Twilio IoT Announces First Truly Programmable Asset Tracker

Twilio, the leading cloud communications platform, announced the release of their Programmable Asset Tracker, an IoT solution toolkit for asset tracking solution providers and asset owners who are unsatisfied with today’s inflexible market options. 

The Programmable Asset Tracker is the first high-performance asset tracking device and application that is complete and fully functional out-of-the-box for a fast time-to-deployment while offering the highest possible degree of customizability of firmware and cloud integration. 

Businesses from industries as diverse as Construction, Manufacturing, Utilities, Automotive, Transportation & Logistics, Healthcare, and Food Production can deploy the Programmable Asset Tracker to production volumes fast and customize it precisely to the required use case – to always know the whereabouts and condition of vehicles, containers, pallets, industrial equipment, commercial products, perishables, livestock, organs, and more. 

Today’s solutions all lack the level of customizability necessary to optimize for maximum operational efficiency. Most software and firmware on today’s devices is generic by design and thus never serve a use case precisely. Furthermore, building a highly tailored device from scratch is either cost-prohibitive or slows down the go-to-market or deployment of the tracker. Today’s solutions also do not offer any IP protection; working with a device manufacturer to improve a use case risks improving it for all competitors with the same use case.

Twilio solves all of these pain points with the Programmable Asset Tracker offering. This IoT solution toolkit gives asset tracking solution providers and asset owners alike a device and an application that work out of the box with a very fast time to market. The toolkit also includes a framework that provides customers with a high degree of customizability in firmware and cloud integrations. Performing these customizations does not require deep hardware or firmware expertise, and instead can be done by any Web developer familiar with scripting languages.

The Programmable Asset Tracker is built on top of two of Twilio’s trusted and proven IoT platforms, Twilio Electric Imp and Twilio Super SIM, which have been managing millions of connected devices for years. Together, the solution toolkit and Twilio’s services:

• Provide highly reliable global cellular connectivity on 400+ networks around the world 
• Offer global scalability to support your business growth needs  
• Allow over-the-air updates of the firmware itself to fit your use case(s) and improve or adjust functionality over time 
• Manage edge-to-cloud security for the lifetime of your deployment 
• Handle all communications and low-level drivers, so you don’t have to
• Ensure IP ownership for any firmware customizations you might make

The Programmable Asset Tracker offers customers the flexibility to integrate with any cloud management portal of their choice, which includes any web-based homegrown solution. Furthermore, by leveraging the Programmable Asset Tracker’s API and flexible data model, customers are able to fine-tune the interaction between device and cloud. This provides customers with the freedom to dictate exactly which pieces of data get reported by the device, which cloud destinations receive this data, and the reporting interval in which these interactions occur.

Companies like GPX, Newt Mobility, NXTGN, Thinglabs, Kahi.io, and Bio Riot Technologies have already chosen to work with the Twilio Programmable Asset Tracker.

“Today’s asset tracking customers expect a solution which is tailored to their use case and can responsively adapt to changing business requirements,” says Gabriel Weeks, President of GPX Intelligence.  “Twilio’s Programmable Asset Tracking solution toolkit gives us just that; it lets us add value by delivering a unique solution to each of our customers without requiring deep expertise in embedded systems, resulting in a better and more reliable tracking experience.”

The Programmable Asset Tracker is now available in Beta. Asset tracking solution providers and asset owners are invited to join the Twilio Beta Program for access to pricing & documentation and to order trackers for evaluation. 

Twilio will provide a walk-through of this new offering together with a live demonstration in an upcoming webinar. Interested parties can register now for the webinar that is taking place on December 7, 2022 @ 9 am PT | 12 pm ET | 5 pm CET.