ALPON Cloud
ALPON Cloud
The shared management plane for ALPON X5 AI and ALPON X4 fleets. Onboard devices, monitor telemetry, push OTA updates, deploy containers, and manage cellular connectivity from a single interface at connect.sixfab.com.
ALPON Cloud is the cloud-based fleet management platform for ALPON
edge AI computers. It delivers remote monitoring, OTA software updates, browser-based
terminal access, container deployment, and cellular connectivity management for both
ALPON X5 AI and ALPON X4 devices, all through Sixfab
Connect at connect.sixfab.com. The same Asset Detail UI, the same telemetry
schema, and the same OTA pipeline — one platform, two devices.
Video walkthrough
ALPON Cloud in seven minutes
A full guided tour of the Sixfab Connect dashboard — assets, metrics, remote terminal, OTA, eSIM, registry, and billing. Click a chapter to jump to that section in the video.
Chapter timestamps
- 00:00Introduction & Dashboard Overview
- 00:49Asset Management & Tagging
- 01:18Advanced Filtering
- 01:32Device Metrics & Activation
- 01:54Remote Terminal Access
- 02:47System Stats & Remote Support
- 03:09Device Reboot & Update
- 03:19Network Config & Failover
- 03:50eSIM & Profile Management
- 04:30Remote App Deployment (Containers)
- 04:51Cellular Plans & Data Pools
- 05:06API Keys
- 05:17Registry
- 05:32Billing & Cost Management
- 06:07Help & Community Support
- 06:27Conclusion
Quick tour
Every ALPON device has a dedicated Asset Detail page on Sixfab Connect, organized into four tabs. Each tab targets a specific aspect of edge AI computer management, from health metrics to container workloads. The layout is identical for ALPON X5 AI and ALPON X4.
From the Connect platform perspective, ALPON X4 and ALPON X5 AI are functionally identical. The Asset Detail layout, monitoring fields, and remote operations are the same across both edge AI computers — learn the platform once, use it for either fleet.
Onboarding
Log in to connect.sixfab.com, open Assets from the side menu,
click Register Asset, then either scan the QR code on the device or enter
its serial number manually. Once registered, toggle the activation switch to bring the device
online. The same flow works for both ALPON X5 AI and ALPON X4.
How to register an ALPON device
Open the Assets page
Sign in to connect.sixfab.com and select Assets from the side menu.
Click Register Asset
Two registration methods are supported:
- QR scan: use the built-in scanner to read the QR code printed on the ALPON enclosure. Serial number and metadata are filled automatically.
- Manual entry: type the device Serial Number printed on the label, then click Register.
Activate the asset
Open the new asset and toggle the activation switch at the top of the Asset Detail page. The device must be online and the account balance must cover at least the monthly fee.
Verify connectivity
Within a few minutes, the Asset Detail page reports Device Status: Connected, populates CPU and memory metrics, and lists running containers.
The first 5 ALPON X4 and the first 5 ALPON X5 AI devices registered to a customer account each receive a $30 balance bonus. The credit is applied automatically at registration and covers monthly fees and Pay-As-You-Go usage.
Fleet management
Fleet management on ALPON Cloud combines two primitives: tags for organizing assets, and teams for sharing access with controlled permissions. Together they scale from a single device to large industrial deployments mixing ALPON X5 AI and ALPON X4 hardware.
Tags
Tags are user-defined labels (key, name, color) used to group assets — for example
production, development, or region-eu. Each customer
account supports up to 100 tags, and a tag can be attached to any number
of assets.
Teams & permissions
Teams let an account owner invite collaborators with granular, revocable permissions.
Combine teams with tags to scope access — an owner can grant assets.manage
to a developer, restricted to assets tagged development only.
Open Profile & Team Management
From the side menu of Connect, navigate to your profile and open the team management section.
Send a team invitation
Click Send Team Invitation, enter the email address of an existing Connect user, and select the permissions to grant.
Apply tag-based filtering
For asset permissions like assets.view or assets.manage,
a Tags Filter appears. Restrict the member to specific tags, or check
Manage All Tags for unrestricted access.
Member accepts the invite
The invitation appears as an in-app notification (no email is sent). Once accepted, the member can switch to the team via the account dropdown in the top-right corner of Connect.
Permission updates take effect immediately. If a member is using your team and you revoke their access, they are logged out the next time they navigate or perform an action.
Monitoring & telemetry
Each ALPON device streams a structured set of metrics to ALPON Cloud, surfaced across the Overview, Device, and Network tabs of the Asset Detail page. Telemetry covers compute, power, connectivity, and physical location — suitable for operating industrial edge AI fleets at scale.
Available metrics
Uptime and connectivity history
The Network tab includes a 7-day connectivity timeline rendered in 2-hour buckets. States are color-coded:
- 100% Operational: device fully functional during the bucket.
- Partial Outage: limited functionality (one or more interfaces degraded).
- Cellular Outage: cellular link unavailable, other interfaces may still be active.
- Offline: device unreachable.
Device location
Track the physical location of each ALPON device on a live map. Useful for verifying field deployments and reconciling assets against expected sites. Coordinates are reported every 12 hours.
If GPS is weak or unavailable, location is estimated from nearby cell towers. Accuracy varies with tower density. Treat the map as a guide rather than a precise fix.
Device telemetry refreshes within seconds of a state change. Sixfab SIM data usage is reported with a delay of up to 2 hours; PRO SIM usage may take up to 4 hours due to cellular network counter reservation logic. Location is updated every 12 hours.
Remote access
ALPON Cloud provides browser-based shell access to every connected device, with no SSH client, public IP, or local network configuration required. There are two access modes: Remote Terminal for the device owner, and Remote Support for time-bounded Sixfab assistance.
Open a secure shell directly from the Connect dashboard. Available for the device host or for any running container, accessed via the Application → Containers → Actions menu.
Authorized via either a valid access code (TOTP derived from the device token) or a session JWT with the required permissions.
Time-bounded access for the Sixfab support team to assist with troubleshooting. Owner-controlled — only the device owner can enable it; Sixfab staff cannot grant themselves access.
Access remains valid for 10 days. The owner can revoke it at any time from the Asset Detail page.
How to enable Remote Support
- Open the asset on Connect, scroll to the Remote Support card on the Device tab.
- Click Enable Access. A support token is generated and shared with the Sixfab team.
- Sixfab staff connect via the platform back-office while the token is valid.
- Click Disable Support Token at any time to revoke access immediately.
Remote Support is gated by explicit owner consent and a hard expiry. Combined with the audit trail on Connect, this prevents silent access to deployed edge AI hardware while keeping a low-friction path for support escalation.
OTA updates
The Sixfab Embedded Software team publishes signed update bundles. When a device is running an outdated version, an Update Device button appears on the Asset Detail page. Updates are applied asynchronously, and progress is streamed to the dashboard in real time. The pipeline is shared across ALPON X5 AI OS and ALPON X4 OS images, but each device receives only the bundle built for its hardware.
Update flow
Bundle is published
New software bundles (containing system applications and device firmware) are published by the Embedded Software team and indexed in the Connect backend.
Update button appears
If the device is running an older version than the latest available bundle, the Update Device button appears in the Device Maintenance card.
Apply the update
Click Update Device. The platform queues an async task and the device pulls the bundle, applies it, and reboots if needed. Progress streams to the UI via Server-Sent Events.
Verify completion
Once finished, the Device Version field updates to the new bundle version and the Update button disappears until the next release.
Beta channel
Devices flagged as beta on Connect receive additional update capabilities:
- Can install
beta-tagged bundles in addition to stable releases. - Can be updated to any selected bundle version, not only the latest one.
- Useful for staged rollouts and pre-release validation across an edge AI deployment.
OTA updates run in the background and may take several minutes depending on bundle size and connection quality. Closing the browser tab does not cancel the update; status resumes streaming when the page is reopened.
eSIM & connectivity
ALPON Cloud manages cellular connectivity for every device through the Network tab. Both ALPON X5 AI and ALPON X4 support three SIM types and dynamic interface priority, providing resilient connectivity for industrial edge AI deployments.
Supported SIM types
How to install an eSIM profile
Confirm device is online
The device must be reachable on Connect for the eUICC to receive the profile. An offline device returns an error.
Add a new profile
On the Network tab, click + Add Profile. Enter the activation code provided by your eSIM vendor and click Download.
Accept terms and download
Review and accept the eSIM terms (note the restrictions on profile deletion and transfer). The status moves through Preparing and Downloading before reaching Success.
Configure APN
Click Configure on the new profile, enter the APN and Name details, then click Save. The profile is now ready to use.
Switch active profile
Use the Switch button in the Status column to make a profile active. Only one eSIM profile is active at a time.
Interface priority
Each ALPON carries three network interfaces and uses them in priority order. Drag and drop the rows on the Interface Monitoring card to reorder, click Configure, then Save.
Connect to Wi-Fi
Pair an ALPON to a Wi-Fi network from Connect in four steps.
The device must show Online on the Connect dashboard. The Wi-Fi dialog stays disabled for devices that are offline or unreachable.
On the Network tab, click Connect to Wi-Fi. The dialog scans nearby networks automatically and lists them by signal strength.
Choose a network from the scanned list and enter the password. For hidden networks, type the SSID and password manually.
Click Connect and wait for the join to finish. Once paired, the Network tab updates with the new SSID and IP details.
SIM data usage
The Network tab includes a per-hour data usage graph for the cellular interface, with download, upload, and total volumes. Wi-Fi and Ethernet usage is not counted.
Data usage graphs only reflect Sixfab SIM consumption. If a third-party eSIM is the active profile, its volume is not displayed on the dashboard.
Container Registry
Sixfab provides a private Container Registry at cr.sixfab.io
for storing application images and pushing them to ALPON fleets. The registry is integrated
with Connect and pre-authenticated on every ALPON device, removing the need to manage
Docker credentials per device.
What you can do
username/image-name) using a generated 6-digit username and password.Default quotas
Registry limits
The registry password is generated and displayed exactly once when you first open the Registry page. Copy and store it in a secrets manager. If lost, use Reset Password on the Registry page to issue a new one. Registry credentials are independent from your Connect account login.
Push an image (example)
From your build machine, log in with the credentials from the Registry page, tag your image, and push it:
# 1. Authenticate to the Sixfab Container Registry docker login cr.sixfab.io --username <your_username> # 2. Tag your image with your repository path docker tag my-app:latest cr.sixfab.io/<your_username>/my-app:latest # 3. Push it docker push cr.sixfab.io/<your_username>/my-app:latest
Replace <your_username> with the 6-digit registry username shown on the Registry page.
Both ALPON X4 and ALPON X5 AI run on ARM64. When building on x86_64
hosts, use docker buildx build --platform linux/arm64 or push a multi-arch
manifest. Architecture mismatches surface as exec format error at container
start.
Security & access
ALPON Cloud enforces tenant isolation, time-bounded access, and explicit consent for elevated operations. The security model spans device authentication, registry access, and team permissions.
Device authentication
- Every ALPON ships with a unique device token provisioned during manufacturing. Devices not registered at the manufacturing stage cannot be claimed later.
- Remote terminal sessions require either a valid TOTP-derived access code or a session JWT with the right permissions; requests that meet neither are rejected.
- Backend-to-device commands traverse the Sixfab Network. Long-running operations stream progress via Server-Sent Events to the dashboard.
Registry isolation
- A device can pull only from its owner's repositories and from official Sixfab images. Cross-tenant access is rejected at the registry layer.
- Registry credentials are scoped to push only; they cannot be used to pull. Pulls happen via the device's own machine identity.
Permission model
Connect permissions are granular and tag-aware. A team member's UI adapts to their permissions in real time, hiding controls for actions they cannot perform.
Permission scopes
assets.view
Read-only access to assigned assets, optionally filtered by tag.
assets.manage
Activate, configure, update, and deploy to assigned assets, optionally filtered by tag.
billing.view
Read-only access to invoices, balance, and usage reports.
billing.manage
Add balance, manage payment methods, subscribe to data pools.
Sixfab support staff cannot self-assign access to your devices. Remote Support is enabled exclusively by the device owner from the Asset Detail page, expires automatically after 10 days, and can be revoked at any time.
Billing & data pools
Sixfab uses a prepaid balance model with auto-recharge. Each active ALPON device incurs a flat $6 monthly fee, plus cellular data charged either Pay-As-You-Go or against a subscribed Data Pool. Inactive devices are not billed. Pricing is identical for ALPON X4 and ALPON X5 AI.
Pricing summary
ALPON pricing (X4 & X5 AI)
How auto-recharge works
The platform keeps your balance topped up automatically with a four-stage cycle: setup, check, top-up, and a decline fallback.
Under Billing, define a Minimum Balance Threshold (the floor) and an Auto-Charge Amount of at least $10. These two values shape the cycle.
Every hour the platform audits every account's balance, looking for any that fell below the threshold in the last cycle.
When a balance drops below the threshold, the auto-charge amount is billed to the saved card and credited to the account immediately.
If the card is declined three times in a row, auto-charging pauses for safety. A successful manual top-up resumes the cycle.
Data Pools
One prepaid bucket. Many devices. Lower per-MB rate.
A Data Pool is a shared, prepaid data bucket used by every compatible device in your account. Subscribing prevents fallback to higher Pay-As-You-Go rates.
Each record runs 30 days from creation. Unused data does not roll over after expiry.
Next record buys itself only when a device uses data, never on a fixed calendar date.
Only networks in the pool are eligible. Other networks fall back to PAYG rates.
Unused records (100% remaining) created in the last 20 days qualify for a full refund.
Negative balances trigger a warning timeline: Day 0 first email, Day 3 second email, Day 4 account suspension. A debt over $20 triggers immediate suspension. A successful manual payment reactivates all SIMs and devices on the next hourly check.
Updated 17 days ago