Brother Jumps Into Amazon Dash Program

Amazon made its Dash Replenishment program a reality Tuesday, announcing the first devices that have become part of the Internet of Things initiative.

The new connected devices are led by printers made by Brother, which has more than 45 compatible printers that will work with the program, according to Don Cummins, senior vice president of marketing for Brother International, based in Bridgewater, N.J.

The program, which utilizes Amazon-compatible automated IoT devices, will also include a General Electric washing machine and a Gmate SMART blood glucose monitor. The program allows a device owner to set up a device so that it can automatically order physical goods – such as ink or toner from a Brother printer - when the machine is running low.

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’We are excited to work with the Amazon Dash Replenishment Service, and be a part of its official launch,’ Cummins said in a statement distributed by Seattle-based Amazon.

However, the program is seen benefiting home users and home-office workers more than businesses, Cummins said in an interview Tuesday with CRN.

Cummins said Brother and Amazon reached out to each other last spring, at a time when the printer manufacturer wanted to utilize its new monitoring capabilities and Amazon wanted to launch an IoT-based version of Dash.

Now, Cummins revealed that the Brother printers that will now work with Amazon Dash will be compatible with the program, as well every future network enabled-printer released by his company.

The value is most likely not there for larger business accounts because they probably have a deeper, more valuable service with contracted solution providers, Cummins said. Rather, the program will provide monitoring and ordering capabilities for home users and home-office workers that simply weren’t there before, he added.

The GE and Gmate products, and others, will be ready to be used by the end of January and can be activated when the owner signs up for the service on Amazon.com, according to the Amazon statement.

New brands, including Purell soap and home goods manufacturer Whirlpool, have also joined the program, making use of the application programming interface that has been made public and can be utilized by everyone from large manufacturers to individual hobbyists, the Amazon statement said.

Amazon anticipates that more devices will become part of the program over the rest of the year, according to Daniel Rausch, director of Amazon Devices.