Satellite communications firm Iridium Communications is joining hands with public cloud giant Amazon Web Services (AWS) on the first satellite cloud-based solution.
The companies together will work on the development of Iridium CloudConnect to provide global coverage for internet of things (IoT) applications.
Iridium is covering the globe with its constellation of 66 crosslinked satellites which are ideally suited for IoT applications. With the Iridium NEXT initiative, the company plans to invest $3 billion to replace its existing satellite constellation with new satellites.
In collaboration with launch partner SpaceX, Iridium has already launched seven satellites, while 65 new satellites have been delivered to Low Earth Orbit. 10 more satellites will be launched later this year.
Upon launch of all the satellites, Iridium will integrate the satellites with AWS IoT offering, to enable connectivity for around 80% of the planet that lacks cellular coverage.
For Iridium CloudConnect, the Iridium IoT services will be available with AWS IoT. The partnership will allow Iridium customers to take advantage of AWS IoT, while AWS customers will be able to cost-effectively expand their geographic IoT coverage.
“Iridium CloudConnect will completely change the speed at which a satellite IoT solution can be deployed and will allow existing AWS customers to keep everything the same on the back end, while opening up the opportunity to quickly expand their coverage,” says Iridium CEO Matt Desch.
“This is a major disruption for satellite IoT. Costs will drop, time to market will speed up, risk will be reduced, and AWS IoT customers that choose Iridium CloudConnect can now enjoy true global connectivity for their solutions.”
Organizations around the world will be able to integrate Iridium’s satellite reach with AWS IoT. It will help them reduce engineering efforts, lower fixed operating costs, and decrease time to develop new products and service.
There will be around 75 billion IoT devices globally by 2025, according to IHSMarkit. Iridium CloudConnect will allow organizations to expand their IoT-based services at lower costs, so that they can keep pace with the predicted growth in IoT devices.
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Iridium’s IoT devices have been installed on more than 630,000 devices. The company said that the subscribers of its IoT services have increased at a CAGR of 19% over the last three years. This will work as a catalyst for the growth of Iridium CloudConnect.
Image source: Iridium