Cross-device tracking has long been a problem plaguing the mobile marketing industry, as ad tech companies struggle to adapt to the multi-device world and ensure that the same consumer can be identified across a range of devices.

Among the other innovations announced at Adobes 2016 Summit, the company has revealed a new device co-op solution that aims to enable participating brands to deliver more personalised consumer experiences across devices and applications on a massive scale.

The solution relies on marketers giving Adobe access to “cryptographically hashed” login IDs and HTTP headers which will anonymise users personal identities, but enable the companys Cloud software to sort data into clusters, building a graph of device links using big data from across different companies.

The co-op will mean companies that dont offer large-scale consumer-facing digital products like Facebook or Google can make use of deterministic tracking (where a user ID is confirmed) rather than probabalistic (where a connection between devices is inferred based on metadata).

“The Adobe Marketing Cloud Device Co-op will enable brands to intelligently engage with their customers across all the different devices they are using,” said Brad Rencher, executive vice president and general manager of digital marketing at Adobe. “By harnessing the power of the Co-op network, members can benefit from a truly open ecosystem and a massive pool of devices enabling them to turn yesterdays device-based marketing into people-based marketing.”

While Adobe has not revealed which brands and companies have already signed up to take part in the co-op, the firms early measurements indicate that up to 1.2bn devices could be linked together worldwide. Adobes cryptographic software will ensure that user details are not shared beyond the companies they have already opted-in with, and users will also have the option to opt-out of Adobes co-up altogether.

“One of the key cross-device challenges regulators, privacy advocates and technology companies have been grappling with is the ability to provide consumers with transparency and meaningful choice in an ecosystem that is increasingly complex,” said Jules Polonetsky, CEO at the Future of Privacy Forum. “By ensuring that a consumers choice will be respected across devices and displaying information in a way the typical consumer can easily understand, Adobe is serving publishers and marketers while respecting consumer privacy.”