Santa Clara, USA and London, UK - 1st November 2012 - Weightless, the global organisation responsible for delivering royalty-free open standards to enable the Internet of Things, today announced a new Special Interest Group (SIG) to accelerate the adoption of “Weightless” as a wireless wide area global standard for machine to machine (M2M) short to mid-range communications.  

ARM, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, CSR and Neul have today formally signed the ‘SIG Promoter Agreement’ which details how they will back Weightless’s mission to establish a new standard and encourage its adoption worldwide. The Weightless standard this group will define is on track for completion in early 2013.  

Weightless argues that a standard designed specifically for short to mid-range machine communications within white space is needed. Weightless technology has been optimised for this specific scenario and is delivered as a royalty-free open standard.  

The formation of the SIG is a major step in building a new Communications Global Standard for M2M and Internet of Things (IoT). The Special Interest Group has been formed to support a rapidly expanding need to meet the demands of embedded intelligence everywhere, creating efficiencies in countless ways by giving the world access to data, the means to analyze it and then to act upon it in a managed way.  

This means a common set of standards that deliver the key requirements for M2M communications, including a chipset cost under $2, a range of up to 10km and a battery life of 10 years.  

Professor William Webb, CEO of Weightless “This is a very important milestone for Weightless. The SIG now has a Board comprising leading players spanning processors, networks, chipsets and innovative wireless technologies. Weightless has gained a solid legal framework enabling royalty-free licensing of terminal-related technology. Our plan is to rapidly grow membership from our current base of 50 high-technology companies and I would strongly encourage interested parties to join this world-changing initiative.”  

Mike Muller, chief technology officer, ARM “The Internet of Things requires new thinking about technology. As data levels soar across the world, new ways need to be found to ensure wireless communication can be seamless. This includes the next wave of connectivity across smart grids, enhanced healthcare, smart cities, asset tracking, sensors and future applications as yet unimagined. With common standards we can all benefit from intelligence embedded and connected everywhere, so the ARM team is excited about the huge potential this standard will unlock.”  

Paul Brodrick, Utilities Business Development Director, Cable&Wireless Worldwide “Having another agreed standard is going to accelerate the growth and acceptance of M2M communications.  I believe that the work of the SIG will help to bring the benefits of smarter short to mid-range communications to a much wider audience.”      

Dr. Steven D. Gray, CTO of CSR plc “CSR has a business strategy to be a major supplier in M2M applications with low energy SoCs with wireless connectivity. Weightless presents potential to address some M2M market applications such as smart meters, asset tracking and remote sensors. Contributing in the SIG will help CSR to better understand market needs.”  

James Collier, CEO Neul Ltd “The IoT is the engine for economic growth in the next decade, much of which will come from new and innovative applications. This new generation of smart devices and applications simply haven’t been possible before the emergence of a ubiquitous IoT communication network. Weightless will enable this new growth and Neul is excited to be part of the SIG that will make it a reality.”