wi-Fi performance with scalable location services via their innovative virtual BLE beacons.

These findings are from ABI Research’s Hot Tech Innovators: Wireless Connectivity report. This report is part of the company’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Wireless Connectivity research service, which includes research, data, and analyst insights. Hot Tech Innovators reports focus on companies at the forefront of transformational innovation, particularly those that are younger and less well-known than the incumbents, at the technological forefront of their markets, developing new business models, destabilizing the current market and prime acquisition targets.

Hot Tech Innovators: Wireless Connectivity

The wireless connectivity landscape is extremely competitive and becoming increasingly consolidated as vendors and solution providers seek new opportunities across the IoT.

To differentiate from the competition, connectivity start-ups and solution providers are beginning to innovate in a number of different ways. These include but are not limited to reductions in power consumption, range enhancements, investment in emerging audio and light communications technologies, passive IC technologies, closer integration with location technologies, wireless power innovations, and delivering more scalable platforms that better meet the requirements of larger scale wireless connectivity deployments across a number of IoT verticals. 

This report highlights 10 innovative wireless connectivity and complementary technology companies that demonstrate how the connectivity landscape is evolving to address the wide ranging and ever changing needs of the IoT industry.