2degrees CEO Stewart Sherriff and NEC’s Katsuhiro Ito sign an agreement to collaborate on smart cities.
Two Degrees Mobile Limited (2degrees) and NEC New Zealand have announced the signing of a ‘memorandum of collaboration’ agreement to develop innovative technologies and advanced network solutions for smart cities.
“NEC and 2degrees are both actively engaged in developing opportunities within the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) market. It makes sense to combine NEC’s technology leadership and the power of 2degrees’ national mobile and fixed networks to explore opportunities,” said Stewart Sherriff, CEO of 2degrees.
2degrees and NEC will work collaboratively by combining knowledge, ideas and state-of-the-art technologies to explore the creation of new smart city solutions with the ultimate focus being both the New Zealand and export market.
NEC New Zealand Managing Director Tetsuro Akagi said, “NEC is excited to collaborate with 2degrees and be involved in Smart Cities development in New Zealand. This partnership presents an excellent opportunity to co-create and implement practical solutions which enable cities to become truly smart.”
This non-exclusive collaboration intends to combine 2degrees’ expertise in next generation network backhaul technologies with NEC New Zealand’s industry experience in sensor deployments and practical smart city projects.
About NEC New Zealand
Since originally supplying technology to New Zealand in the 1960’s, NEC New Zealand is a leading solutions and service provider of IT and network, telecommunication and identity solutions. With innovation at the heart of the organisation, NEC New Zealand’s commitment to quality, reliability and value has seen it through more than 50 years of innovation in New Zealand. NEC’s state-of-the-art technologies are backed by local technical expertise and are used in various creative applications to enhance the lives of the people in New Zealand every day, from connecting callers to sorting mail items, from providing timely updates via diverse digital signage network to empowering law enforcement agencies with biometric technologies.
About 2Degrees
2degrees is a New Zealand mobile and broadband network provider. Launched in 2009, 2degrees has made a significant impact on the New Zealand telecommunications industry. Initially launched as a mobile network, the company has built a national 2G, 3G and 4G network and has significantly lowered the cost of mobile for Kiwis. In early 2015, the company acquired internet service provider Snap to become a full service telecommunications provider. 2degrees has over 55 retail outlets, national mobile network coverage which is complemented by ADSL, VDSL and UFB services. The 2degrees team has grown to over 1,000, with a mix of over 40 different nationalities. 2degrees shareholders include US-based mobile communications specialists, Trilogy International Partners, Tesbrit BV and Hautaki Limited. The combined shareholders bring a wealth of international experience and knowledge of the telecommunications industry.
