5 things to know about Amazon opening its Sidewalk network

The long-range, low-bandwidth network now covers 90% of the US population

Image credit: Canva

Amazon Sidewalk, a low-bandwidth, long-range IoT network, is now available for developer testing (as per a March 28 press release).

Here are five key points:

• The secure network, which is meant to link the “next billion devices”, already covers more than 90% of the U.S. population (it’s only available in the U.S. thus far).
• Sidewalk enables developers to connect devices such as environmental sensors, leak detectors, and smart locks, which can be restricted by Wi-Fi range and cellular technology costs.
• They may use free test kits to confirm the breadth of Sidewalk coverage as they build products.
• Amazon also provides Sidewalk with tools and technology for building and onboarding devices, as well as enabling cloud-based apps and AWS IoT Core integration.
• Three firms will release new Sidewalk-enabled products later this year.

This story was first published on The PhilaVerse (my Substack newsletter).