If you've spent any time looking into the BlackBerry IoT Platform, you would have caught mention that one of the vertical applications that BlackBerry has plans for with the platform is asset tracking. To offer that solution, BlackBerry has created a rugged, weather-proof box that has an IP67 rating and a built-in battery that can easily last five years with the help of Dr. Sandeep Chennakeshu President of BlackBerry Technology Solutions Business Unit.
Dr. Chennakeshu, who was appointed to the position back in August of last year has been working on the box for a while now and though we've heard it mentioned many times, there has been very little real information put forward. Just hypothetical situations outlined on the BlackBerry IoT site, but according to a new interview with Dr. Sandeep Chennakeshu via The Indian Express, we've learned BlackBerry will finally begin proof of concept trials for the box starting in November.
"The box could be used to track a very expensive car, for instance or use it to track children or police cars," says Dr Chennakeshu. "I went after a specific market because it is massive with 177 million trucks, but the uses could be much more varied."
"It is 100 per cent our design and concept. We have patented it and will start proof of concept trials in November… I am very proud of my guys. This has never been done before, not with power of its own," he says. "When we started, the idea was to build it cheap. And I should be able to install it in less than 10 minutes."
As noted in the article, the idea behind it all is to sell everything related to the box from the hardware, the cloud service and even the smartphone app in a subscription model as well as tie it with multiple verticals that the BlackBerry Technology Solutions Business Unit will be reaching out to including everything from retail to automobile industries. This allows BlackBerry to tap into their strengths in security, devices and software.
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