NEW YORK — Zebra Technologies Corp. and Atmel® Corp. announced the demonstration of a smart refrigeration Internet of Things (IoT) reference design at NRF 2016 in New York City. The companies said the IoT reference design provides an easy-to-deploy, cloud-based temperature monitoring solution using wireless sensors, mesh networking technologies, and Zebra’s Zatar IoT cloud service.

The design utilizes inexpensive sensors together with Atmel SMART 802.15.4 solutions and mesh communications with Zatar — an open, industry-standard-based platform designed to manage large-scale, commercial deployments and reduce the time-to-market for connected products.

The companies said the collaboration will enable retailers, manufacturers, and logistics companies to quickly deploy automatic, commercial-class temperature monitoring in their stores and facilities.

Pierre Roux, director, wireless microcontrollers, Atmel Corp., said, “Managing the quality and inventory of perishable goods — a significant way to reduce costs — has been one of the biggest challenges in the retail industry for decades. The new smart refrigeration reference design developed by Zebra Technologies is managed through a secure wireless connection to the end point, allowing retailers to easily add real-time temperature monitoring. We are excited to team with Zebra to bring this new design to market and to propel the retail industry into the age of the IoT.”

Thomas Kurian, senior director, new growth platforms, Zebra Technologies, said, “Managing and recording the temperature of fast-moving, perishable goods is increasingly necessary for a superior, safer customer experience. Bringing together Atmel’s low-power, mesh technologies with Zatar, our IoT cloud service, helps retailers eliminate the cost and inaccuracy of manual recordings and meet compliance requirements.”

For more information, visit www.zebra.com.

Publication date: 1/28/2016

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