2022 - our most significant year yet

As 2022 draws to a close, we’re not only sending best wishes for the holiday season, but also making our most significant product announcement ever.

Our vision has always been to make finding everything you need as easy in the real world as it is online.

For nearly 10 years we’ve been at the forefront of smartphone positioning, with our platform enabling a new generation of digital wayfinding and location-based applications.

But smartphones aren’t always the answer. We’ve had many customer requests over the years to track both people and assets using hardware.

We’ve researched numerous technologies, including WiFi, UWB, RFID, and BLE. But combinations of cost, complexity and inaccuracy have meant that they couldn’t deliver what our customers need.

The solution is our new partnership with Wirepas Massive Mesh technology – a perfect fit for our platform and our vision.

How business events will benefit

At conferences and business events, we can now track every session attended by every single delegate accurately without scanning, and with easy to use, self-installed hardware.

Reliable attendance lists are increasingly valuable, either for CPD awards, or for sponsor marketing.

How workplaces and hospitals will benefit

In workplaces we can provide end-to-end asset tracking solutions that allow staff looking for a wheelchair, an IV pump, or an interactive whiteboard to ‘find my nearest available…’ using a simple smartphone app.

In nursing and care facilities we can provide mobile push-button devices that immediately notify staff of the precise location where response is needed.

Connected beacons

The leap forward is that we can now do all that using a single installation of small, battery-powered, low-cost devices, communicating with our cloud platform via a single gateway. No Cisco DNA spaces licence. And without RFID readers in every room.

To mobile phones, each device is a Bluetooth Low Energy Beacon, enabling indoor positioning and wayfinding. But to wearables and asset tags, the devices are a mesh network through which they remain connected to our platform.

The constant two-way connection between connected beacons and our cloud platform will enable some exciting new features in the future. For example we’ll be able to dynamically turn beacons off when no one is using them. Which could easily double beacon life.

What’s coming in 2023

There will be much more to follow in 2023, including specific announcements regarding a new delegate tracking solution, and a truly innovative ‘Find my nearest available…’ end-to-end packaged solution for any vertical where finding what you need, quickly, is critical. As well as in-depth articles about the technology, and our product roadmap.

And as ever, whether it’s for staff, delegates, visitors or patients, we’ll continue to provide accurate indoor positioning to make navigation easier and smartphone apps fully location-aware.

From the whole Crowd Connected team, have a great holiday and stay tuned!