ACiiST was started by engineers from Motorola and Freescale Semiconductor who saw that connecting the many devices scattered across streets and highways needed a purpose-built communications layer. The company builds an outdoor connectivity platform: a POLARITY II edge unit mounted inside light poles and managed by its MetropoLAN software, which supplies Ethernet, power and light control to cameras, sensors and other devices without new trenching or roadside cabinets.
ACiiST competes with new-build communications infrastructure — fiber runs, roadside cabinets and trenching — by reusing the poles already standing every few meters along roads and campuses, cutting the cabling and civil works that mass outdoor deployments otherwise require. It sells to municipalities, seaports and airports, highway companies and security organizations through system integrators, power and light utilities, telecom operators and engineering firms.
