Qualcomm Announces Qualcomm Aware, a Paid Cloud Software Service to Track Goods
On Tuesday, Qualcomm announced the launch of a for-profit cloud software solution to assist businesses using its processors to track products as they move through the supply chain.
The business from San Diego, California, is the biggest manufacturer of semiconductors used to link smartphones to mobile data networks. Yet Qualcomm has entered other markets, including as autos and factories, where equipment must communicate with the internet, using its expertise in wireless communication.
The new service, Qualcomm Aware, works with Qualcomm chips that are used in tracking devices for shipping containers, pallets, parcels, and other supply chain components to assist businesses in keeping tabs on the location of their products and commodities.
The majority of those trackers are produced by outside companies, but Qualcomm also produces a small number of its own products, including a tilt sensor that can be mounted on utility poles to detect whether they have toppled over during storms.
According to Jeff Torrance, senior vice president and general manager of Qualcomm’s smart connected systems division, the company has already shipped hundreds of millions of the involved chips, which normally sell for less than $10 each.
The software solution unveiled on Tuesday seeks to enable Qualcomm users to upgrade their processors wirelessly from one central location.
Also, the service strives to maximize the value of the chip data.
The Dynamics 365 service from Microsoft, which businesses use to track their inventory and supplies, will be able to connect to Qualcomm’s software, according to Redondo.
Businesses might utilize the two technologies to create things like virtual dashboards that display the location of all of a company’s inventory at any one time.
The new service’s price was not made public by Qualcomm, but it signals an effort to increase the revenue Qualcomm receives from the sale of its chips by charging for cloud-based services that use the processors later.
In an interview with Reuters, Torrance stated, “We feel there is value in the chip and in the cloud service.
