Machine to machine (M2M) technology brings a number of benefits to different industries. For retail, it enhances solutions like digital signage, kiosks or point-of-sale systems, making everything more integrated and offering insight into customer data and behavior. For automotive, connected cars are becoming the norm with safety features as well as entertainment features. Insurance agencies are benefitting from M2M to track behavior and offer usage-based insurance, and business use M2M for fleet management and other vehicle tracking capabilities.
AirIQ, a provider of integrated GPS, wireless communication, computing intelligence and digitized mapping solutions, recently selected KORE for wireless M2M connectivity throughout North America and Europe.
KORE has a pretty broad footprint, including GMS, HSPA, LTE, CDMA and satellite. It works with Tier 1 carriers to offer coverage across the U.S. and Canada, and recently extend that to the Asia Pacific region. AirIQ is working with KORE Wireless Canada, the Canada division of KORE Telematics, to enable M2M applications and seamless communication between networks.
Most of KORE’s customers are companies interested in creating and deploying M2M devices and applications. According to KORE’s Stein Soelberg, director of marketing, good service providers are the most necessary element to seamlessly connect and integrate the different parts that make up the M2M ecosystem. Devices and applications rely on M2M network services for seamless connectivity.
"KORE offers the best in coverage, choice and reliability in M2M connectivity, which will allow AirIQ to deliver the most advanced and reliable GPS technology and services to its customers,” said Donald Gibbs, president and CEO of AirIQ. “KORE's diversity means multiple customizable technologies for AirIQ's subscribers depending on their individual usage and needs.”
AirIQ offers GPS tracking solutions for service fleets, car rentals, finance and non-powered assets. Service fleets can be notified in real-time when a worker arrives and leaves a site, when a vehicle is idling excessively, when a speeding violation has occurred or when vehicle maintenance is due. Car rental organizations can improve fleet utilization, security, revenue and operating costs by identifying vehicle locations, behavior, utilization and more.
Auto dealers in the vehicle finance market can lower skips and repossessions and receive alerts on vehicle location and boundaries. The use of M2M for this market is a popular one—CallPassTech is a company using GPS devices and applications to track vehicles. It offers iGotcha GPS, which works with more than 7,000 financial companies and auto dealers to protect their assets using GPS, and CallPass M2M modular-based solutions to help manage assets from any Web-enabled device and retail products.
SkyPatrol is another company working with GPS tracking that aims to offer collection tools and mitigate risks for dealers. Its Defender 2.0 platform is designed to enhance the ability of the vehicle finance world and help collect loans. So the use of M2M in this market is definitely a big opportunity as dealers, fleet managers and other organizations need real-time tracking solutions to improve their bottom line.
"We are excited at the opportunity to help AirIQ extend the productivity and value of its customers' assets," said Robert Metzler, executive vice president, Sales and Marketing, KORE. "Any M2M solution requires consistent geographic coverage, redundant architecture and a multiplicity of network options available in a single resource in order to perform 'as designed,' and AirIQ's growing base of service fleets, rental firms, auto dealers and asset management companies can rest easy knowing that's what they'll get every time with KORE inside.”
Edited by
Ryan Sartor
