The rapid evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) has been driven by innovation in various technological layers. Blockchain is a new layer that injects trust and security to remove bottlenecks and enable interoperability in the global IoT. From devices that capture data to platforms that process data to communication networks that connect this all, multiple technological components comprise the Blockchain & IoT Tech Stack:

The IoTeX platform provides state-of-the-art blockchain services, protocols, and infrastructure to ecosystem / DApp builders. Companies that use IoTeX platform instead of building from scratch can shorten their time to market and focus on their unique value propositions, business models and application design. IoTeX is excited to announce our new partnership with Nesten, who will utilize IoTeX to build IoT communication networks at global scale.

What is Nesten?

Nesten is building a highly scalable, low-cost, and secure ecosystem for IoT communications. The Nesten team is comprised of senior engineers and researchers, specializing in embedded systems and communications networks. Nesten designs and manufactures the Nesten G1 Gateway, which supports WiFi, BLE, GNSS, and LoRa connectivity protocols. Individual gateways are linked and registered to blockchain to form a mesh network, allowing for secure communications over wide area coverage.

Nesten G1 Gateway

In the future, Nesten will complement their communications network with machine learning, utilizing an advanced neural network to monitor and analyze IoT data. This will enable a wide array of consumer and enterprise blockchain applications, including hotspot-as-a-service, pet and asset tracking, traffic and smart city management, and agricultural analysis. To date, Nesten has deployed 200 G1 Gateways to major cities (e.g., Seoul, Los Angeles, Dallas) and will expand to other regions in the near future.

Goals of Partnership

Nesten is building a hybrid PoW/PoS blockchain that will run on the IoTeX Network. Nesten will develop their own proof of work (PoW) blockchain to facilitate communication between IoT devices. The Nesten blockchain will be one of many Layer 2 chains in the IoTeX Network, allowing Nesten to leverage IoTeX Network resources (e.g., Roll-DPoS consensus, storage, compute) and utilize cross-chain communication to other IoTeX Layer 2 chains.

IoTeX and Nesten will also collaborate on research in IoT hardware and private data transmission. With Nesten’s expertise in communications systems and IoTeX’s expertise in blockchain and trusted computing, our partnership seeks to deliver cutting-edge and user-friendly innovations to help realize the full potential of the IoT.

Nesten is currently building an Ethereum-based blockchain deployment, and will convert to the IoTeX Network in 2019.

Official Press Release: