Radius Networks Announces First Proximity Multi-Beacon With Concurrent iBeacon and AltBeacon Signaling
Washington, District of Columbia (PRWEB) August 07, 2014 -- Radius Networks, Inc., the leading provider of mobile proximity services, announced today the release of a major update to its industry-leading RadBeacon USB proximity beacon. The new RadBeacon USB proximity multi-beacon supports simultaneous advertisements for both iBeacon and AltBeacon technology, making it interoperable with all major mobile platforms. Mobile devices with iOS can read the advertisements using iBeacon technology, while Android devices can read the AltBeacon advertisements.
Proximity beacons are short range, low power, Bluetooth Smart transmitters that can notify mobile devices when they come within range. This micro-location proximity awareness can be leveraged to deliver a wide range of new innovative solutions, such as precision indoor navigation, automatic ticketing, guided museum tours, and location-relevant offers and promotions.
The new AltBeacon standard is unique because it is completely open and free for anybody to use on any platform. The specification defines the format of the advertisement message that proximity beacons broadcast. Details on the AltBeacon specification can be found at http://AltBeacon.org.
“Beacon technology is hugely promising, but has been largely limited to the iOS mobile ecosystem. RadBeacon support for both iBeacon and AltBeacon proximity technologies will solve this problem and make Android a first class player in mobile proximity,” said David Helms, Chief Product Officer of Radius Networks. “AltBeacon is free for all to implement and doesn’t favor one vendor over another. We are excited to be the first beacon technology provider to offer it our developers who depend on us to deliver proximity solutions to their customers. We want to encourage everyone with an interest to go to http://AltBeacon.org, learn more about it and incorporate it into their solutions.”
In addition to the RadBeacon USB proximity beacon update, tools and libraries supporting the AltBeacon standard have already been released for Android, Macintosh OSX, and Linux. The standard allows implementation on any other platform supporting Bluetooth Low Energy.
“We’re committed to open standards and tools, not just with AltBeacon, but with our extremely successful open-source Android Beacon Library, now updated to support AltBeacon. We think this will accelerate AltBeacon adoption so that developers can make AltBeacon the default choice on Android,” said David Young, Chief Engineer at Radius Networks.
“AltBeacon complements what iBeacon technology has brought to iOS and establishes an ecosystem that developers can rely on to create multi-platform, comprehensive solutions. An open specification will help everyone in the mobile proximity business,” said Marc Wallace, CEO and Co-Founder of Radius Networks. “Supporting AltBeacon is how we intend to move this industry forward, and the release of our multi-beacon RadBeacon is a significant step in this direction.”
About Radius Networks
Radius Networks creates new and innovative ways to use wireless device signals for proximity and presence detection. Radius Networks’ cloud-based proximity services are used by major retailers, restaurant chains, sports complexes and other brick-and-mortar operations to generate invaluable business intelligence and drive innovative customer engagement opportunities, including targeted mobile offers, dynamic digital signage and personalized concierge services. For more information, visit http://radiusnetworks.com or follow Radius Networks at @radiusnetworks.
Sean O'Donnell, Radius Networks, http://www.radiusnetworks.com, +1 202.681.9434, [email protected]
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