Kennards Hire uses Fleet Space for its Internet of Rented Things
It will soon be much harder to convince the local Kennards Hire sales representative when returning a broken backhoe that the water damage was due to rain, and not because it was stupidly driven through a river -- especially when Kennards already have the telemetry at hand.
The equipment rental company has signed a deal with Fleet Space to use the latter's nanosatellites to beam information back. Kennards said its LoRaWAN-based asset tracking would allow for preventative maintenance and real-time reporting of safety and environmental metrics.
Fleet's constellation was delivered into space by Space X, Rocket Lab, and ISRO.
"Fleet's connectivity is an unparalleled solution, the cost point it offers allow us to connect more assets and provide more applications to customers increasing our value in the market," said Kennards Hire general manager of strategic projects Craig Kesby.
"In the past year, devices and connectivity solutions have become more cost-efficient enabling business cases that the industry couldn't justify a few years ago. Now, there are options for localised, low cost connectivity solutions, and off cellular coverage out of traditional networks."
Also announced on Tuesday, fellow Australian satellite IoT company Myriota announced Pamela Melroy had joined its board as a non-executive director.
Melroy was previously a deputy director of the Tactical Technology Office within DARPA, and was the second woman to command a NASA space shuttle mission.
"The industrialisation of space is improving the world's ability to monitor and communicate globally, and is having real world benefits on industries including agriculture and logistics," Melroy said.
"Myriota is a serious player in the diverse and growing global space ecosystem, and I'm excited to be joining its board at a time when the maturity of space as a commercial industry is growing."
Related Coverage
- Rocket Lab and Fleet Space to launch CubeSat next month
- SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket for third time
- Satellite IoT startup Myriota raises $15m
- Myriota brings satellite IoT to regional Australia
- Big data, IoT will drive world's data to grow 5X by 2025 (TechRepublic)
- 3 things you should know about Industrial IoT (TechRepublic)