Proximity provider Beaconinside, headquartered in Berlin, Germany, has announced the second generations of its Beaconinside Beacon hardware and Beaconinside Manage software platform. These new versions of the company's technology now offer full support for Apple iBeacon and Google Eddystone.

In addition, the company says it has enhanced the flexibility of its software by opening up its Bluetooth service specification for other proximity service providers in order to offer multi-vendor solutions, as well as to integrate into existing back-end and mobile systems. Beaconinside beacons come with batteries made by German manufacturer Varta, and are made with Texas Instruments' CC2640 Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) chip, which the company says increases the life span of the battery in the beacons from two years to more than five years. In addition, the firm reports that it has upgraded the security features of the hardware and software. The new beacons come with advanced security features in order to avoid the misuse of a beacon deployment, and both the Beaconinside Beacon and Manage products now protect users from unauthorized "beacon harvesting" (the reading out of networks) and spoofing (the cloning of beacons).

A beacon-enabled Reload perfume display

In addition to the new versions of Beaconinside hardware and software, the company has announced that its technology is being used by Reload Labs for the global launch of a new lifestyle perfume product called Reload at 1,300 shops in 27 countries on three continents. The beacons are integrated invisibly into the point-of-sale (POS) displays (one per store), and work together with a Reload mobile app. The Reload fan community receives exclusive offers, product information and previews of new products via the app, according to Beaconinside. Additionally, perfumery and drugstore chains can use the beacon infrastructure for their own apps, since Beaconinside Manage works with a variety of beacons. The Reload implementation was completed two months ago, and Beaconinside plans to install additional beacons as the product arrives in more shops.

Beaconinside's newest beacon generation is now available via its online shop.