Iridium Satellite has appointed eight new value-added partners offering Iridium-based products and services for remote asset management and other machine-to-machine data applications, Iridium announced Feb. 9.

Among new resellers are GeoTrac International, Implicit Solutions, IonEarth, Premier GPS and ROM Communications. New developers include BriarTek, CosComm International and SatTrans.

“All of these companies are actively involved in the emerging [machine-to-machine] sector,” Greg Ewert, executive vice president of Iridium, said in a statement. “This is an important growth market for Iridium, and our service partners are spearheading the development of new packages.”

Data traffic through Iridium’s satellite network increased 44 percent throughout the last 12 months, spurred by the introduction of Iridium’s 9601 short-burst data modem in 2006, the company said.