Remote asset tracking and information management solutions SkyBitz has opened a new business unit to provide remote asset management solutions based on technology developed for and financed by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), SkyBitz announced Aug. 11.
    SkyBitz said the new business’ products would be marketed to government organizations with requirements to track and manage assets and cargo with continuous visibility and high security without access to a power source.
    SkyBitz used DARPA funding to develop the patented Global Locating System (GLS) technology. In January, the company introduced the SkyBitz GLS400 mobile terminal, a machine-to-machine asset tracking solution targeting homeland and defense security markets.
    “Government entities bear a huge responsibility for managing a wide range of assets scattered around the globe as part of their mission to support the war fighter. Managing these widely dispersed assets is a monumental challenge and the tools available to do this job to date have been limited,” SkyBitz President and CEO Homaira Akbari said in a statement.
    SkyBitz also announced it is working with Iridium to build a solution that will feature lower-power consumption and a longer battery life than is commercially available today in the global tracking market. The solution will be built around the Iridium 9602 transceiver and targeted to government organizations that require intelligent sensor solutions and power-efficient, two-way communications to maintain critical visibility on high-value assets.