The primary customer is a U.S. healthcare organization with more than 50 years of experience that distributes pharmaceuticals, manufactures and distributes medical and laboratory products, and supplies performance and data solutions to hospitals, pharmacies, and specialty clinics. It also provides home healthcare products to millions of patients. Its collaborator is a temperature-control technology company holding more than one hundred patents, which makes a self-refrigerated, cloud-based shipping box for temperature-sensitive medicines.

The healthcare organization needed to ship temperature-sensitive medicine across the U.S. and internationally. It partnered with the temperature-control technology company to use its self-refrigerated, cloud-based shipping box, a reusable unit fitted with a cellular radio that reports real-time temperature, humidity, and GPS location to a proprietary dashboard. An IoT data-only SIM card allowed the unit to be monitored remotely so that it never dropped below the critical temperature for each medication.

During testing, the teams found pockets of the shipping journey where the box lost network connectivity. In those segments there was no way to know whether the temperature had fallen below the critical threshold, and therefore no way to determine whether the medication had spoiled. With thousands of shipments, some costing as much as $30,000, every gap in coverage put medication and money at risk.

The container required constant connectivity to communicate its readings, and it became clear that a single wireless carrier would not suffice. The organizations needed 100% network coverage and consistent connectivity across every leg of the journey.

MetTel's Single SIM resolved the connectivity problem. The SIM intelligently roams to find the strongest signal in any location, regardless of carrier, and maintains steady connectivity by drawing on a network of more than 650 carriers across 165 countries. The team placed the Single SIM in the storage unit and tested it first in the U.S. and then internationally, achieving 100% connectivity in every test.

MetTel then fine-tuned the solution by customizing how the device searches for networks. Restricting the device's spectrum and excluding networks with incompatible technology meant it spent little or no time trying to attach to networks it could not use, so it connected to compatible networks faster. The same customization conserved battery life, because searching for networks consumes considerable power. Fewer devices lost power mid-journey, and both organizations replaced batteries less often.

More than 2,000 devices were rolled out across the U.S. in the first phase. Following that success, the deployment expanded to more than 3,000 devices. Because the cloud-connected unit notifies the shipping service once it has been emptied, it can be collected and reused, eliminating single-use cardboard, Styrofoam, and disposable ice packs. Working with one provider also simplified coordination and billing and streamlined network security integrations. The next phase is planned to extend the program beyond the U.S., beginning with Asia.

• 100% network connectivity in all U.S. and international tests, so medication temperature and location were always visible
• More than 3,000 connected shipping units deployed across the U.S. after a 2,000-device first phase
• More medication delivered safely and less wasted, on shipments that can cost as much as $30,000
• Custom network-search programming cut connection time and conserved battery life, reducing mid-journey power loss
• Reusable units eliminate cardboard, Styrofoam, and disposable ice packs, and both organizations now deal with one provider