IBS to offer SENTRY tracking as part of iCargo system

OnAsset Intelligence, the Texas-headquartered supplier of asset-tracking technologies in the logistics industry, has agreed a deal with IT systems provider IBS that will see the full integration of OnAsset’s product suite with IBS’s air cargo management system, iCargo.
As a result, OnAsset’s SENTRY 500 FlightSafe cargo monitoring device will be offered to customers as an integral part of the iCargo system.
It will add to its capability, rather than replace any existing systems.
“We’ve been working with IBS since last year,” explained OnAsset chief executive, Adam Crossno.
Driven by the desire to equip the freight industry with additional value-adding technologies that will allow important information to be derived and shared more quickly and more effectively, OnAsset had looked at various partners, he said.
The opportunity to add the capability of the SENTRY FlightSafe device and thereby give iCargo customers its real-time visibility of location and condition data was not one to miss.
SENTRY, which has been certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and approved and used by numerous major airlines, offers users data on the location of their cargo, its condition and in whose possession it is.
This data can now all be made available as part of IBS’s iCargo management system, enabling the latter’s users to quickly react to any problems or unexpected developments.
Moreover, that data can also be used as critical information for longer term operational planning, Crossno pointed out.
Customers don’t need to worry about regulatory compatibility. OnAsset has already taken care of all that, Crossno continued. This Internet of Things-related capability already has full interoperability with IATA’s messaging standards, and can be seen as another important move towards the day when the industry is characterised by full eFreight capability, with relevant documents and data all shared quickly and without the need for paper between the relevant links in the airfreight supply chain.
Ashok Rajan, vice president and head of air cargo business at IBS was equally as enthusiastic about the tie-up between the companies’ offerings.
“The air cargo industry is at the threshold of a new phase of change and needs ways and means to differentiate the services that it offers to its customers,” he enthused.
“Being able to offer specialised and tailored products and services is key to the success of air cargo carriers and service providers in high growth segments such as pharma.
“Our industry leading solution iCargo provides integrated capabilities for planning, monitoring and delivering high quality for high value products. Our aim is to take that even further through real time integration with sensors and monitoring devices – often referred to as the ‘Internet of Things’.
“The capability to offer iCargo ‘pre-wired’ to real time tracking devices takes it to the next level of capability,” Rajan concluded.
Natural expectation
The sort of real-time supply chain visibility offered by a system such as SENTRY FlightSafe is becoming a “natural expectation” within the logistics industry, Crossno said.
The capability not only to monitor a shipment throughout a complex multimodal movement, but also technology that allows that data to be used as a tool to both quickly deal with issues and as part of a wider electronic freight shipping environment in which all freight partners do business, will become the norm, he believes.
“Our desire is for our solution to be as readily consumed as possible,” Crossno informed. This sort of deal with IBS allows that to take place, for users to integrate SENTRY as a flexible tool within their own day-to-day operational processes, he concluded.