Verizon Adds Drone Management Platform

With one longstanding deal still pending (Yahoo) and another massive acquisition possibly on the horizon (Charter), Verizon took time this morning for a smaller acquisition, bulking up its IoT portfolio by adding a drone management platform.

For an undisclosed sum, Verizon acquired Skyward, a privately owned company based in Portland, Ore., which has a drone operations management platform that can now be integrated into Verizon's wireless networks to create "a single source for integrating, managing and wirelessly connecting their drone operations," according to Verizon. (See Verizon Buys Skyward.)

Drones are, of course, being used by businesses from agriculture to tourism to energy and utility companies, for a variety of things, including surveillance and security. Acquiring Skyward's management platform will enable Verizon to offer a streamlined drone operations option handling "end-to-end activities, such as mission planning, complex workflow, FAA compliance support, supplying information about restricted airspace and pilot credentialing, and drone registration," while also providing rate plans for drones on the Verizon wireless network.

The intent with drone management, as with other IoT applications, is to also tie them into Verizon's secure cloud interconnect service and its data analytics offerings, the company notes.

— Carol Wilson, Editor-at-Large, Light Reading