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Good afternoon, readers. Thanksgiving 2024 is officially in the books; I hope everyone is returning safely from all the holiday festivities.
Today, we’re kicking off our first Internet of Things-focused article of the week with a story involving Royal Mail and Wiliot.
For any unaware, Royal Mail is a long-established provider of delivery services in the UK and is the UK’s designated universal postal service provider. Through the Royal Mail Core Network, the company delivers a one-price-goes-anywhere service on a range of parcels and letters products (i.e. with the capability to deliver to approximately 32 million addresses across the country). In recent years, Royal Mail has been optimizing its network to compete efficiently as a modernized brand.
Speaking of modernization, we then have Wiliot, an ambient IoT data carrier platform that connects the digital with the physical via IoT Pixels, which we’ve covered over on 5G Evolution News. (Read that story here.) In short, Wiliot’s flagship IoT Pixels are battery-free smart tags that push raw, sensory data to the cloud in real time. By harnessing RFID technologies (and scaling with Bluetooth, advanced Wi-Fi, 5G and more), Wiliot’s asset intelligence and sensing-focused capabilities create an IoT ecosystem rife with transformative insights. Learn more about it here.
And recently, Royal Mail officially partnered with Wiliot to further transform how it tracks items traveling through its network, tapping Wiliot’s digital tagging expertise for improved asset visibility.
Here’s how it’ll work; it’s simple. Royal Mail tags upwards of 850,000 containers (they call them “Yorks”), which are used to transport customers’ parcels and letters around the country. By using Wiliot’s digital, smart sticker-esque tags (i.e. that detect nearby connected devices in transit), the need for manual scanning is made moot. By providing real-time feedback, the tags monitor a.) what’s being shipped, and b.) key environmental factors like temperature and humidity. In doing so, Royal Mail operates more efficiently by taking advantage of Wiliot’s precise product monitoring for both safety and carbon footprint-related reasons.
Per Nathan Preston, Tech Director for Strategy, Innovation & Data at Royal Mail:
“Data-led modernization is an important part of our strategy to improve the effectiveness of our operation and make it as efficient and customer-focused as possible. We are very excited to be the first postal company in the world to be using Wiliot’s innovative technology.”
And per Tal Tamir, Wiliot’s CEO:
“Royal Mail’s heritage is well established and very rich, and the significance of being central to its digital transformation mission is not lost on us. Through our platform, we’re able to provide complete visibility across the supply chain, giving organizations young and old the tools they need to deliver faster, safer and more environmentally sustainable services and solutions.”
Explore other IoT-related updates (and modern demand-focused developments) by attending IoT Evolution Expo 2025! This will be taking place from February 11-13, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Part of the #TECHSUPERSHOW experience, this event combines conference programming with a robust exhibit hall, networking events and other activities, promoting educated togetherness between buyers and providers of business technology products and services that are huge for the Industrial Internet of Things.
Edited by Greg Tavarez
