Kontakt.io is Opening its Platform to Third-Party Bluetooth Devices
At Kontakt.io, we recognize the need for an open and flexible platform as part of a scalable location technology solution. That is why we are opening to third-party Bluetooth low energy (Bluetooth LE) and other devices and launching the Kontakt.io Firmware Kit. Additionally, today we launched three new Bluetooth products!
The Problem: the location technology stack is fragmented, proprietary and solution siloed – increasing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is preventing growth for all parties involved.
Many in the IoT community would agree to the following statements:
IoT is a large and disruptive opportunity as it creates a new source of data for better predictions and decision making ultimately transforming strategy and business outcomes.
For indoor and proximity related use-cases, Bluetooth LE is emerging as the dominant technology outgrowing RFID, ZigBee, and proprietary protocols.
With growing Bluetooth LE adoption, demand for diverse beacon form factors, vendor agnostic gateway connectivity and use-case specific dashboards emerge.
However, even with Bluetooth LE, managing a multi-vendor solution is challenging. End-users care about functionality and business value. IT departments want scalability and low TCO.
To address this, Kontakt.io is further opening its platform to third-party devices after having successfully integrated with third-party gateways throughout the year 2018.
Moore’s law, AI and growing smartphone adoption are driving down complexity and costs of the location technology stack and are laying the ground for mass adoption. This hasn’t always been the case. Five years ago, the first generation of BLE beacons was used for proximity marketing. At the same time, RFID Tags were used in intralogistics, Zigbee powered thermostats for building automation and WIFI tags used in RTLS applications in healthcare.
Bluetooth LE Shift
Today, this landscape has been transformed, if not even disrupted, by the Bluetooth LE protocol and fueled by above-outlined technology trends. Due to its low-cost, low-power and vast ecosystem, today’s indoor-centric asset tracking applications run on Bluetooth LE. Building automation runs on Bluetooth LE. Connected temperature, humidity, and pressure sensors use Bluetooth LE. With the proliferation of Bluetooth LE, digitally transformed buildings will soon support dozens of IoT use-cases. With this insight, all parties are facing the same challenges that are limiting their growth: