Iridium CloudConnect / AWS Network visual by Iridium

Iridium Communications has joined the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network (APN) and has been collaborating with AWS on the development of Iridium CloudConnect, a satellite cloud-based solution with global coverage for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Iridium said it plans to launch CloudConnect in 2019.

The mobile satellite operator said the service would make Iridium IoT services available with AWS IoT, extending the reach of AWS’s suite of services to the more than 80 percent of the Earth that lacks cellular coverage. AWS IoT aims to create a simplified process for companies to integrate Iridium’s satellite reach with AWS. In the partnership announcement, Iridium stated that the AWS arrangement would enable its customers to reduce engineering efforts, lower fixed operating costs, and reduce time to develop new products and services.

“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,” Iridium CEO Matt Desch said in a statement. “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.”

At the end of June 2018, Iridium reported that it was providing IoT services to approximately 630,000 active devices and that its IoT subscribers have grown at a compounded annual growth rate of approximately 19 percent during the past three years.