Digital Keys, a startup that develops and sells smartlocks for commercial use, is turning to a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to bring a new touchless smartlock to the residential market to fight COVID-19.
In a pandemic where people are fearful of touching surfaces, companies are speeding up the development of smart devices that mean consumers don’t have to use their fingers.
Digital Keys smartlocks set themselves apart by not only offering touchless access, but also by using a new communications technology called Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) - part of the 5G standards.
The global smart device industry has surged in growth due to the smartphone boom, and is one that analysts say will experience a second wave as we enter the Internet of Things era.
According to leading Market Research company Statista, by 2023, global NB-IoT device shipments are expected to reach approximately 613 million units.
In recent times, smartlocks have been plagued with bad reputations, hacking, short battery life, and unreliability issues, but the Digital Keys team claim using NB IoT in their smartlocks instead of Wi-Fi solves these problems.
“Install our Narrowband Smartlock over your deadbolt, put our cover on your handle latch, screw in our doorcloser, download our digital keys app and you are ready to go touchless in minutes. You don’t need to change your locks and anyone can install it.” said Steve Dunn CEO/Co-Founder Digital Keys. “The smartlocks also include SIM cards and 2 years connectivity with your local NB IoT network service provider”.
Digital Keys claims the door handle latch doesn’t offer any more security than what deadbolts offer, so they suggest to put their cover on it or remove it altogether so you can go completely touchless and kick open your door, or use your elbow.
“You can help stop the spread of coronavirus by not touching your door locks, and backing this kickstarter campaign to fund the development of our new touchless smartlock” said Mr Dunn.
The Narrowband Smartlock is available for pre-order at Kickstarter.com starting at US$135 (including doorcloser, SIM card and 2 years connectivity to local NB IoT networks).
About Digital Keys
Digital Keys delivers complete end-to-end NB IoT Smart Access solutions. Digital Keys has received R&D funding from the European Commission and the Australian Government, and graduated from 3 startup accelerator programs in the USA, Europe and Australia. The co-founders of Digital Keys recently published a book by Wiley, about their startup journey called ‘Startup Accelerators’. With offices in Sydney, the Netherlands and Columbus, Ohio, Digital Keys has been working with telecommunication companies for the last 3 years, and have sold a commercial NB IoT smartlock into the European market.
Visit the Kickstarter page here
Contact: Steve Dunn CEO Digital Keys
Email: steve@digitalkeys.co tel : +61 434 058 648
Website: https://www.digitalkeys.io/