Latest News

Iridium Launches Next Generation IoT Platform

CanadianSMEPublished February 25, 2026 · 3 min read

Smaller, purpose-built, and designed for scale, the new Iridium 9604 unifies satellite, cellular, and GNSS in a single platform engineered for global IoT

Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM), a leading provider of global voice, data, and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellite services, today unveiled the Iridium 9604, a compact, three-in-one IoT module that integrates Iridium Short Burst Data^® (SBD^®) satellite service, LTE-M cellular connectivity, and GNSS positioning into a single platform. By combining these features in one device, the Iridium 9604 reduces solution complexity, lowers costs, and accelerates time to market, making dual-mode IoT connectivity viable for price-sensitive, high-volume deployments.

“By integrating cellular, GNSS, and Iridium satellite into a single, power-efficient module, we’re giving customers the flexibility to design and deploy lower cost, smaller, power-efficient, and location-aware solutions without the burden of integrating multiple components,” said Tim Last, executive vice president, Iridium. “With our best-in-class proprietary satellite IoT service and upcoming standards-based NB-IoT service debuting this year, anyone thinking about IoT beyond terrestrial networks is thinking about Iridium first.”

The Iridium 9604 beta program, which launched earlier this year and was oversubscribed by a select group of companies, has generated positive industry feedback highlighting:

Lower costs, simplified design, and enabling of location-aware network selection

Savings of 60 percent or more in board space with the 3-in-1 module, Iridium’s smallest-ever form factor

Easy to use developer resources

The Iridium 9604 three-in-one module. Quarter and module to scale.

“As an early Iridium 9604 developer, utilizing the three-in-one module has already fundamentally changed our product economics,” said Alastair MacLeod, CEO, Ground Control. “We eliminated two components from our bill of materials, reduced our board size, and simplified our power architecture.”

MacLeod continued, “Additionally, having dual mode connectivity options enables a smarter, location-aware network selection in our application. The Iridium 9604 turned what would have been a complex multi-component design into a single-module solution. This is a major breakthrough for our IoT solutions.”

“Our customers require essential data and real-time intelligence to operate with confidence anywhere in the world,” said Dean Welten, CEO, Everlink. “By integrating the Iridium 9604 with our secure cloud platform, we can now enable global connectivity, greater operational efficiency, and measurable impact at scale.”

Representing the next phase of Iridium’s IoT strategy, the Iridium 9604 is moving the company beyond traditional satellite-only modules to a unified, multi-mode connectivity architecture. The Iridium network now offers customers three IoT service paths to follow:

Iridium SBD packaged with cellular and GNSS in the Iridium 9604 or SBD/Iridium Burst dedicated modules

Iridium NTN Direct for standards-based direct-to-device using third-party chips

Iridium Messaging Transport-based (IMT^®) for industrial-scale, larger payload capabilities with the Iridium Certus 9704

The Iridium 9604, built on the u-blox SARA-R5 platform, delivers a compact 16 mm x 26 mm x 2.4 mm form factor, best for dual-mode IoT deployments previously cost-prohibitive across industrial, infrastructure, and mobility applications.

Commercial availability begins in June 2026 with the Iridium 9604 Development Kit made available for testing satellite and cellular services. Reserve priority access today: www.iridium.com/9604

For more information about Iridium, visit: www.iridium.com

About Iridium Communications Inc.

Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM) operates the world’s only truly global mobile satellite network, delivering reliable voice, data, and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services anywhere on Earth. Iridium supports safety- and mission-critical operations for diverse markets such as aviation, maritime, government, emergency services, critical infrastructure, autonomous systems, and remote monitoring applications, where connectivity is essential.

Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Iridium provides its products and services through an ecosystem of 500-plus partner companies around the world. For more information, visit www.iridium.com.

Source: Iridium Communications Inc.

CanadianSME

With an aim to contribute to the development of Canada’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s), Cmarketing Inc is a potential marketing agency and a boutique business management company progressing rapidly in its scope. By acknowledging a firm reliance of the Canadian economy over its SMEs, the agency has resolved to launch a magazine, the pure focus of which will be the furtherance of Canadian SMEs, and to assist their progress with the scheduled token of enlightenment via the magazine’s pertinent content.

View profile →