Iridium and SKYWAVE Partner to Advance Global Industrial IoT for Heavy Equipment

Iridium Communications Inc. and SKYWAVE, an ORBCOMM company, have announced a strategic partnership to advance global industrial IoT for heavy equipment manufacturers. The collaboration is designed to help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) build and scale resilient connected services across diverse operating environments.

As heavy equipment manufacturers expand digital services, they face increasing pressure to improve equipment uptime and deliver consistent customer experiences across fleets operating in remote or disconnected locations. Fragmented communications infrastructure often limits asset visibility and delays service responses.

Integration of Satellite and IoT Platforms

To address these challenges, the companies are combining Iridium’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network and Short Burst Data (SBD) services with SKYWAVE’s multi-network management solution and OGx IoT platform.

The integration is currently underway, with Iridium SBD being embedded directly into SKYWAVE satellite IoT terminals. This provides SKYWAVE’s heavy equipment customers the option to access Iridium’s global network. The combined solution creates a flexible platform that extends connected services across satellite, cellular and Wi-Fi networks, helping ensure reliable connectivity regardless of where equipment operates.

"For more than two decades, Iridium has provided the only pole-to-pole mobile satellite network, delivering the coverage, resiliency and reliability that mission-critical operations demand," said Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium. "We look forward to partnering with SKYWAVE to bring Iridium’s global LEO capabilities to industrial IoT customers operating in even the most demanding environments."

Applications for Heavy Equipment OEMs

The integrated solution supports a range of connected equipment applications, including:

• Remote monitoring
• Diagnostics
• Predictive maintenance
• Service support
• Modernization of existing connected fleets

While the initial focus of the partnership is on heavy equipment manufacturers, the underlying architecture is designed to support additional industrial verticals where assets operate globally or beyond the reach of terrestrial networks.

"Heavy equipment OEMs are looking for ways to modernize legacy deployments, expand connected service capabilities and deliver reliable digital experiences wherever their equipment operates," said Sameer Agrawal, CEO of ORBCOMM. "By combining Iridium’s global LEO capabilities with SKYWAVE’s platform, we are enabling OEMs to build and scale those capabilities across multiple networks."

The partnership leverages the established satellite IoT leadership of both organizations to create a more resilient foundation for the next generation of industrial applications.