FedEx jumps on the “smart” wagon with a new web-based service.
FedEx Corp. (FDX) today is announcing a sensor-enabled device that can wirelessly feed real-time data about a package’s whereabouts, condition and other metrics to the Internet.
The service, called SenseAware, will launch this spring. Its initial target markets are the health-care and life-sciences businesses, industries that often need to know the precise location of the products (drugs, test results, samples) they ship.
The new device, when attached to a parcel, contains sensors that can provide temperature readings, data on whether a shipment has been opened or exposed to light, and precise data about a package’s location.
But FedEx says the new service will allow shippers and recipients to do more than merely track a package and its condition. The platform will help customers compile and aggregate data about shipments that will help them monitor quality or make better decisions about how to deploy their resources.
And so FedEx joins the ranks of companies building so-called “smart” products and services that apply computer networks and intelligence to various problems. (For a fuller explanation of various “smart” systems, see Fortune’s Jeffrey M. O’Brien’s story on “IBM’s Grand Plan to Save the Planet.”)
