Armada today announced a partnership with iPass, an out-of-home Wi-Fi provider. Armada produces a supply chain visibility platform, which will use iPass’s network and analytics to track the location data of goods moving across a supply chain.
Armada places its “internet of things” tiles, or 9-volt battery sized tracking devices, into shipments to give distributors a look into the location of their assets. The company says when any of its tiles comes into range of an iPass hot spot, it will collect the hot spot location and send that information to Armada’s supply chain platform, where customers can begin tracking.
“We are extremely excited about our new partnership with Armada, a company with which we have a natural synergy,” said Gary Griffiths, president and CEO of iPass. “In this highly mobile world, both Armada and iPass connect their customers with the information they need to make better decisions, faster and cheaper. Moreover, this new relationship brings us into the IoT space, showing the new, creative and profitable uses for global Wi-Fi connectivity.”
IPass claims to be the “world’s largest Wi-Fi network,” with access to 57 million hot spots in 120 countries. IPass sees itself as a business connectivity solution so corporations that sign up for their unlimited data option can stay connected when on-the-go, in planes, airports, hotels and public areas.
“Companies today are looking for smarter supply chain analytics to gain better asset intelligence in real time and improve operational efficiency,” said Marc Held, founder of Armada. “Therefore, our partnership with iPass just makes sense. The sheer breadth of their global Wi-Fi footprint, the largest in the world by a significant factor, helps us deliver unprecedented supply-chain visibility to our customers, at a price point that wasn’t feasible with just cellular or GPS.”
Armada plans to go to market with this iPass-enabled solution by year-end with an unnamed “major product manufacturer” trial customer.
