You’ve heard the buzz, you’ve seen the hype, and you’re probably feeling the impact all around both personally and professionally: technology innovations are emerging and accelerating faster than ever before – from augmented reality and artificial intelligence to cybersecurity and the Internet of Things (IoT). The property technology and multifamily industry is evolving, and now, more than ever, ownership groups, operators, and management teams need technologies they can trust to support their operational needs today and in the future, without the risk of becoming obsolete or outdated.
Taking a closer look at IoT, there are billions of smart sensors and connected devices being employed today to drive businesses and technologies forward. You’ll likely find several of them just by taking a quick peek around your office. IoT is everywhere, and our mission at Quext is to harness that technology and deliver the best application of it to our customers.
That’s why Quext IoT leverages LoRaWAN, a Low Power, Wide Area Network protocol, as part of our industry-leading smart apartment solution. Let’s take a deeper look at why the LoRaWAN specification is the ideal communications protocol for so many industries and solutions like smart building IoT.
Defining the LoRaWAN Specification
LoRaWAN is a Long Range Wide Area Network protocol used for bi-directional wireless device connectivity. It leverages a star-of-star topology, where gateways relay messages between end-devices and a central network server. Ideal for connecting devices that need to send small amounts of data over long distances with minimal energy consumption, LoRaWAN is a self-contained, secure network with better power and range efficiency and no reliance on the Internet or WiFi.
Given this unique distinction, LoRaWAN has a variety of use cases for many growing industries. If we consider the utility of a low energy network protocol that is far reaching, it stands to reason that any operation requiring bi-directional transmission of small data packets over a long distance would benefit from LoRaWAN. Examples include:
Agriculture: Intelligent monitoring of livestock, soil conditions, irrigation systems, and more.
Real Estate: Building security, smart sensors, predictive analytics, and home automation solutions.
Smart Cities: Optimizing parking management, street lighting, and waste management.
Manufacturing: Process monitoring, asset tracking, and predictive maintenance.
Logistics: Real-time location monitoring, efficient fleet management, and tracking of goods and assets.
Transforming Property Operations
One of the single best applications of the LoRaWAN specification is for IoT systems in multi-unit properties. Often referred to as “smart” hardware, electronic devices like locks, thermostats, switches and sensors are most often idle and infrequently transmit small packets of data when active (such as unlocking a lock, changing a thermostat’s temperature, turning on a lightswitch, or identifying a leak). For this reason, IoT systems are perfectly suited to communicate via LoRaWAN, especially in commercial or residential real estate settings, where hundreds or thousands of devices are able to briefly become active to send and receive small amounts of data before returning idle.
As a result, IoT devices that communicate through LoRaWAN can expect battery life far exceeding that of other protocols, even lasting up to several years before needing replacement. Paired with long range communication capabilities, it’s no wonder that LoRaWAN-based IoT systems are so much more low maintenance than other solutions, as they require less hardware, less maintenance, and resultantly cost less than similar WiFi-based solutions.
Quext IoT – Innovation at its Core
Not surprisingly, the use case for IoT and LoRaWAN makes so much sense that it was only a matter of time before someone disrupted the multifamily industry with it. Quext not only pioneered a native IoT application using LoRaWAN, but we developed the industry’s most hardware- and network-efficient IoT solution with patent-protected technologies like our smart hub-embedded thermostat, to cut hardware requirements in half.
Quext IoT truly is the most brilliantly simple and efficient smart apartment solution in the industry, and the value it delivers to operators and management teams is unparalleled. Beyond the technical advantages that LoRaWAN offers for multifamily applications, our proprietary and patented technologies allow us to make IoT far more accessible for owners, operators, and residents. Quext IoT uniquely delivers:
- A differentiated IoT application that utilizes patented, hub-embedded technology to eliminate up to 50% of the hardware requirements of competing solutions, making implementation a breeze
- A smarter, more efficient solution at a fraction of the cost vs competing IoT systems
- Elimination of financial barriers to entry by making affordable smart technologies accessible to all multifamily owners
- Unrivaled payback periods via new NOI generation and energy savings opportunities
- A feature-rich platform that continues innovating, with dedicated client support teams available to facilitate operational success
- PMS integrations right out of the box, so properties can maximize operational efficiency without skipping a beat
Proven Success
Quext has been officially named the preferred vendor for smart apartment technologies for many of the leading property management companies around the country. The results speak for themselves. Visit onequext.com/customer-success-stories to see case studies and success stories from our clients. Or get in touch with us to schedule a demo or request a proposal for your properties.
