Bengaluru, India - 20 Mar 2017: IBM (NYSE: IBM) and The Weather Company, an IBM Business, today announced the launch of the new Mesh Network Alerts technology in India. This first mobile alerting platform will deliver weather alerts without Internet. The technology uses peer-to-peer connections on a mesh network to send critical weather alerts to people in areas with lower connectivity and data availability. 

According to a 2016 report by the International Telecommunications Union*1 approximately 75 percent of India's population don’t use or have access to the Internet. Mesh network can enable people in low internet connectivity area to exchange messages. It is designed for low bandwidth environments, but uses mesh technology to offers the same high-quality user experience and needed weather information, maps and alerts from The Weather Channel.

Developed by IBM researchers, the breakthrough mesh technology is now available via The Weather Channel app in India. The mesh network technology links other nearby phones to extend the signal to help keep citizens connected and informed, and in the most severe conditions, might even help save a life. Mesh Network Alerts technology is particularly crucial in emerging markets, as well as in developed countries where cellular networks are congested, connectivity is intermittent and data access is often limited. As a result, the ability to alert and inform people during emergency situations is unreliable, which can have dire consequences.

Peer-to-peer technology converts mobile devices into links within the mesh network, allowing devices to “talk” directly to each other without using cell tower infrastructure. Each smartphone becomes a node that stores the message and securely passes it to the next nearest device, creating a daisy chain to reach more devices and remove the need for a cellular network. While other mesh networks use hot spotting, IBM and The Weather Company chose not to turn devices into individual access points to avoid excessive battery drain.

“Today, India has the second largest smartphone market in terms of active smartphone users but at times of severe weather the cellular networks get congested, connectivity is intermittent and data access is often limited.  Mesh Network Alerts networking technology is so appropriately designed to address these challenges and to notify of potential severe weather events or disasters -- even in areas with limited Internet connection, or cellular networks are disrupted due to an outage,” said Himanshu Goyal, India Sales & Alliances Leader, The Weather Company.  

“The extreme weather condition in the country has led to casualties across states. Mesh Network Alerts can help send notification of an upcoming disaster that could help people and their families stay safe. It’s a matter of great pride for us as this technology is first introduced in India,” he further added

Sources:

(1) ICT Fact & Figures 2016, International Telecommunications Union, report accessed at http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/facts/default.aspx

For more information on Mesh Network Alerts and The Weather Channel App, visit www.weather.com/meshnetworkalerts.

The Weather Company, an IBM Business

The Weather Company, an IBM Business, is the world's largest private weather enterprise, helping people make informed decisions –and take action –in the face of weather. The company offers the most accurate, personalized and actionable weather data and insights to millions of consumers and thousands of businesses via Weather’s API, its business solutions division, and its own digital products from The Weather Channel (weather.com) and Weather Underground (wunderground.com). 

Weather’s portfolio includes the fourth most-downloaded app and a top weather app on all major mobile platforms globally; the world’s largest network of personal weather stations; a top-20 U.S. website; the seventh most data-rich site in the world; one of the world’s largest IoT data platforms; and industry-leading business solutions. The app is available on Google play store.  

Weather Means Business™. The world’s biggest brands in aviation, energy, insurance, media, and government rely on The Weather Company for data, technology platforms and services to help improve decision-making and respond to weather’s impact on business. For more, visit www.theweathercompany.com. 

For more information on Mesh Network Alerts and The Weather Channel App, visit www.weather.com/meshnetworkalerts.