AT&T has leveraged machine-to-machine communication to change the way it helps businesses track shipping containers.
The telecomm company has launched a program for companies that ship items by truck, railroad, or trailer. Each container is assigned a monitoring device, which collects data about its location and sends it to a web portal. Managers, back-office workers, and drivers can then view that information to more effectively organize their work.
The tracking devices are solar powered and equipped with an industrial-grade, chargeable lithium ion battery, meaning that they can last for years without needing to change the battery. Custom alerts can notify workers whether a container drops or impacts its cargo, or can notify them when a container or trailer deviates from its expected location. This could help minimize theft or loss, as well as being useful for companies that transport time-critical or high-value goods.
Container tracking will be the biggest single use case for machine to machine connections in supply chains by 2023, said a report by Machina Research. There are expected to be 69 million connections in the supply chain by that time.
“Shipping companies are constantly moving their trailers and containers across the world,” said Mike Troiano, vice president of product management forAT&T IoT Solutions. “Our container monitoring solutions can help them know that a shipment will arrive on time. We’re helping businesses better manage their distribution process and offer a service customers can depend on.”
AT&T offers a variety of IoT technologies and works with industries on developing IoT solutions, including smart meters, cargo tracking, connected cars, and smart city streets and traffic lights.
Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)