Morse Micro has added Chicago-based engineering company Pace Wireless to its Wi-Fi HaLow Design Partner Programme as the low-power wireless technology seeks to move from development projects into commercial IoT deployments.
Pace Wireless will provide product development and manufacturing expertise to companies building devices around Morse Micro’s Wi-Fi HaLow silicon, covering the process from initial system architecture and proof-of-concept work through to production.
The partnership reflects a broader effort by semiconductor companies to build engineering ecosystems around emerging connectivity technologies, reducing the development work required for customers to turn wireless chips into finished products.
Pace Wireless has experience across consumer, industrial and access control markets, with its leadership team bringing more than 30 years of product launch experience, according to the company. Its services include hardware and firmware development, printed circuit board design, regulatory planning and production management.
“It’s really exciting to have the level of experience and capability that Ron and the team from Pace Wireless bring to Wi-Fi HaLow,” said Michael De Nil, co-founder and chief executive of Morse Micro.
“The right expertise at the design stage of a new product makes a massive difference to that product’s ultimate success,” he added.
The company said Pace Wireless was selected for its ability to move quickly from concept to working prototype, as well as its focus on low-cost manufacturing and previous experience with Wi-Fi HaLow, the IEEE 802.11ah standard designed for longer-range, lower-power wireless connectivity.
Pace Wireless also has access to US-based prototyping through a manufacturing partner in Illinois, which it says provides customers with a route from validated concepts to initial builds without moving immediately to full-scale production.
“As organisations explore the possibilities of Wi-Fi HaLow, our role as a Morse Micro Design Partner is to help them move efficiently from initial evaluation to a working, demonstrable use case,” said Ronald Pace, managing partner of Pace Wireless. “By combining Morse Micro’s advanced Wi-Fi HaLow silicon with our decades of embedded systems experience and US-based prototyping capabilities, we help customers accelerate development, reduce engineering risk, and bring innovative connected products to market more efficiently,” he said.
Morse Micro’s Design Partner Programme is intended to connect design houses, system integrators and developer groups with its Wi-Fi HaLow chips, development tools and technical support.
Pace Wireless joins Gateworks, VPI Technology and CA Engineering in the programme.
Wi-Fi HaLow operates in sub-GHz spectrum, giving it greater propagation range than conventional Wi-Fi while maintaining compatibility with the wider 802.11 ecosystem. The technology is being positioned for applications including industrial IoT, smart infrastructure, utilities, agriculture and security, where devices may need to communicate over longer distances while operating with limited power.
For Morse Micro, expanding the design partner network is part of a wider push to turn Wi-Fi HaLow from a connectivity technology into a platform for commercial IoT products.
The company is headquartered in Sydney and has offices across the US, Taiwan, China, India, Japan and the UK. Its portfolio includes the MM6108 and MM8108 Wi-Fi HaLow chips.
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