In the world of IoT platforms, there are three primary categories: application enablement, hardware, and connectivity. Losant is an application enablement platform. In most cases, our customers will also make use of hardware and connectivity as part of their IoT solution. We've written many articles on hardware platforms, including boards for makers and ESP8266 specific modules. This article covers our favorite connectivity platforms that our customers have used to connect their devices to the Losant IoT platform.
1. Sigfox
Sigfox is a provider of low-power and long-range connectivity. It works a lot like cellular, with Sigfox owning and managing communication towers that your devices connect to. Unlike cellular, however, Sigfox requires very little power, making battery-powered use cases more feasible.
Sigfox is still a relatively young technology, and coverage is not yet as ubiquitous as cellular. There are several makers of Sigfox hardware, with mcThings being one of our favorites.
Sigfox integrates well with Losant to build a complete end-to-end solution using Sigfox connectivity and Losant's application enablement.
2. Hologram
Hologram is a cellular connectivity platform. They provide inexpensive SIMs, which are perfect for companies looking to deploy a large number of devices that communicate over cellular. They also provide a hardware module called Dash, which makes it easy for companies to integrate connectivity without building their own boards.
Hologram integrates seamlessly with Losant using their Cloud Services Router. Below are some example projects built using Hologram and Losant:
- Soil Moisture Sensor Over Cellular for Remote Garden Plot
- Unicorn Finder (Kid Tracker for Techie Parents)
3. Cisco Jasper
Jasper, which was acquired by Cisco in 2016, is a cellular connectivity management platform. Unlike Sigfox or Hologram, it does not directly provide the connectivity. Instead it partners with other cellular providers and then offers tools to manage these devices. They then provide easy ways to send device data to third-party services like Losant.
Of the companies in this list, Jasper is the oldest, being founded in 2004. It also currently has the most devices under management, which is advertised at 40 million.
This list will continue to evolve as we see customers adopt additional providers. If you're using a connectivity platform or feel we should add another, please let us know!