Today, B2M Solutions, a global enterprise mobile software company, announced an expansion of its partnership with Peak Technologies, a leading provider of end-to-end supply chain solutions, system integration, and managed services for enterprise mobility. With this partnership expansion, Peak Technologies will bundle B2M’s Elemez software suite as part of Peak Mobile Insights, the company’s managed service offering for enterprise customers. Learn more

In-person CES returned after a two-year hiatus…albeit with a bit of a whimper. Attendance was estimated by CES as “up to 75,000” although it felt closer to 50K on Day 1. Exhibitors numbered 2,200, a sharp drop from over 4,400 in 2020 and lacking several blue-chip vendors that pulled out in the 11th hour amid the current Omicron surge. Attendee safety was front and center with the CTA (the show’s organizer) tasked with the virtually impossible job of creating and enforcing safety protocols. With the backdrop of COVID-19 omni-present, health tech predictably took center stage at CES 2022. This extended to the big stage with Abbott CEO delivering one of the event’s keynote addresses. Learn more

Current labor shortages are forcing organizations to compete for labor like never before. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States labor participation rate was 61.8% in November. While this is the highest rate seen since March 2020, it is still far below levels observed leading up to March 2020 which hovered consistently around 63%. This labor shortage is not unique to the United States, nor is it expected to abate anytime soon. These constraints are affecting transportation and logistics organizations in particular, especially given that while workers were leaving the labor force in droves, delivery fleets were forced to expand to accommodate the tremendous increase in e-Commerce volume demand. Learn more

Electric vehicles (EV) and adjacent technologies have been gaining interest as the climate crisis worsens and alternatives to fossil fuels are explored. Increasing government support for the shift towards EVs adds to the confidence that automakers already have making the push towards all-electric or majority-electric product portfolios. Tesla is the dominant EV manufacturer at the moment, accounting for just over 21% of the fully electric vehicle market segment. Other companies such as Volkswagen, Hyundai, Volvo, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, and Ford are also making strides to carve a space of the EV market out for themselves.Learn more

Federated Wireless, the premier provider of CBRS spectrum sharing services, has announced the release of the company’s new Spectrum Exchange service. This service is aimed to supplement CBRS General Authorized Access (GAA) availability by enabling Priority Access License (PAL) holders to lease out their unused spectrum to non-PAL holders. Through an automated portal, similar to Airbnb, enterprises with PALs can publish pricing, terms, and location options, as well as conduct transactions with non-PAL holding potential lessees, all without direct engagement with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Learn more

e-Commerce delivery and curbside checkout are supported by 89.7% and 79.3% of large retailers respectively, but curbside checkout in particular has had the most significant jump in adoption by businesses over the last year or so as a direct response to the disruption caused by COVID-19. Learn more

The growth in IoT device connections will rapidly accelerate over the next five years and will push OEMs and solution providers into unfamiliar wireless domains. While established wireless communications such as 3G and Wi-Fi support many IoT workloads today, others such as LTE-M, NB-IoT and 5G are gaining ground and will be critical technologies through the next five years.Learn more

Within the mounted forklift computer market, traditional purpose-built computers are facing significant pressure from the emergence of rugged tablets that can function as mounted computers. Learn more

Google recently held its I/O event to unveil updates, partnerships, and new features for several different products. Across these announcements there are a few that standout as having practical applications within enterprise environments either at present or in the future. Learn more

On April 15th, Brady Corporation announced the company has come to an agreement to acquire Nordic ID for $9.7 million. The acquisition will add Nordic ID’s expertise in RFID reader/scanning technology and customizable cloud solutions to Brady Corporation’s portfolio of advanced labels, safety devices, industrial printer systems and software solutions. Learn more

Microsoft has won a substantial contract to provide its augmented reality (AR) headsets, the HoloLens, to the U.S. Army. This contract awards Microsoft $21.9B over the course of ten years to provide the U.S. Army with more than 120,000 HoloLens units. Learn more

Each day, the world becomes more and more connected. People and businesses increasingly rely on technology to communicate and share information. However, there are still parts of the world with underserved or unserved access to the Internet; according to Datareportal.com, only 59.5% of the global population has network access as of January 2021. Learn more