Industry-leading audit, consulting, tax, and advisory services firm Deloitte has awarded a subcontract to Addison-based Polte, a Cloud Location over Cellular (C-LoC) technology provider. The two companies will work to develop a 5G-enabled smart warehouse prototype at the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Naval Base Coronado in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

Together, they plan to equip the facility with Polte’s patented 5G Massive IoT location technology, which is able to provide accurate indoor and outdoor cellular positioning. A 5G private network provided by Polte will also give the DoD a secure visibility of critical assets and inventory.

Through this tech, service members are expected to be able to boost efficiency, increase effectiveness of their assets, and make quicker changes to their environments, according to a statement.

“In an increasingly hyper-connected society, the power of location is absolutely fundamental to the success of 5G,” Ed Chao, CEO of Polte, said in a statement. “Secure, accurate positioning is vital to the management and monitoring of everything that’s important, streamlining operations for both enterprises and governments. We are grateful for this incredible opportunity to serve our country and our service men and women.”

Polte’s tech has major potential as it provides the groundwork for other locations, all of which support the DoD’s mission to maintain peace and strengthen national security.

In February 2021, work on the 5G smart warehouse prototype began and the project is expected to be completed in 2024. The first phase will include roadmap assessments, experiment plan development, and security reviews prior to capability demonstration.

“We are excited to kick off this program to prototype a truly state-of-the-art facility for the DoD,” Kelly Marchese, principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP, said in a statement. 

The DoD chose Deloitte to oversee the demonstration and selection of 5G technology applications for the smart warehouse prototype. The company is expected to specifically focus on vetting technologies that improve the efficiency and safety of material and supply handling, management, storage, and distribution.

“Today’s legacy warehouse systems are impacted by issues including inefficient use of time, lack of Inventory visibility, and cyber vulnerabilities,” Marchese said. “However, leveraging innovative 5G location technology, tomorrow’s service members will not only be able to decrease manual processes and redirect attention to uniquely human tasks that support the mission, but keep classified location data protected while doing so.”

How Polte’s tech works

As an expert in asset tracking, Polte’s C-LoC technology uses cloud computing and 4G and 5G global cellular networks to gain insights on indoor and outdoor locations. This enables enterprises to have unprecedented, real-time visibility.

Through global 4G and 5G cellular signals, Polte is said to transform asset tracking by driving heightened accessibility and greater speed to return on investment for supply chain, logistics, manufacturing, and a wide range of other sectors.

Polte’s disruptive approach works by offloading computational complexity from “edge to cloud” computing, stretching the battery life of connected devices while safeguarding the privacy of produced location data.

Uniquely, Polte doesn’t require any complex integrations with carrier networks and requires no additional hardware. As a result, companies can move faster, scale rapidly, and customers can eliminate the complexity and expense of additional hardware, access points, or beacon deployments.

Having led cutting-edge smart factory projects previously, it may come as no surprise that Deloitte chose the tech innovator to bring the concept of reliable, scalable tracking for all assets in the DoD facility to life. Polte was the winner of D CEO’s and Dallas Innovates’ 2020 Innovation Awards in the technology category.

Quincy Preston contributed to this report. The story was updated with additional details and art on March 13, 2021 at 10:41 a.m.

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