CHICAGO (Lightfair International) – May 8, 2018 – Wirepas, a leading provider of mesh software solutions, and Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) today announced they have joined forces to deliver a combined hardware and software solution that unleashes the potential of multiprotocol connectivity for mesh networks. Building on their growing relationship and success in the smart metering market, Wirepas and Silicon Labs have collaborated to create an industry first: a truly concurrent multiprotocol switching solution with one ERF32 Wireless Gecko radio, ( http://www.silabs.com/wirelessgecko ) enabling many innovative use cases for connected lighting, smart energy and asset management applications.

Together, Wirepas and Silicon Labs are enabling their customers and partners to take advantage of the unique features of Wirepas Mesh software including network scalability, reliability and ease of implementation, along with the RF performance and multiprotocol connectivity of EFR32 SoCs. The combined solution leverages the Wirepas Mesh networking stack and Silicon Labs’ Bluetooth® software, Micrium OS and RAIL radio interface layer software to manage concurrent Bluetooth and Wirepas Mesh connectivity on a single EFR32 SoC.

Bluetooth is an ideal protocol for controlling lighting systems and indoor navigation through easy-to-use smartphone apps to enhance user satisfaction. Using smartphones, it also enables simple device provisioning without requiring custom hardware, thereby easing the installation and commissioning process. Wirepas Mesh software serves as the backbone for large-scale IoT networks while Bluetooth provides a ubiquitous, point-to-point user interface. The protocol combination also meets the growing demand in the retail, commercial and hospitality markets for connected lighting solutions.

“Together, Wirepas Mesh and Silicon Labs’ EFR32 platform work together to solve a pressing problem for industrial-grade IoT: how to wirelessly connect billions of devices with diverse and evolving network requirements,” said Teppo Hemiä, CEO of Wirepas. “The combination of a high-performance mesh network and Bluetooth technology provides a powerful approach to meeting the multiprotocol connectivity needs of our partners and customers.”

“The combined Wirepas and Silicon Labs multiprotocol solution frees application developers from the complexities of developing network stacks and scheduling multiple wireless protocols,” said Dennis Natale, Vice President and General Manager of IoT products at Silicon Labs. “Our mutual customers can now focus on creating unique value-added mesh networking applications in a wide range of IoT segments.”
Wirepas Mesh delivers more than 20 times the throughput of traditional mesh solutions while retaining the ability for routing devices to run for multiple years on commodity batteries, all configurable at runtime. With Wirepas Mesh, there is no vertical lock-in to the application layer, and industry-standard IPv6 software can be used if required. The unique performance of Wirepas Mesh is based on its fully decentralized architecture, which sets it apart from other technologies and enables unprecedented scale, density, reliability and a shift in the cost paradigm for mesh connectivity.

Silicon Labs is the leading supplier of silicon and software for mesh networking applications. The company has shipped more than 150 million mesh networking SoCs and modules to date and has more than 15 years of experience in developing standards-based mesh networking solutions for customers worldwide.

Pricing and Availability
The combined Wirepas Mesh and Silicon Labs EFR32 Bluetooth multiprotocol solution is available for lead customers during calendar Q2 2018, with general availability planned for later in the year. General availability of standalone Wirepas Mesh software on EFR32 Wireless Gecko SoCs is planned in Q2 2018.

Contact Wirepas for mesh networking software licensing and pricing information. Contact a local Silicon Labs sales representative or authorized distributor for EFR32 Wireless Gecko SoC pricing.

To learn more about joint Wirepas/Silicon Labs solutions and to see Wirepas mesh networking demos, visit the Wirepas Booth #112 in the IoT Pavilion at Lightfair International, May 8-10.

Wirepas
Wirepas Mesh enables wireless IoT networking at massive scale. It is a de-centralized IoT network protocol that can be used to connect, locate and identify lights, sensors, beacons, assets, machines and meters in cities, buildings, industry, logistics and energy – with unprecedented scale, density, flexibility and reliability. It can be used on any radio hardware and on any frequency band. Wirepas has its headquarters in Tampere, Finland and offices in Australia, France, Germany, India, South Korea, the UK and the United States.
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Silicon Labs
Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) is a leading provider of silicon, software and solutions for a smarter, more connected world. Our award-winning technologies are shaping the future of the Internet of Things, Internet infrastructure, industrial automation, consumer and automotive markets. Our world-class engineering team creates products focused on performance, energy savings, connectivity and simplicity. http://www.silabs.com