What is the difference between The Things Network and The Things Industries?

The Things Network is a global community of people building the largest crowdsourced IoT network, owned and operated by its users. The Things Industries runs and manages The Things Network and offers private LoRaWAN network and support for enterprise customers.

What is your advantage in comparison to other network server providers?

Our key differentiators are:

• We specialises in private LoRaWAN network deployments
• We supports open source packet forwarders on the gateways, so no lock-ins
• Flexible deployment options - (dedicated) cloud hosted, self hosted (on-premise), even the possibility of embedding onto gateways in case of offline networks.
• Resellers can use a multi-tenant cluster as mentioned above, allowing for customer management & billing.
• Packet Broker - for LoRaWAN traffic exchange between TTN (public network) and other network servers.
• Our security enhancements allow for true end-to-end security. Device makers can integrate a TTI secure element with pre-injected root keys, allowing for more secure and efficient provisioning.
• Default pricing plan is per device, aligning better with value creation in the network (ie. data generation). Our tools are further aimed at lowering total cost of ownership of LoRaWAN deployments.
• Support for LoRa2.4GHz, FUOTA
• We're adaptive to customer's requirements

How do you offer private networks per customer?

In our cloud offering, each customer has its own virtually isolated environment in our shared infrastructure (called tenants). Each tenant has a unique namespace, own branding and API end points. Gateways capacity can be shared across tenants optionally through peering.

Can I update the firmware of the device over the air using LoRaWAN?

In theory yes, you can update the firmware for devices over the air using LoRaWAN. However in order to implement this you would need a network server which has FUOTA server for multicasting, downlink path, fragmentation while also implementing this on the device layer with an external flash. Contact our team to know how we can support you in this endeavour.

Does the network server come with storage feature?

Currently, storing data is not possible on the network. You can setup a webhook integration to send data to a custom endpoint. Adding storing as a feature is on the roadmap and will be added by Q4 of this year.

What API’s does the enterprise stack expose?

The Things Stack exposes gRPC and HTTP API which can be used for any network based activity. For more information, you can refer to the documentation page here.

Are there any SDK’s and libraries on the roadmap?

Yes, we have the GO SDK which you can use while others are still in the pipeline. You can refer to the documentation page for more info on the release date and upcoming features.

Are there any upfront fees that I have to consider?

For the cloud hosted deployment, there are no upfront fees. You only pay the license fees (based on the number of devices that you have on the network and support fees depending on your tier.

Do you offer any volume discount for long term contracts?

Yes, we offer discounts for long term contracts. The table below lists down the discount amount per duration:

6 months - 5%
12 months - 10%
24 months - 12,5%
36 months - 17,5%
60 months - 25%

Contact our sales team to know more on this.

Can I exchange traffic with other LoRaWAN operator or leverage The Things Network coverage in my area?

The Things Industries enables its customers to start exchanging traffic with each other and with The Things Network community. This exchange of traffic with the community network must be two-way: both the community and commercial networks will benefit from Packet Broker. For more info, visit packetbroker.org