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- Who/what is Redtail Telematics?
- Redtail is a telematics solution provider, founded in 2010 as a sister company to the design engineering consultancy Plextek (founded in 1989). We have a wide range of service offerings which include design and supply of black box devices, firmware servicing, data management capabilities, connectivity and Apps. No two of our customers have the same hardware and many choose to have their own custom firmware which, coming from a consulting company, is something we are happy to offer
- Hasn’t telematics been around for ever?
- Yes, telemetry itself has been a ‘nascent’ technology since the dawn of electrical signalling, going back in a wired form to at least to 1865 and wireless by 1930 for weather balloons, and we all remember well how much we knew about the astronauts during the moon landings, and that they were wired to beyond their comfort level during the Apollo 13 trip. All we have been waiting for is the affordability point to arrive. REDTAIL has been in amongst it from the first iterations of stolen vehicle tracking through UBI to connected vehicle and remote diagnostics. So been around for a while but still delivering. And still with more to deliver
- Are you an IoT company?
- Definition time: ‘Internet of things – connection through the internet of everyday devices to send and receive data.’ [Oxford English Dictionary]
This over used term has become a handy catch-all – but what does it mean?
- Internet connection – think we get that – but it does need to be of sustainable quality, because without that constancy of signal it is impossible to deliver data of real value!
- Everyday device – mmmmm……I have seen this expressed as ‘familiar objects that you do not expect to be used in this way ‘, but to be pragmatic, we are looking at a device including sensors, whether GPS, Bluetooth, accelerometer or gyro, for example.
- Send and receive data – well yes. But we do need the sense of quality (again) and value in that data
So, to answer your question, yes we are an IoT company, in that quality sensors and signals to deliver data of value to asset (things, people) owners and managers is in our DNA. Additionally, IoT is now being used by many to mean the communications and server infrastructure that stores the sensor outputs for later analysis and presentation. So, in that sense we are absolutely an IoT company and, further, an IIoT play (Industrial IoT).