Avnet Asia Pacific demonstrated how the Internet of Things (IoT) can create smarter cities at the recent ‘Smart City and the IoT Era’ summit in Hong Kong.

“The IoT ecosystem is a complex market involving multiple processes and thousands of players, ranging from system developers, operators, service providers, software and hardware, and components suppliers that work independently. Avnet’s integrated ecosystem addresses this challenge by connecting the different parties, providing a holistic approach to drive innovation and support IoT initiatives for a smart city. We align customers with capabilities and services that address the entire range of IoT complexities, such as sensor design and development, infrastructure and gateway solutions, connectivity options, cloud and IoT platforms, and global inventory management,” said Frederick Fu, President of Avnet Asia Pacific.

Speaking at the event, Frederick presented Avnet’s ecosystem and the critical role it plays in IoT. One of the key highlights of his speech was LPWAN, a wireless wide-area network that enables long-range communications between the base station and connected devices such as sensors at low power. Avnet has capabilities in all the three prominent types of technologies available in the LPWAN market – LoRa, NB-IoT and Sigfox. Avnet has collaborated with various industry leaders including operators, mobile network equipment suppliers and device manufacturers in these three technologies to provide customers a value-added approach to their systems integration. In the case of LoRa, Avnet is working with Cisco on its first visionary smart-city program “Digital Living Lab” that aims to build a truly smart, digital Hong Kong. With four billion Internet of Things devices expected to rely on LPWANs by 2025, Avnet offers a range of solutions for IoT applications including connected vehicles, shared bikes, fleet management, sensor monitoring system and metering.

As rapid urbanization in Asia Pacific continues, cities will need to become more efficient in order to keep up with these surging urban populations. Wireless devices and communications technology will increasingly rely on the use of longer range networks for greater connectivity. By utilizing connected services powered by IoT, cities can become more efficient. Avnet’s role in connecting all the parties to share data and knowledge in the smart city ecosystem will help cities achieve better deployment of IoT technologies.

Avnet offers edge-to-enterprise solutions to leading technology OEMs, entrepreneurs, startups, and other IoT innovators. As its longstanding commitment to guide customers from idea through production and distribution anywhere in the world, and continuing to drive its IoT growth strategy, Avnet will continue to invest and drive innovation with design capabilities, technical know-how, product and services.

To learn more about Avnet, please visit avnet.com.