Zebra Technologies to Integrate IOTA’s Tangle for Better Supply Chain Traceability

Blockchain features such as transaction immutability and unrivaled transparency can be harnessed to improve processes. Supply chain management firms can integrate the positives of distributed ledger technology (DLT) to drastically enhance their activities and save costs. In a webinar held on June 23, 2020, Zebra Technologies said they are integrating IOTA’s Tangle and accelerating the development of an out-of-the-box distributed ledger technology (DLT) traceability platform. 

IOTA to Power Zebra Technologies’ DLT Traceability Platform

Zebra Technologies is a global innovation company with over 7,000 employees. It has over 10,000 channel partners in more than 100 countries across different verticals. To stay ahead of the curve and retain its position as a global market leader, the company spends over 2x in Research and Development. 

Jens Munch Lund-Nielsen–the Head of Global Trade and supply chains at the IOTA Foundation, said the integration of Tangle in the supply chain is appropriate.

Unlike competing DLT systems that struggle with scalability challenges and miner fees, the Tangle is inherently scalable and feeless. With every transaction, the network can infinitely scale, a divergence from legacy blockchain systems that clog whenever there is an uptick of transaction count. 

“Traditional DLT system characterized by low transaction processing speed and conflicting interests isn’t suitable for the supply chain. The supply chain is intensive and requires many transactions to be uploaded at any instance thereby presenting challenges for existing platforms.”

Already, The IOTA Foundation is building a Trade Logistics Information Pipeline (TLIP) in Kenya to facilitate trade across bottles enabling seamless flow of logistics and supply chain information between traders and government agencies. The project is at the pilot phase but will eventually create a platform that will foster blockchain adoption.

RFID is Core

Via the Zebra Data Services APIs data generated by Zebra Technologies’ devices including Radio-frequency identification (RFID) scanners, sensors, printers, and barcode readers, can be connected to the DLT network through one REST API. This effectively creates complete zero-touch compliance whose use cases will revolutionize data management and analysis in the supply chain.

Alex Fryer, the EMEA Regional product manager of Zebra Technologies said those willing to test can access the REST API via their Developer Portal. 

The weaving of DLT in supply chain rids “black-boxes” as there is an improvement in transparency while businesses can concurrently save costs. More importantly, through Zebra’s DLT-based supply chain traceability platform, interested firms can easily incorporate the emerging technology without coding. 

Trading facilitation by scan means RFID/barcode scanners are core. They act as base infrastructure to automate clearing and forwarding of items through a decentralized, transparency, immutable, and scalable IOTA Tangle. This enables instant compliance for industry-wide mandates with automatic recording and retrieval of events since there is provenance. Crucial supply chain data can be live-streamed from previous “black-boxes” of supply chain actors and consumers. 

Earlier, BTCManager reported that the IOTA Foundation had joined an EU-backed project, ENSURESEC, to safeguard eCommerce platforms against cyber-attacks.