Successful East Yorkshire tech entrepreneur Chris Byrd is launching a new venture in Hull, five years after selling the company he co-founded for a cool £47.5 million.
ThingSIM aims to make Internet of Things technology accessible to SMEs, providing lower cost connectivity and management of enabled devices.
It removes a major adoption barrier with the service, which it is selling directly to businesses and through partnership agreements with IT providers from its base at Hull’s digital innovation centre C4DI.
Mr Byrd started Manchester-based internet infrastructure and hosting business M247 with his friend Jonathan Buckle while studying internet computing at University of Hull’s Scarborough campus. Metronet swooped five years ago.
Of the new venture, Mr Byrd said: “IoT technology tends to be dominated by very large companies, in part due to the cost of the network infrastructure and expertise needed to support it.
“We want to help democratise this technology by providing an affordable network and management solution, which will lead to a more level playing field and greater innovation.
“Use of IoT can transform customer service, productivity and profitability as well as supporting the implementation of new, smart technologies which can ultimately benefit everyone’s lives. The possibilities are endless.”
ThingSIM connects devices, vehicles and employees to their central IT systems via private network SIM cards backed up with a user-friendly, ‘self-serve’ platform on which businesses can manage their IoT devices and connections.
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To date, there are billions of connected smart devices globally which make up the Internet of Things, despite the technology being in its infancy. These include smart home solutions in the consumer space, to devices used in many industries including in warehousing and logistics, and major advancements in ‘connected healthcare’ to allow remote monitoring of patients.
ThingSIM is directly connected to the London Internet Exchange as well as having its own extensive private 海角视频 network to provide secure and robust connectivity away from the public internet. It also has mobile data roaming access to more than 300 network operators in 197 countries.
“Due to the sensitive nature of data being generated by connected devices, the Internet of Things often relies on private network connections, whether due to privacy concerns, potential hacking or resilience issues,” said Mr Byrd. “IoT network service providers need to mitigate these real risks.”
He said unlike most of its competitors, ThingSIM owns and manages a large part of its infrastructure which is enabling it to offer bespoke solutions, such as integration with clients’ IT systems.
The service has been in development since 2018, and has already won significant contracts with two global household names.
Mr Byrd is chief technology officer of Netavo, which owns the ThingSIM brand.
He lives in Hornsea with his wife and children and is full of praise for Hull’s expanding tech hub. “I would like to thank C4DI for their support and we look forward to developing our business alongside like-minded people who share our passion for improving people’s lives and business efficiency through the use of technology,” he said.
With M247 he had On the Beach and Warburtons as clients, with operations in Manchester and Bucharest, Romania. Equity firm Livingbridge, which recently sold Hessle-based Giacom, funded the buy-out.