Vince Holton interview: Launching the Wavenis Open Standards Alliance

Montpellier, France –based Coronis is a wireless solutions provider and the inventor of Wavenis, a highly optimized, ultra low power (ULP) wireless technology for Machine to Machine (M2M) and Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) applications. The company was founded in 2000 by former executives of Itron, a company generally accepted to be one of the world’s top providers of intelligent metering, data collection and utility software solutions.

In June of 2007, Coronis became part of the Elster Group, the world's largest metering company and supplier of high quality integrated metering and utilization solutions.

Incisor first profiled Coronis in February 2005. You can read that first profile here. At the time we commented that this was a company to watch, and we have listened to our own advice – we are still watching them. Recently, Coronis has moved onto a new stage with the establishment of the Wavenis Open Standard Alliance (Wavenis-OSA), working alongside France Telecom.

We decided it was time that we profiled Coronis again, and so we met with Christophe Dugas and Geoffrey Riggs of Coronis, and Gabriel Chegaray of Orange/France Telecom.

VH: For those readers that didn’t read the earlier profile, what is Wavenis, and where does it fit into the wireless ecosystem?

CD: Wavenis is the technology around which Coronis builds the majority of its wireless OEM platforms, finished products and customizable vertical solutions. The Wavenis Communications Platform embraces the Media Access Controller (MAC), Physical layer (PHY) and the Logical Link Control (LLC). The technology operates worldwide in major license-free ISM bands (868, 915 and 433 MHz) and is ideal for low-traffic, 2-way data & M2M applications from 4.8 to 100 kbps (typically 19.2 kbps). To begin with, we defined Wavenis, for standardization, as the base communications platform, with no application stacks. Coronis as well as our customers such as Schneider Electric have implemented their own application stacks on top of Wavenis wireless platform. Schneider used KNX and Coronis our Wavenis application stack. Now, we are looking at the possibility of providing “services” for applications such as smart metering, smart cities, home building & automation, and others as determined by Wavenis-OSA members.
We are often compared with other ULP wireless technologies, but in reality Wavenis provides significant range and power advantages over IEEE 802.15.4 and other so-called ultra-low-power wireless technologies. Although Wavenis operates in the same market as technologies such as ZigBee, Z-Wave, Wireless MBus for example, we did not set out to compete with ZigBee or other low power wireless technologies. Wavenis has been created with the aim of providing a unique, standardised solution.
Alongside other communication technologies, such as Bluetooth and the cellular networks, Wavenis enables Coronis customers and partners to innovate in their own markets with wireless devices. With our partners, we have deployed several million Wavenis-based devices around the world. One of those partners is France Telecom, and specifically Orange, its cellular network operator. Orange has worked with us since 2005, but has now stepped up its commitment to the partnership with Coronis by becoming the second founding partner in the Wavenis-OSA. The Alliance has been established to promote the global use and enhancement of Wavenis. Coronis and Orange recently staged the first major event for the Wavenis-OSA in Paris, France, and we were extremely impressed at the level of interest that was shown. So much so that in the last few days before the event the venue had to be changed in order to accommodate the number of people that had registered to attend. Don’t forget, this is in the middle of a global economic recession!

We are looking outward as well as inward. The Wavenis-OSA plans to collaborate with major industry standards organisations as well as with other proprietary initiatives. Connections will be established with groups such as the Bluetooth SIG, ZigBee and Konnex, as well as with proprietary initiatives such as Z-Wave, io-homecontrol, and independent organizations, as well as with international standardization bodies such as the IEEE, ETSI, EPC Global, ISAD, LPRA, HART, ISA-SP100 and so on.

GC : And why is Orange so interested? Well, network operators such as Orange are very keen to broaden their portfolios and to develop business opportunities outside of the voice markets. There is great potential in the M2M and industrial automation markets, particularly as there is now strong crossover with the world of IP. Orange has a strong interest in ULP and long range technology. We have been a member of the ZigBee Alliance since 2004, and we still are, but Wavenis is very attractive to us due to its very low power consumption combined with long range, and the fact that it is now becoming a standardised solution.

Historically, Wavenis’ strength in the wireless metering market was one of the main reasons we partnered with Coronis, but we see that Wavenis also has real potential in smart cities, home security, track and trace and building automation systems due to the extended range that it offers.

Christophe is correct when he suggests that the Wavenis-OSA event in Paris was an important milestone. If we had needed any extra confirmation that we were doing the right thing, the level of interest shown at the first event proved conclusively that this solution has a lot of potential. More than 120 people attended, and they came from a broad cross-section of industries, including semiconductor companies, utilities, meter manufacturers, and - despite the fact that the event was staged by Orange - other network operators as well as direct competitors to Elster.

The message that came back to us was that these people are looking for a global solution, and that they also wanted more than just a radio. They are looking for us to extend activity into the upper layers. Which confirms that it is the right time for us to be looking at profile/service development.


VH: The Wavenis Specification only defines the wireless connectivity platform. What is the thinking behind this?

GC: The first focus has been to deliver the base connectivity platform – the PHY and MAC, which has been done. That has allowed customers to get up and running, and several million Wavenis devices have now been deployed in real-world installations. The next phase is to make Wavenis a standards-based solution. That is where we are today, and that is what the Wavenis-OSA is now working on. The goal for this phase is to help many companies across the industry begin to develop a range of interoperable products. Once this has been achieved, we can reach out to the wider, bigger market.

And momentum is now growing. Beyond this, we consider that Internet Protocol (IP) could be the right way to go for layer 3 and are prepared to put significant effort to examine the possibility and making it a reality.


VH: What is the background to the creation of the Wavenis-OSA, and what stage has the organisation reached?

GR: From the very beginning, all the way back to when Wavenis was conceived, it was always the plan to develop a technology that could be opened up to the world. The Coronis founders were realistic about the challenges of taking Wavenis technology to the world market. They knew that the chances of global success were slim if Wavenis was ring-fenced and therefore remained a proprietary solution, or if they chose to blaze the trail alone.

Building products, industrialising them, and making the core technology a global solution takes more than the resources of one relatively small and new company. Therefore, the decision was made at the outset that the technology would be opened up, and other, strong partners would be encouraged to join with Coronis to nurture the technology and to present it to the world as a standard-based offering. This is the thinking behind the creation of the Wavenis-OSA.

This was also one of the key factors in Elster’s decision to acquire Coronis – Coronis’ value and the potential success of the technology were much greater as a result of opening up the technology to other companies.

The timing of the creation of the Wavenis-OSA was right, too. Coronis has been working closely with Orange since 2005, and the decision to incorporate the Wavenis-OSA was made in 2007. The background work was done, and the organisation was incorporated in June 2008 as a not for profit, independent legal entity in the state of Delaware in the USA. We chose to incorporate in the USA, by the way, because the laws governing such organisations in the USA are more ‘supple’.

So that is where we are today. The legal work has been done and the Wavenis-OSA meets all statutory requirements. The foundations to build from are all in place.


GC: It’s true about the timing being right. You could see that from the over-subscribed attendance at the Wavenis event in Paris at the end of May. Large companies move slowly, but it was apparent from the interest shown that many of them are preparing their roadmap to enter this market. Speaking for my own company, Orange, I can say that the strong interest shown at the event has boosted the profile of Wavenis technology inside my company, and has under-pinned our commitment to the Wavenis-OSA.

CD: This is true for my company too. By its acquisition of Coronis, Elster Group had already demonstrated its commitment to Wavenis, but I know that the Elster management was also very impressed by the attendance at the event in Paris.

GR: We are not standing still. We are now working to convert the interest we have generated into commitments to the Wavenis-OSA, and there will be further events, including M2M Connected World, which took place in Chicago, USA in June, and Metering Europe, which takes place in Barcelona, Spain in October.


VH: How will the relationship work between the two very different companies - Coronis/Elster and Orange/France Telecom – on the Wavenis-OSA board of directors?

GR: It is true that on the surface these are two very different organisations, and not just in size. However, what we have is a very complimentary relationship and a combined vision of the way forwards. On the Wavenis-OSA board of directors, nobody has any more influence than anybody else, and in practice it is working very well.

GC: The Wavenis-OSA board is the same as any other. It has a mission and a vision. Orange and Coronis bring different expertise in radio technology to the table, but the co-operation is mutually-beneficial. There are nine seats on the board, with Coronis and Orange occupying two of them. We are now looking to add seven other companies to fill the remaining board seats, and outside of that there is no limit to the number of companies that can participate at other levels.


VH: The Wavenis–OSA is choosing to make Wavenis an industry standard. Why is this felt to be necessary, and what standards body will you work with?

GC: The market for low-power wireless devices is very fragmented. Much of what is available is proprietary, with all of the caveats that brings with it, and many of the players in the market are start-ups or small companies. Evolving Wavenis into an open standard allows our customers to avoid the pitfalls of dealing with closed-loop technology, where they could be pinning their mission-critical systems to solutions from companies that may or may not succeed. These same proprietary technology suppliers could potentially change technology direction without consideration for the resource and financial commitments that the customer base may have made.

We are targeting the ‘smart city’ market – metering and beyond – and there is just no room here for technology that does not have a secure foundation and a long-term future. The smart city concept starts with metering and extends to services within the city, especially equipment that is not designed to be battery powered. At Orange we looked at the possibility of using ZigBee in this environment, but after extensive research we found that ZigBee is mainly designed to address very local events. As such, it is not suitable for the type of long-distance metering systems that will be part of the ‘smart grid’.

GR: The other major reasons to make Wavenis an open standard are well-established. An open standard solution, which is supported by many suppliers, will always be more credible in the eyes of the customer base, and never more so than when those customers are huge, national or multi-national organisations. It is unlikely that a national utilities company will ever commit itself to a proprietary solution from one supplier – the risk is just too great. Beyond that, opening up a technology so that it is supported by many suppliers means that there is also a wide range of interoperable devices that can be implemented across a network. This means that the market is competitive, which is good for the customer, and it also means that if one company’s product proves to be unreliable, it can be substituted for another. These are all key benefits – or maybe even requirements – for the large companies that are implementing smart city solutions.


VH: Which direction is the alliance heading in as far as the IPR agreement is concerned – royalty free or with royalty payments – and is this likely to form a stumbling block as the alliance goes forward?

GC: The core Wavenis technology is royalty free. IP for technology beyond the MAC and PHY is licensable, but has to be declared. We hope, as we go forward, that Wavenis-OSA members will also chose to make their IP freely available.

CD: That is right. We want to be able to move forwards with a royalty free comms stack. Sharing IP will benefit the technology and therefore the members of the Wavenis-OSA.


VH: Wavenis is focused towards M2M, low power, long range, low radio traffic, low data rate use-cases. This takes the Wavenis Alliance into competition with relatively established competing technologies such as ZigBee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth low energy and - coming from a different direction - energy-harvesting technology from the EnOcean Alliance. EnOcean has gone beyond low-power, to no-power. How will Wavenis compete in this challenging environment?

CD: From the very early days, we have sought to co-operate with other standards. We made a proposal to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) several years ago to co-develop a low-power technology solution, but there were some elements that weren’t deemed 100% suitable. Meanwhile, Nokia came along with Wibree. That has been used as the basis for the Bluetooth low energy offering, but the end-result is still very short-range.

Now we have Konnex, ZigBee, Z-Wave, EnOcean, Wireless M-BUS, io-homecontrol as well as Bluetooth low energy and various other proprietary solutions all seemingly targeting the same market. But Wavenis has the two key advantages of longer range and lower power. We have had a number of cases of customers choosing Wavenis over ZigBee, for example, as a direct result of the long range, low power benefits, plus what is perceived to be greater robustness. Range seems to be the main problem for ZigBee, and we are aware that a new working group has been created within the IEEE – 802.15.4G – to look at a new PHY and the related necessary MAC arrangement, in order to address smart grid market requirements. Using the ‘Smart Utility Network’ as a working title, they are looking to address the long-range, smart grid market. This is a strong sign that 802.15.4 is not the answer. Coronis and Orange are members of the 802.15.4G group and are contributing ideas.

There will continue to be many solutions competing in this market, many of them operating in the 2.4GHz ISM Band. This is a frequency band that undoubtedly offers a global solution, but practice shows that for this type of technology, the lower frequency bands offer a better range. In the M2M market, and for carriers looking to deploy smart city networks, Wavenis’ long-range capability and installed base of millions of units make it a very serious candidate.

GR: We are also open to new ideas and ways to develop Wavenis in this competitive environment. Energy harvesting, which is the cornerstone of EnOcean’s offering, is the Holy Grail of wireless solutions providers. So yes, we are investigating energy-harvesting as a future enhancement of Wavenis technology, as well as other options including using solar panels to provide power for rechargeable batteries.

CD: It is true, energy-harvesting will be important, but there is a restriction. All of the current technologies are capable of two-way communication, although in the case of existing energy harvesting technologies such as EnOcean, this is very limited due to the very small amount of power that is available. This prevents the use of energy-harvesting solutions in some applications, and these are applications where Wavenis currently shines. For example, where expanded two-way communication is needed, or where the system is using mesh networking, self-healing or self-routing techniques.

We also believe that the Wavenis solution will be very cost-effective. Coronis has invested in and developed a system-on-chip (SoC) solution to sell alongside the existing package of silicon, PCB and IP. It is down to all of the partners selling Wavenis’ based systems to set their own prices, and these must of course be competitive if they wish to do business.


VH: So, what is the future roadmap for Wavenis and the Wavenis Alliance?

GC: We are planning that the first spec for radio connectivity will be available by the end of 2009, and so far we are on track to hit this target. Then, during 2010, we plan to complete the spec for the routing layer, and through our representatives we are co-operating and synching with the work that the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is doing in the area of wireless sensor networks.
We will also allow companies joining the Wavenis-OSA to contribute to and steer the way that the technology and the standard is developed. Many of these companies are not wireless experts, though they will bring new knowledge and expertise to the table.

CD: As the organisation grows we will add working groups to look at specific areas of development. At the moment we are forming a Service Application Working Group, and others will follow. At the networking layer we are looking to integrate the IP layer, while Coronis, Orange and Cisco are co-operating over routing.

There is no question that in the long term, Wavenis and the Internet Protocol will come together, and the Wavenis-OSA will continue to develop the technology so that is becomes a widely-adopted standard for long-range, lower power wireless network systems.