The LoRa Alliance, an open, nonprofit association, does a good job at promote and proliferating the LoRaWAN protocol, which is used for secure, carrier-grade IoT low-power, wide-area-network (LPWAN) connectivity. The protocol has been globally deployed by major mobile network operators, and expansion continues.

The latest announcement from the organization is that Google Cloud has joined as a member, or more accurately, a Sponsor Member. Read into this what you will, but to me, it’s a pretty good sign that the technology is picking up steam. See the coverage map for more info on that.

Having Google Cloud takes the technology beyond connectivity and into the all-important world of analytics. While the technology is typically used for low-bandwidth, low-data-rate applications, there still are some extensive analytics that can take LoRaWAN to new levels, particularly in the Industrial IoT space. Remember, it’s all about the data.

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