Las Vegas, NV., 26 November, 2018 | ‘NewSpace’ startup Hiber was named as the Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) Commercial Startup Launch of 2018 last night at the AWS re:Invent Conference at the Venetian Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the event, Hiber announced the official launch of its nano-satellite powered solution, which will be bringing IoT-connectivity to the 90% of the world currently lacking a network. The announcement took place at 11.45pm PST on Sunday 25th November during re:Invent’s kick-off event, “Midnight Madness”.
Hiber was selected by AWS out of 6000 other startups to launch its solution at “Midnight Madness” in front of re:Invent’s 50,000+ attendees from the technology world. Previous companies to be named with the prestigious title include Netflix, Pinterest and Airbnb.
Hiber’s IoT-connectivity network will be operational from Q1 2019. The first 25 customers, many of whom are working on tech for good projects, are ready for deployment as soon as the network goes live. The company is filling a gap in the market as less than 10% of the globe is currently covered by IoT-ready connectivity. Existing networks favor urban areas and wealthier countries, while traditional satellites that provide wider coverage are expensive and power hungry.
When in orbit, every Hiber nano-satellite will fly over the earth’s poles 16 times a day and each spot on the equator twice a day, being the first of its kind to provide the planet with truly global IoT-connectivity. Using a process that is up to 20 times cheaper than existing global solutions, it works by transferring data from modems and antennas owned by customers directly to the micro-satellites. Data packets are then sent back to earth via the two initial satellite gateways in Spitsbergen in Norway and Delft in the Netherlands.