Behr Technologies and Fraunhofer IIS Enter into Worldwide License Agreement for the MIOTY™ Internet of Things Communications Technology

Newly-executed Global License Agreement will drive worldwide commercialization and adoption of MIOTY^™ as new technology for Low-Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) communications and the core enabling technology of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

TORONTO, Canada, ERLANGEN and MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Behr Technologies Inc. (BTI) and Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS (Fraunhofer IIS) are pleased to announce the formation of a new global partnership to develop and commercialize Fraunhofer IIS's innovative and patented MIOTY^™ communication technology for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market.

BTI is a new Canadian company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, formed to become a global licensee for MIOTY^™ - a new technology for Low-Power Wide Area Network communication enabling the IIoT.  BTI has been formed and funded by a group of experienced Canadian technology entrepreneurs, and has worked with Fraunhofer IIS on field-testing with early adopters and commercialization of the MIOTY^™ technology for over a year.  BTI will help to drive the worldwide adoption, licensing, and support of MIOTY^™ LPWAN technology, and has simultaneously opened its first European office in Nuremberg, Germany. 

Fraunhofer IIS, based in Erlangen, Germany is an institute of the world-renowned Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft e.V., a leading non-profit organization for applied research in Europe.  Fraunhofer's research activities are conducted by 72 Institutes and units throughout Germany with an annual budget of €2.3 billion and a staff of more than 25,000.  Fraunhofer IIS is the largest Fraunhofer institute of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft e.V and one of the world's leading application-oriented research institutions for microelectronic and information technology system solutions and services.  Fraunhofer has developed and globally licensed known technologies like mp3 and MPEG AAC coding technologies, digital radio technologies (DAB+, DRM) and other advanced satellite radio and communication technologies.

The MIOTY^™ technology, developed by Fraunhofer IIS, is a powerful new IIoT software-based technology, which addresses the problems and deficiencies of all current wireless communications solutions.  It is designed specifically to support the development and implementation of "production-level" private LPWANs on the lowest cost basis while maintaining maximum scalability.  Based on Fraunhofer's patented Telegram Splitting Multiple Access technology, MIOTY^™ provides exceptional wide-area connectivity and allows the economical deployment of networks based on a single or small number of off-the-shelf base-stations/gateways under tough plant/site operating conditions.  MIOTY^™ communication protocols offer one of the highest available immunities to channel and radio interference and maximize signal and building penetration through concrete, "rebar", and other obstructions ensuring unparalleled reliability in data transmission.  Connectivity ranges up to 15 kilometers in open areas and 5 kilometers in dense urban environments and heavy building interference with no telecom carrier required. 

MIOTY^™ is also a highly-scalable IIoT solution supporting the deployment and simultaneous large-scale connectivity of up to hundreds of thousands of MIOTY^™-enabled sensors.  The low-power communication protocol allows data sensors integrated with the communication technology to operate up to 15 years on a simple low-cost battery, and MIOTY^™ incorporates industry-leading security protocols.

Implemented as a software-based communication solution, MIOTY^™ is fully vendor and chipset independent.  It can be installed easily on commodity off-the-shelf hardware and integrated into existing IIoT architectures and systems.  Fraunhofer is also participating in the worldwide standardization of LPWAN technologies as an open and worldwide standard for LPWAN deployments. 

The MIOTY^™ LPWAN solution will also be tightly integrated with Microsoft Azure™ enabling the capture and interpretation of sensor-generated data on a massive scale in the most demanding environments.  It will create more effective, efficient and unique approaches to production monitoring and management, predictive maintenance, energy management, facility management, ambient monitoring, and workforce safety, among many applications.

"MIOTY™ addresses a huge potential market projected at more than 30 billion IIoT devices in 2020 and 75 billion devices by 2025 (HIS Research).  According to Grand View Research, the global IIoT market exceeded US$100 billion in 2016 and is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of over 25% from 2017 to 2025.  Additionally, General Electric predicts investment in IIoT will top US$60 trillion during the next 15 years", explains Albert Behr, CEO of BTI.

"The signed Global Fraunhofer/BTI License Agreement represents the first stage in bringing revolutionary IIoT communications technology to the global marketplace", states Behr.  "The combination of world-class German engineering with BTI's broad commercialization abilities will usher in a new era of production-scale Industrial/Commercial IOT deployments for many of the world's leading companies.  MIOTY^™ is truly transformational. Fraunhofer and BTI will face the upcoming challenges of IIoT applications and markets by further outstanding additions to MIOTY^™ technology."   

Michael Schlicht, Head of the Division Communication Systems at Fraunhofer IIS, adds: "The MIOTY^™ technology has been developed over several years as a vendor-independent software solution for LPWAN communication and we believe in its high potential to become the commercial standard for wireless IIoT connectivity.  Fraunhofer IIS experience developing audio codecs e.g. mp3, digital radio for terrestrial and satellite-based technologies, and numerous satellite communications contributions demonstrates our technological know-how and our performance that we are able to set revolutionary trends and open up new markets. Together with partners we make these technologies available for global adoption.

We are excited to form a partnership with Behr Technologies to take the MIOTY^™ technology to market.  We look forward to supporting and developing this new German-Canadian technology commercialization alliance as an effective way of bringing powerful products and technologies to world markets."

About Behr Technologies Inc.:

Behr Technologies Inc. (BTI) is a new Canadian company formed to become the world-wide licensee of Fraunhofer MIOTY^™ IIoT communications technology.  BTI is focused on commercializing, licensing and supporting MIOTY™ globally and on facilitating the development of new MIOTY^™ based products and applications in the worldwide IIoT marketplace.  BTI is committed to supporting its selected MIOTY^™ technology licensees and resellers and the integration of MIOTY^™ into the widest range of products and networks in the industry.

About Fraunhofer IIS:

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is one of the leading organizations for applied research in Europe. Its research activities are conducted by 72 institutes and research units at locations throughout Germany. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft employs a staff of more than 25,000.  The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS is one of the world's leading application-oriented research institutions for microelectronic and IT system solutions and services. It is the largest of all Fraunhofer Institutes.

In the area of "Audio and Media Technologies", the institute has been shaping the digitalization of media for more than 30 years now. Fraunhofer IIS was instrumental in the development of mp3 and AAC and played a significant role in the digitalization of the cinema.  In the context of "cognitive sensor technologies", the institute researches technologies for sensor technology, data transmission technology, data analysis methods and the exploitation of data as part of data-driven services and their accompanying business models.

SOURCE Behr Technologies Inc.