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TOYOKEIKI and KDDI start joint promotion for development platform taking advantage of gas smart meter etc.

January 23, 2018

TOYOKEIKI Co., Ltd. (head office Matsumoto City- Nagano, president and CEO Yasuhide Tsuchida, hereafter referred to as “TOYOKEIKI”) and KDDI Corporation (head office Chiyoda Ward- Tokyo, President and CEO Takashi Tanaka, hereafter referred to as "KDDI") announced today that they agreed on the joint promotion of utilization of “cellular LPWA (LTE-M)”, which is a new communication technology for IoT.
In the future, we will jointly promote the development of new services by constructing a new platform for LP gas operators, which is the basis of service provision, and of equipment such as smart gas meters.

TOYOKEIKI started a centralized monitoring system for the gas and water industry "Rindow System" (Note) in 1987, so it has abundant data and know-how such as oversea order receipts. On the other hand, KDDI has been providing IoT / M2M for over 15 years, offering communication services for IoT, cloud services, and data analysis services. By taking advantage of each asset, the two companies will build a new platform on the cloud that will improve the operational efficiency and convenience of LP gas operators and provide value-added services to LP gas contractors.

In addition, it will develop a transmitter for LP gas meter "IoT-R" (Rindow for IoT (Note)). Cellular LPWA (LTE-M) features low power and wide range wireless communication, so it will realize low power consumption, bidirectional communication with batteries for about 10 years, and automatic transmission of meter reading data from the place where radio waves are hard to reach.

With TOYOKEIKI’s new platform and "IoT-R", it will (1) propose new gas rate menu that makes contractors use LP gas more economically (2) promote prepaid service to prevent delinquency (3) make data analysis and delivery of gas cylinder more efficient by utilizing AI delivery efficiency (4) visualize energy with smart phone application (5) watch over the elderly by monitoring usage situation (6) maximize the convenience of companies and users of LP gas by taking advantage of latest IoT and AI such as through popularization of web-based invoicing service and electronic payment.
In addition, TOYOKEIKI will modify "multicenter" which receives meter reading information and emergency calls such as water and gas supply all over the country to "IoT - R" compatible system.

From now on, KDDI will consider not only applying the platform to gas and water, but also providing it to businesses in various fields as a common platform including other social infrastructure.

Diagram

Note) "Rindow" is the product name of the telemetering system developed by TOYOKEIKI, which has both wired system and an all radio system by PHS. “Rindow” is derived from the symbolic flower of Nagano prefecture.