Lime, Canonical launch crowdfunding for LimeNET dev’t

Article By : Julien Happich

The unit, based on an Intel i7 processor and LimeSDR PCIe card, is a high capacity network in a box for mobile and IoT applications.

Lime Microsystems and Canonical has announced a second round of crowdfunding for Software-Defined Radio (SDR)-based LimeNET. Described as a high capacity network in a box for mobile and IoT applications, the compact unit is based on an Intel i7 processor and the open source LimeSDR PCIe card.

By shifting the emphasis and value away from proprietary hardware to open hardware with app stores on top, Lime Micro and Canonical are looking to turn the mobile telephony business model on its head, in effect "commoditising" network hardware and shifting the value centre towards software.

LimeSDR-based base stations can not only run cellular standards from 2G or 5G, as well as IoT protocols like LoRa, Sigfox, NB-IoT, LTE-M, Weightless and others but any type of wireless protocol. Open source base stations allow R&D departments to try out new ideas around industrial IoT, content broadcasting and many more. Commoditised base stations allow any enterprise to run their own base station and get spectrum from their operators as a service. Base stations can have new form factors as well, like being embedded into vending machines or attached to drones.

Over 3,600 developers are currently involved in efforts to create apps, called Snaps, for LimeSDR, with several free and paid-for apps having already appeared on the open community LimeSDR App store.

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