In 1985, a small team of innovators in Minnesota saw the potential of a world that was just beginning to connect. They founded Digi International with a simple yet powerful mission: to enable reliable communication between devices like PCs and minicomputers to other systems — long before anyone called it the Internet of Things. Forty years later, Digi continues to be a driving force in connecting the world, empowering industries, and shaping the future of IoT.
Just as it did in its humble beginnings, the company is focused on connecting "things," but fast forward to today, where we support mission critical remote visibility and management with our integrated Digi Remote Manager® platform and a full suite of tools and services for digital transformation and full lifecycle management. Another key component of our focus on meeting the critical needs of enterprise, industrial, and transportation customers is security. Today, we are proud to augment our long-standing Digi TrustFence® security framework with key certifications like ISO 9001/14001, PCI 4, and SOC 2.
Let's take a spin through the company's milestones from computer networking to secure, scalable, mission critical IoT connectivity.
From Modems to Machines: The Early Years
Digi’s journey began in the era of machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. Our early products, including multiport serial cards and embedded modules, helped businesses connect computers, industrial equipment, and communications networks.
In the 1990s and 2000s, as connectivity evolved, Digi expanded into wireless networking. We transitioned from computer-centered offerings to machine remote presence solutions, and helped customers bridge from analog to digital systems. This foundation in reliable connectivity set the stage for everything to come.
Innovations, Patents and Breakthroughs
Innovation has always been at the heart of Digi. Our engineers and technologists have earned 180 patents spanning communications protocols, network security, device management, and IoT infrastructure. These innovations power the secure, reliable connections that our customers depend on — from connected streetlights and smart utilities to transportation systems and energy infrastructure.
Growth Through Innovation and Acquisition
Over four decades, Digi’s growth has been driven by both innovation and strategic acquisitions. We have welcomed many remarkable companies into the Digi family. These organizations have supported the build-out of dedicated business units and product offerings under the Digi umbrella, including:
- Rabbit — the precusor to the Digi ConnectCore® line of system-on-modules, developer tools and software
- MaxSteam — now the Digi XBee® ecosystem of RF and cellular modules, and the award-winning Digi XBee Tools suite
- Opengear — offering mission critical network resilience and IT solutions
- Multiple companies such as Bluenica and FreshTemps that consolidated under the SmartSense by Digi brand, which offers sensing solutions by subscription for healthcare, retail and supply chain customers; most recently SmartSense joined forces with Jolt to augment its offering with digital task workflows and additional management tools
- Ventus Holdings — offering complete managed cellular connectivity services
Each of these additions has brought in new expertise, innovative technologies, and customer relationships that have strengthened our solutions, contributed to our strong growth and profitability, and broadened our impact. Through these acquisitions, we have deepened our capabilities in edge intelligence, remote monitoring, and secure device management, helping customers deploy at scale and operate with confidence.
Brand Refresh
Along the journey from a manufacturer and M2M connectivity provider to a complete solutions company, Digi was ready for a new look. In 2015, we completely revamped the look and feel of the brand, the Digi website, and all of the assets on Digi.com. This rebrand synthesized our modernization and a complete pivot into the age of IoT.
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Leadership in IoT Connectivity, Deployment, and Management
Today, Digi International stands at the forefront of the IoT revolution across the globe. Our solutions connect millions of devices worldwide across critical applications in transportation, energy, industrial automation, retail, agriculture, and healthcare. Through products like Digi Remote Manager, our range of cellular routers, gateways, serial devices and embedded products and services for OEMs, we provide complete, scalable solutions that enable customers to deploy, monitor, and manage IoT networks anywhere in the world.
Our focus on security, scalability, and performance ensures that Digi solutions can support the most demanding applications — whether it’s managing a city’s infrastructure, monitoring pipelines across remote terrain, or powering autonomous systems in the field.
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From M2M to IoT: Our Transformation
Digi’s transformation from a hardware manufacturer to a leading provider of IoT solutions reflects the evolution of the industries we serve. We have moved beyond products to deliver complete ecosystems — integrating hardware, software, and cloud-based intelligence. This transformation allows our customers to achieve deeper insights, greater efficiency, and more resilient operations.
As we celebrate 40 years, our focus remains clear: to help our customers connect what matters most. The technologies have changed, but the mission is the same — enabling reliable, secure communication that drives innovation and progress.
Looking Ahead
The next 40 years promise even greater opportunity. As IoT, AI, and edge computing continue to converge, Digi will remain a trusted provider for organizations building the connected world of tomorrow. We are investing 15% of revenue into R&D today as we usher in the age of 5G cellular, along with advances in local area wireless like Wi-SUN®, and the AI revolution — both at the edge, with tiny language models and centralized, with web and mobile app solutions. All of this supports our focus to ensure that we meet customers at the crucial places where they need us most, with reliable, secure and scalable connectivity solutions and services to support rapid rollouts, as well as single-pane-of-glass visibility into their deployed devices at the edge.
We are proud of our history, but even more excited about what lies ahead.
Thank you to our employees, customers, and partners for being part of this incredible journey. Together, we are connecting the world, one innovation at a time.
— Ron Konezny
President and CEO, Digi International