Verizon has announced on Monday, Sept. 12, its acquisition of Sensity Systems. The acquisition is part of Verizon's plan of building a diverse Internet of Things (IoT) portfolio that includes sensors used on city streets and on farms.
Verizon Buys Sensity
The wireless carrier Verizon has announced its acquisition of Sensity Systems on its company's website. The amount of the transaction has remained undisclosed at the moment.
According to Computerworld, Sensity is a company based in Sunnyvale, Calif., that is specialized on using energy-efficient LED lighting to build an IoT platform on city streetlights. This smart IoT platform can include the use of sensors placed on a streetlight pole for monitoring city services such as public safety and parking, as well as monitoring weather.
Sensity's Accomplishments
Sensity began a project last year in collaboration with Cisco in Kansas City, Mo. They plan to install LED streetlights that can be fine tuned in order to offer precise ambient light conditions. According to estimations, this system can save Kansas City around $4 million a year.
Sensity has raised around $75 million with various investors, including VCs like Trinity, Almaz, and Mohr Davidow and strategic investors like General Electric and Cisco Systems. The company has already a number of important customers, such as the City of Chicago and 42 smart city installations located worldwide, as well as the Westfield chain of shopping malls.
Verizon's Plans For Sensity Systems
According to TechCrunch, Verizon's acquisition of Sensity Systems can help the carrier's wider Internet of Things "smart city" business. Verizon's ThingSpace will integrate Sensity's technology and business. Tech market analysts expect that the deal will close in Q4 2016.
Verizon just made another pair of acquisitions this year, to build out IoT solutions for vehicles. The carrier bought Telogis in June and Fleetmatics in August.
"Sensity is a leading provider of IoT solutions for smart communities with a strong ecosystem of partners, and this transaction will accelerate the deployment of large-scale implementations that will drive the digital transformation of cities, universities and venues,"
Mike Lanman, senior vice president, Enterprise Products and IoT at Verizon, said in a statement that Sensity Systems has a strong ecosystem of partners. This transaction is expected to accelerate Verizon's deployment of large-scale IoT projects.
