Anaren's Wireless Group Launches Cellular Machines Line

Anaren, Inc.’s Wireless Group announced the official launch of its Cellular Machines product line, which sends real-time sensor data over a cellular network where it can be received on mobile devices or reviewed on desktops via a cloud server.

With easy-to-install hardware and a monthly cellular access/monitoring service (as low as $14.99/month), the first mass-market Cellular Machines offering from Anaren is a standard Temperature Monitoring Kit for monitoring refrigerated assets in food-service, health care, and walk-in/reach-in applications such as warehouses and supermarkets.

Operated on the Verizon Wireless Network and introduced in December 2014 in sync with Verizon’s ongoing regional rollout strategy, the Cellular Machines product family is one of several initiatives Anaren has embarked upon to leverage its formidable wireless experience in the exploding Internet of Things space. Future iterations of the system will monitor other environmental factors including light, moisture, vibration, pH, and power quality, among others.

“Millions of dollars in temperature-critical inventory are lost each year due to failed or under-performing refrigeration equipment,” says Mark Bowyer, Anaren’s director of wireless business development. “When you then factor in the health and safety threats of spoiled goods, fines for lack of compliance to safety standards, and the hassles, high costs, and human error of manual temperature monitoring, the need for an automated, reliable, and remote monitoring solution becomes something of a no brainer. Then its just a question of which type of system makes the most sense.”

On the latter point, Bowyer explained the key advantage of a cellular-based system is power continuity.

“When there’s a power outage, hard-wired monitoring systems and Wi-Fi systems typically go down as well. The power could come back on after a few hours and you might never know your restaurant’s food or your pharmacy’s serums rose above safe temperatures,” Bowyer says.

According to Bowyer, the Cellular Machines system has a battery backup and runs on the most reliable communications infrastructure there is.

“There’s a reason first-responders, municipalities, and consumers use their cell phones during power outages and disasters,” he says.

In addition to marketing its Cellular Machines product line through the Verizon Network, Anaren will also be marketing the system directly to customers via its first-ever online storefront. On a case-by-case basis, the company will also negotiating volume and/or enterprise orders (via national accounts management arrangements) and select OEM opportunities.