Rhode Island-based FlorLink has introduced its SmartHub for retail enterprises connected by the Sequans Monarch 2 cellular IoT module.

Sequans and FlorLink collaborated on the SmartHub retail offering, which is connected to the cloud by Monarch cellular IoT connectivity. SmartHub includes a large suite of sensors that can monitor multiple sales floor conditions and send customised notifications to sales floor associates on their mobile devices, thereby instantly improving security and increasing sales opportunities.

“The FlorLink SmartHub is well-designed and delivers on its promise to streamline retail operations,” said Louis Chuang, vice president at Sequans. “We are very pleased to work with the FlorLink team integrating our Monarch technology into their new SmartHub that is destined to become a very important and valuable retail IoT solution.”

The SmartHub is designed to be the brains of the retail sales floor. It collects incoming alerts from cameras and motion detectors, call buttons, customer smartphones, online orders and environmental sensors, and then sends alerts to various communication devices, including staff tablets and smartphones, digital signage, or in-store paging.

All in-store event data are then sent to the Microsoft Azure cloud portal via Monarch connectivity.

The SmartHub has been certified by a North American mobile operator, and previous versions of the device have been installed in major retail chains throughout North America.

“We are very excited to see our SmartHub becoming truly universal now that it is connected via ubiquitous and ultra-reliable cellular,” said Mark Barnes, FlorLink CEO. “We chose Sequans’ Monarch technology because of its ease of integration, and because of Sequans’ proven track record in cellular IoT and great customer support, which enabled us to bring our Monarch-enabled SmartHub to market in record time.”

The Monarch 2 GM02S provides LTE Cat M1, NB1 and NB2 connectivity. It is based on Sequans’ Monarch 2 chip platform, which is designed to support massive IoT. Monarch 2 provides improvements in performance and power consumption, while providing seamless migration for Monarch 1 users because it is based on Sequans’ existing LTE-M and NB-IoT protocol stack.

The Monarch 2 GM02S has a small yet cost-effective form factor and provides connectivity for a wide range of IoT applications, including utility meters, sensors, trackers and wearables for applications such as smart home, smart city, ehealth, industrial, retail, agricultural, financial and security.

According to Allied Market Research, the demand for IoT in the retail market is growing rapidly and expected to reach $177.9bn by 2031, with a CAGR of 20.3% from 2022 to 2031.

The FlorLink SmartHub will be on display in Sequans’ meeting room at next month’s CES in Las Vegas.

Founded in 2003, Sequans is based in Paris, France, with offices in the USA, UK, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Finland, Taiwan, South Korea and China.