How a vision became
the largest LoRaWAN® network
in the world.
Welcome to LoRa-WAN(IA)!
Digitalisation is the backbone of the energy transition in the smart city, in the building sector and in the energy industry. It makes energy consumption transparent, monitors electricity, water and heating networks, records environmental and weather data and supports local authorities, companies and citizens in implementing the energy transition together. Thanks to the open, energy-efficient standard, LoRaWAN® has become the leading IoT technology.
“LoRaWAN® has revolutionised the way energy suppliers, the housing industry and smart cities work. The technology offers reliable, low-power connectivity and is therefore the basis for many smart use cases.”
Zeljko Petrina, Managing Director of ZENNER International
Whether Smart Submetering, Smart Building or Smart City: with LoRaWAN® you can quickly and easily take your projects to the next digital level. This saves effort, reduces costs and opens up new possibilities, for example for the smart control of buildings, neighbourhoods or entire cities.
Get started now with LoRaWAN® and tap into new potential for greater efficiency and sustainability.
Your first use case
is already waiting for you
LoRaWAN® technology can be used in many areas today, e. g. for remote meter reading in the water, gas or heating sectors, for monitoring environmental data, in submetering, for the digital control of radiator thermostats in buildings or for the precise analysis and forecasting of flood events.
Discover how you can use the technology to digitise and automate a wide variety of scenarios.
English subtitles available
The latest smart ‘thing’:
Metering as a Service
Droughts and climate change call for new water supply solutions. With Metering as a Service (MaaS), ZENNER offers a complete package for simple, comprehensive remote reading of water meters. The system combines precise ultrasonic meters with wireless data transmission via wM-Bus and LoRaWAN® – efficient, sustainable and future-proof.
Ready, Set – LoRaWAN®!
Would you like to realise your own IoT projects? Our preconfigured sensors and gateways make it easy to get started. Whether indoors or outdoors, individual buildings or entire city districts: our scalable product portfolio offers everything you need for a reliable LoRaWAN® network.
Your key to your own network: With the ZENNER IoT Gateway Outdoor 16, you can create stable network coverage. In the building, in the neighbourhood or city-wide. Become the operator of your own smart infrastructure and make your neighbourhood fit for the digital future.
ZENNER IoT gateway indoorZENNER IoT gateway indoor
The ZENNER IoT gateways use high-performance LoRaWAN® technology, whose excellent building penetration and long-range network coverage ensure the connectivity of IoT sensors even …
ZENNER IoT gateway outdoor for LoRaWAN®ZENNER IoT gateway outdoor for LoRaWAN®
The ZENNER IoT gateways use high-performance LoRaWAN® technology, whose excellent building penetration and long-range network coverage ensure the connectivity of IoT sensors even …
From hardware to software:
All from a single source
With element suite from ZENNER, you can achieve a completely digital end-to-end data flow – from the assembly and commissioning of your devices to the final application. Without any media discontinuity. The element suite combines three powerful components into a comprehensive solution:
element go: Field service digitally designed
The smart solution for your assembly and service processes in the field. With element go, you can digitise your field services efficiently, flexibly and intuitively, for greater transparency, less effort and optimal processes.
element iot: The IoT platform for your device management
With element iot, you can centrally manage your devices, visualise data, create alerts and much more. Professional, scalable and user-friendly.
element apps: Your application. Your modular system.
Create customised applications and dashboards without any programming knowledge. Thanks to low-code and the flexible modular system of element apps, you can implement your requirements quickly and independently.
We literally get on the roof
of our customers!
LoRaWAN® has long been more than just a vision: numerous cities, companies and institutions are already using the technology to actively shape their digital infrastructure. In our reference projects, we show you how versatile and effective the use of LoRaWAN® can be, from smart building control and flood monitoring to comprehensive network coverage.
Take a look behind the scenes:
ZENNER News gives you exciting insights from our customers on site.
Our articles show concrete application examples and project successes.
Best Practice all about Smart City
LoRaWAN® makes it possible! Discover smart use cases from practice.
Smart City Dillingen: Pioneers in LoRaWAN®
ZENNER supports Stadtwerke Dillingen in the implementation and execution of all Smart City use cases.
Stadtwerke Bernau and ZENNER make neighbourhoods smart
Bernau near Berlin and its municipal utilities are on the way to becoming a smart city: They have networked three neighbourhoods with LoRaWAN® technology from ZENNER.
With Smart Waste against NO2 Pollution in Wuppertal
Clean air is particularly important to the citizens of Wuppertal.
Smart sensors for a good climate in the classroom
AggerEnergie and ZENNER have equipped the classrooms of the six Wiehl schools with climate sensors. These continuously measure the CO2 saturation of the indoor air.
From “LoRa-WAN(IA)” to
the world’s largest network
What began with initial projects has developed into an internationally successful model. Today, our LoRaWAN® network is the largest of its kind in the world and continues to grow. A decisive success factor: the close co-operation within our group of companies. We are one of the international pioneers in the digitalisation of the energy industry and the smart city and today, we operate the largest LoRaWAN® network in the world, with network availability in 15 countries. The 10 millionth sensor was integrated into the network in September 2025.
Digitalisation is the backbone of the energy transition in the smart city, in the building sector and in the energy industry. It makes energy consumption transparent, monitors electricity, water and heating networks, records environmental and weather data and supports local authorities, companies and citizens in implementing the energy transition together. Thanks to the open, energy-efficient standard, LoRaWAN® has become the leading IoT technology.
“When we started rolling out LoRaWAN® in 2016, we didn’t expect there to be 10 million sensors by 2025. The LoRaWAN® network now forms the infrastructure for comprehensive digitalisation in many countries. This has made us a global pioneer in the field of digitalisation.”
Alexander Lehmann, Managing Director of Minol Messtechnik and ZENNER International
Every milestone was a step towards the future: from the first network installation to cross-border rollouts and the seamless integration of thousands of sensors. Our journey shows what is possible when innovation, experience and partnership go hand in hand.
#bettertogether
2016
The Internet of Things is moving in
The LoRaWAN® wireless technology becomes the technology of choice for the future and is ideally suited to the requirements of smart cities, energy suppliers and the housing industry thanks to its long range and low energy consumption.
LoRa Alliance
In the same year, we become one of the first members of the LoRa Alliance and have since been actively working with around 500 other companies on the further development of the LoRaWAN® standard. The LoRa Alliance is a global association of players who further develop, standardise and promote the open LoRaWAN® protocol.
2017
Projects need project managers!
From 2017, a team of highly qualified IoT project managers was set up and, with the first smart city projects, the development from device manufacturer to smart solution provider was heralded.
Into the smart city with ZENNER
The founding of ZENNER IoT Solutions in 2017 marks a milestone for the Group. With over 400 successful IoT projects based on LoRaWAN®, it is now the leading provider of smart city solutions in Germany. The first smart city project is realised in 2017.
2018
Foundation of ZENNER Connect
With the foundation of ZENNER Connect (formerly Minol ZENNER Connect), the group becomes a LoRaWAN® network operator registered with the German Federal Network Agency.
Acquisition of Brunata Denmark
The same year saw the acquisition of Brunata Denmark. Brunata Denmark. The group becomes the third largest metering service provider in the world. The LoRaWAN® network is now also growing internationally.
2020
Big things are created on a small scale: East Side Fab
ZENNER has been a member of East Side Fab, an innovation hub in Saarbrücken, since 2020 in order to be able to play a part in the most innovative fields relating to the smart city. From here, we support numerous innovation projects relating to IoT and LoRaWAN® – from energy saving in buildings to flood monitoring and leak detection.
2024
Excellent! LoRaWAN®Live in Munich
At the LoRaWAN®Live 2024 event, the LoRa Alliance’s presentation on the largest LoRaWAN® network operators attracted particular attention. With around eight million networked measuring devices and sensors, Minol-ZENNER’s network is on a par with the networks of the four largest competitors!
In addition, Boris Stöckermann (ZENNER) was honoured with the Leadership Award and Rich Sanders (ZENNER USA) with the Corporate Award. Congratulations!
2025
10 million LoRaWAN® sensors
The next milestone has been reached: we have integrated the 10 millionth LoRaWAN® sensor into our network! LoRaWAN® is now established worldwide and we now operate our LoRaWAN® network in 15 countries. In addition to Europe, this also includes the United Arab Emirates, the USA and parts of Asia.
According to the LoRa Alliance, there are now almost 200 public and private LoRaWAN® network operators and communities in almost all countries worldwide. It is estimated that the networks currently comprise around 300 million sensors. Market research companies predict that this figure will rise to over 3.5 billion by 2030.
