Today, Costa Coffee announced its partnership with Eseye, the UK-based industrial IoT connectivity specialist, enabling Costa Express to deploy IoT-enabled vending machines around the world.

Through real-time data collection and an end-to-end IoT service, Costa Express will be able to better monitor its machines and reduce downtime.

“Eseye’s fully redundant fault-tolerant network provides a managed connectivity service with a global footprint, whilst support for multiple cellular networks in each geographical region enables close to 100% connectivity uptime,” said Paul Borrett, systems and data director, Costa. “This means that we can deploy connected devices and deliver premium quality drinks virtually anywhere in the world. A real advantage as the company is seeking to expand rapidly across international markets.”

Eseye’s IoT technology will work to help Costa achieve its vision of transforming the future of coffee retailing and develop a competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace.

To achieve this, Costa Coffee has equipped its Express coffee machines with the Eseye AnyNet Secure multi-IMSI SIM, which connects to any available mobile network instantly, enabling cellular data to access anywhere and communication to the back-end systems as soon as one of the 10,000 plus machines are powered on. The SIM also provides health-monitoring, local time synchronization and data route information.

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Costa Express is also utilising Eseye’s new AnyNet Active Management service, which provides a fully managed, proactive multi-network Switching as a Service capability with a dedicated Service Delivery Manager (SDM) to ensure its IoT connectivity service is delivering near 100% uptime.

Through Eseye’s technology, Costa Coffee can act swiftly to ensure site staff replenish milk and other consumables, and that important machine functions, such as boiler performance, are monitored in real-time. This enables the machines to match the quality, service and experience delivered through barista-made coffee in-store. It also reduces the need for specialist engineers to physically connect every machine to local Wi-Fi or cellular networks, and ensure uptime.

“Delivering barista-quality coffee on the go, Costa Express is one of the world’s most advanced vending machines,” said Nick Earle, CEO of Eseye. “Powered by Eseye’s unique IoT AnyNet Secure platform, Costa Express is able to monitor its machines’ actual usage per customer in real-time, to deliver customised marketing promotions and reduce downtime through smart maintenance. The net effect is a unique competitive advantage in a crowded and fast-growing global market.”