Jan 25, 2016—

Pest-control technicians who work for municipalities, government agencies or private firms spend a great deal of time behind the wheel of a vehicle. In compliance with state and federal animal welfare regulations, the technicians must regularly visit any animal traps they have set—in some cases, as frequently as every 12 hours—in order to check whether the target animal (or perhaps an unintended target) has been caught.

Of course, a good portion of those miles (and corresponding gallons of spent fuel) are wasted, since traps often remain empty for many days. But as it has with so many unlikely niche sectors, as wide-ranging as trash hauling and heating fuel tank management, Internet of Things technology is offering a path to more efficient workflows.

“Traps with monitoring systems started coming on the market about three to four years ago,” explains Greg Smith, who owns the Tomahawk Live Trap Co. Tomahawk is a Wisconsin-based vendor of live traps and accessories, which it sells to animal-control agencies, wildlife services and the U.S. military. Live traps, also known as cage traps, are designed to capture creatures without harming them, so they can be safely released into the wild or returned to their owners. Smith has recently collaborated with OmniM2M, a Seattle-based firm that sells remote monitoring solutions for animal-control services, as well as remote temperature- and tank-monitoring systems for a variety of other applications, to offer Tomahawk traps with integrated wireless monitoring.

The resulting product sports a ZigBee sensor unit that monitors the cage’s trap door and communicates with a gateway from up to 100 yards indoors. The gateway, which can be paired with up to 18 sensors (and, therefore, 18 traps), contains a cellular modem that transmits a message to a cloud-based server to indicate that a trap has been shut, along with the trap’s identifier. From there, the server can send a text or e-mail message to the technician assigned to manage that trap.

“When a trap is triggered, a magnet separates [from the door], and that causes the sensorto send a signal to the gateway,” Smith explains. This sensor unit is small enough to be mounted on most of the traps Tomahawk sells. “There is no limit, really. We can affix thesensor to anything from a 6-foot-long dog trap to 5-by-5 gopher trap—it will work on about 95 percent of our traps.” That remaining five percent includes only the smallest rodent traps he sells, which does not bode well for, in fact, making a better mouse trap. But as sensor manufacturers continue to make ever-smaller devices in the years to come, that is bound to change.

Tomahawk is selling the gateway for $250, while each sensor unit costs $200. In addition to the hardware costs, customers will need to purchase a cellular subscription for each gateway, for which Tomahawk is charging a monthly fee of $30. Other companies that offer remote monitoring for live traps require customers to pay for year-long cellular subscriptions, Smith says, which does not make financial sense for all of his customers. “Especially ones that do not do much business during winter months,” he notes.

Tomahawk previously offered a remote monitoring service through a different technology partner whose sensors did not communicate wirelessly to their gateway, but rather required a wired connection. This meant technicians had a harder time setting up the traps, he r. Plus, the previous partner acted as the main customer-service contact for Tomahawk’s customers, which made Smith feel out of the loop and unable to directly address any issues those customers might have had with remote monitoring system.

Now, Smith and his associates can help customers set up and maintain their remote monitoring system directly. “Within our cloud-based software, Greg can manage his own accounts. He can go in and set up a customer with the cellular service,” says Gary Schmidt, OmniM2M’s managing director. “This way, Tomahawk can go in and sell the service themselves and manage the workflow, and then OmniM2M provides support to Tomahawk if they need it.”

Smith chimes in: “And we like that a lot.”

In addition, a pest-control agency can use the OmniM2M software to send an electronic registration to local regulators that require reporting on each live trap deployed. Once the trap is collected and the live animal is removed from the premises and released, the technician can use the software to issue a final report to the regulator.

Smith says his customers’ customers like the notion that a live trap with a monitoring system can ensure that animals caught in the trap will be attended to as soon as possible. “You can’t imagine how upset [their] customers can get about trapping and [the potential] cruelty to animals,” he adds.

New Frequency, a Georgia-based firm, sells live animal traps with remote monitoring capabilities, under the Trap-Alert brand, using wired sensors. New Jersey-based Trap Smart also sells a wired sensor solution.

The post Building a Better Mouse (or Raccoon, Skunk, You-Name-It) Trap With IoT appeared first on Omni m2m.

The Internet of Things is everywhere, with sensors and communication technologies embedded in all the materials of daily life. Today, the idea of the Internet of Things (IoT) is also everywhere: it is has become one of the most widely-discussed concepts of the digital age, driving major changes across industries from marketing to renewable energy. The total number of IoT connections is predicted to increase four-fold by 2020. As the IoT mentality gains momentum, cities are finding innovative ways to take advantage of the increasingly networked physical world.

What is the Internet of Things? IoT brings formerly inert objects into the dynamic world of information technology. It encompasses a range of technologies, from sensors that monitor environmental conditions to RFID tags that can allow users to interact with objects. In the world of IoT, everything produces data that can be gathered and analyzed. Once-passive objects become dynamic, capable of conducting remote updates and on-the-fly improvements. Fundamentally, IoT means a shift from reactive to proactive systems; from delayed problem management to automatic sense-and-respond capabilities.

Driven by the declining cost of sensors and government’s focus on improving efficiency and service, IoT is allowing cities to transition towards real-time data-driven management across urban systems, including water, energy, waste, and transportation. The most basic IoT tools have been around for years, includingconnected streetlights, which switch off when no one is present to conserve energy, or send automatic notifications when a light has gone out. Building on these basic lessons, cities are expanding their IoT programs to enhance complex urban infrastructure.

CITY SYSTEMS

Cities are expected to spend $41 trillion on IoT technologies in the next 20 years. In the pursuit of smarter, more responsive city services, local governments have partnered with startups and major technology companies to begin experimenting with IoT across all dimensions of urban life.

Energy: The smart grid is one of the most well-developed and widely recognized IoT systems. Smart grids rely on smart meters, which relay information about a building’s energy usage back to a central management system, in order to efficiently allocate resources. Smart grids can be used to identify and address outages and promote conservation through demand-based pricing. Moreover, smart grid technology is essential to the integration of sustainable energy sources into the mainstream energy grid.

In addition to benefiting cities, new devices are also bringing the benefits of energy-related IoT to consumers. Citizens can reduce their energy bills with devices like Nest, which can sense when someone is home and adjust temperatures automatically, and the smart-me, which allows users to monitor energy use, turn off unused devices, and manage the temperature in a home or office from a smartphone.

Environmental conditions: Chicago’s Array of Things and Dublin’s CityWatch are models for the deployment of citywide sensor networks. Partnering with research institutions and corporations, these cities are installing sensors on lampposts to monitor environmental conditions including temperature, noise, and air quality. The government and its partners will use the data to manage incidents, identify patterns in microclimates, and make predictions about vehicle and pedestrian congestion. Moreover, these systems feed data into open data portals, where it is available to the public, allowing citizens to take part in tracking and responding to local environmental issues.

Water: Many cities face severe problems with water, whether they experience too much or too little rain. In California, local governments are using IoT to developinnovative ways to plan and manage irrigation, facilitating extensive water conservation and more effectively allocating their scarce resources. Other areas struggle to address flooding and wastewater management during storms. Without proper planning, cities are often forced them to dump raw sewage into local waterways. With the help of IoT, local authorities are learning to prepare for storms more effectively. Using tools developed by Opti, American cities can draw together systems that monitor the weather and those that control rainwater storage to determine when to hold onto water supplies and when to make room for new rainfall. With appropriate planning, cities can reduce overflow in combined sewers and minimize the pollution of waterways.

Citizens are also taking advantage of distributed sensor networks to plan for flooding. The citizen-ledOxford Flood Network has developed a system of sensors to gather data on water level from stream and groundwater sources and anticipate flood incidents. The system relies on sensors that use ultrasonic rangefinders, positioned above local waterways, to measure changes in the water level and indicate flood risks. The network makes use of TV whitespace between channels—made available by the local telecom provider—to transmit data, making information publicly available in real time.

Waste: Although waste management is traditionally a hands-on service, IoT companies are developing two-way communication tools to reduce labor and increase the efficiency of waste management systems. Among several companies that are working on innovative approaches to trash collection and monitoring, Big Belly has emerged as a leader. The company’s sensor-enabled trash receptacles measure waste levels in public bins and compact trash to reduce overflow. The bins share the data with local authorities, allowing them to enhance efficiency by planning collection routes where and when pickup is needed. The same logic is being extended to the home, with Enevo offering home trash monitoring to facilitate efficient collection.

Public transit: The IoT mentality has become an integral part of public transit, where many riders can now follow buses online through GPS or note the minutes until the next train. Some cities are taking the next steps in wiring their transit systems, like London, which has deployed an extensive sensor network throughout the Underground to monitor environmental conditions and detect systems in need of maintenance.

Mass transit IoT is also being adopted by regional train systems. Until recently, railways were unable to take advantage of sophisticated collision avoidance systems, like those used by airplanes and ships, because the nature of railroad tracks inevitably steered trains within inches of one another. The Rail Collision Avoidance System has made this possible by combining GPS and movement data. RCAS monitors trains in the local network and informs conductors if a train is approaching on the same track, helping the railways become even safer.

Parking: One of the most popular IoT applications is the use of sensors to track the availability of parking spaces. The search for parking in busy urban centers is frustrating for the driver, intensifies congestion on the roads, and increases pollution from circling cars. Moreover, cities lack the real-time data that would allow them to implement demand-based pricing. A number of startups, includingStreetline, are trying to enhance the parking process. These companies use sensors to determine when a car is parked in a given spot. This data can be sent directly to drivers, helping to guide them more quickly to an available spot, or to cities, which can use the data to adjust pricing based on demand.

Cars and drivers: Of all the forms of transportation, driving remains the most dangerous.  Government officials are exploring ways to leverage IoT to make the roads safer by connecting the vehicle and the driver with the surrounding environment. The US Department of Transportation is testing the uses of vehicle-to-vehicle communication, enabling cars to sense and respond to possible risks on the road. Cities are also connecting to drivers within their cars: Walnut Creek, CA has implemented a system that connects with drivers’ smartphones, pushing alerts when the light changes from red to green to discourage distraction while driving.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR IOT

National leaders are beginning to gauge the importance of IoT to economic development, safety, and sustainability. In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister David Cameron has promoted the broad implementation of IoT in the public sector by dedicating $122 million to fund research for the development of IoT applications. TheEuropean Union is also hoping to extend the use of IoT, funding research directed at developing new IoT systems for the public good. In the US, the White House supported IoT discoveries through the Smart America Challenge, which brought together government officials, academia, and private industry to explore the potential for smarter and more responsive infrastructure.

CHALLENGES

While IoT offers unparalleled opportunities to enhance efficiency, improve public safety, and support development, it also presents several important challenges that cities will have to negotiate in order to realize these benefits.

Design and analysis together: Cities already have lots of data in their existing systems—the challenge is often that they lack the skills or the technology to use it. In order to make the Internet of Things valuable, cities must ensure that the data-gathering systems are designed together with analytics: the data that is collected should be easily understood and to put to use by the governments that collect it. In addition to enhancing the systems for data collection and analysis, governments must also focus on recruiting tech-savvy leaders who can envision and implement cutting-edge systems.

Privacy and security: Cities must take seriously their role in ensuring the privacy and security of citizen data. Unless citizens trust their governments to ensure privacy, it will become increasingly difficult for cities to get this data at all. Defense from cyberattacks is also a growing concern, particularly with regards to critical infrastructure—hacking smart meters can cost millions, but a more malicious intruder could compromise safety for residents. In order to successfully implement IoT, cities should make privacy and security a top priority.

With smart and forward-looking leadership, IoT has the potential to create a revolution in city planning and management. By embracing the potential of IoT, governments can improve service delivery, increase sustainability, and make their cities safer and more livable places for all residents.

The post The Urban Internet of Things: Surveying Innovations Across City Systems appeared first on Omni m2m.

The buzz surrounding Internet of Things (IoT) connecting virtually unlimited end-point devices is almost entirely centered around the convergence of high-speed processing, intelligent gadgetry, ubiquitous connectivity and massive bandwidth. However, the expansive vision of advanced IoT applications and the promised rewards are increasingly dependent on capabilities of IoT software solutions, platforms and middleware blending high-profile IoT hardware technologies to enhance functionality and deliver the desired results.

A typical enterprise IoT use case involves a myriad of sensors, data loggers and gadgets generating a deluge of IoT data from across large distributed systems. The size of deployment itself is not the only consideration for progressive organizations pursuing long-term growth with IoT initiatives. The ability to increase the capacity of the IoT system to establish IoT applications based on evolving business requirements is just as important in determining the long-term feasibility of IoT initiatives. Flexible, scalable and agile IoT system architecture serve well to address these concerns and present IoT systems as adaptable solutions in the modern data-driven and connected workplace.

Limitations surrounding hardware capabilities, cost and security cause several hurdles with effective generation, transmission and utilization of the vast IoT data deluge. Furthermore, establishing large distributed ‘islands’ of IoT systems opens the door to privacy, security and compliance risks affecting long-term financial viability of IoT applications. IoT architectures must help establish globally interconnected IoT systems among siloed environments lacking integration and interoperability. The IoT industry is addressing these concerns by presenting novel frameworks for network management, programming and content delivery.

The concept of ubiquitous IoT – that refers to multiple individual IoT implementations integrated together to establish a ubiquitous IoT system – is widely adopted to maximize the potential of IoT applications. Connecting and scaling individual unit IoT systems to accommodate unpredictable variable IoT demands as a pool of distributed IoT applications is actually a software-oriented IoT requirement. Dynamic collaboration among these siloed unit IoT units necessitates a strong cloud-based backend system to access information and execute desired operations across the centralized IoT system. As part of the flexible architecture enabling dynamic collaboration among siloed IoT units, the system must form a feedback loop starting from sensing, reaching the centralized computing system, and returning with the desired IoT operation such as control automation that span across multiple IoT devices, sensors and machines.

Devising a flexible, scalable and agile IoT systems architecture is an ongoing and evolving process owing to the rapid pace of technological advancements and the inclination toward expanding IoT applications across all functional areas of the organization. These trends naturally require hardware resources from multiple vendors, varied connectivity capabilities, and scalable third-party cloud services. IoT platforms such as OmniM2M enable this flexibility with the ability to connect to anything using Open APIs, secure M2M connectivity, configurable cloud-based rules engines, built-in feedback loops as well as direct connections. With this approach, OmniM2M customers can invest in IoT hardware of their choice, avoid vendor lock-in and minimize IoT costs while maximizing return on investments.

Organizations cannot afford to go into overload with the overwhelming needs to expand and scale IoT applications as the business grows. The IoT platform itself needs to scale accordingly and help organizations establish a flexible architecture for elastic ubiquitous IoT applications.

The post IoT Applications: Flexible Architectures Drive Growth appeared first on Omni m2m.

Over the next month, we will be covering these three areas in depth, starting first, with the top IoT chip manufacturing companies that are enabling today’s generation of ‘smart’ products for the home and business.

Texas Instruments

Stock Ticker: TXN

Market Cap: 44.48B

Primary IoT Offerings: Processors and microcontrollers, connectivity technologies, sensors, analog and digital ICs.

IoT Target Verticals: Wearables, Manufacturing, Building Automation Healthcare Smart Cities, Automotive.

IoT Tagline: Connect More.

Texas Instruments (TI) offers a broad portfolio of microcontrollers, processors, sensors and wireless connectivity technologies that allow business organizations to develop IoT applications specific to their unique requirements. TI wireless connectivity products cover over 14 digital communication standards for stringent compliance, productivity and innovation requirements of next-generation industries. Extensive network partnership with cloud vendors further enable business customers to complement IoT-enabled services. TI IoT building blocks include front-end nodes such as power management, analog signal chain and advanced sensing technologies generating precise data, hybrid gateways or bridges for IoT data transmission and a vast cloud infrastructure offering third-party IoT cloud services.

The rich blend of connectivity and processing solutions are primarily developed to serve advanced IoT requirements in organizations facing compliance challenges, industrial automation requirements, and productivity needs.

More info on IoT offerings: http://www.ti.com/ww/en/internet_of_things/iot-products.html

At the heart of every Internet of Things (IoT) system, microscopic transistors process millions of discrete computing steps almost instantaneously. These semiconductor devices drive the plethora of IoT advancements for business organizations to transform operations, automate mundane processes, establish insightful decision-making capabilities and ultimately yield unprecedented new revenue streams. Global chip manufacturers continue to lead breakthrough innovation in IoT chip manufacturing, fabricating twice as many transistors every 18 months as per the prevalent Moore’s Law. The best among top IoT chip manufacturers include:

Intel

Stock Ticker: INTC

Market Cap: 115.41B

Primary IoT Offerings: Processors, cloud infrastructure, and analytics solutions.

IoT Target Verticals: Automotive, energy, retail, industrial, healthcare, building automation, IoT Vendors.

IoT Tagline: Intelligent Systems.

Intel is at the heart of the IoT revolution with decades of industry-proven experience in manufacturing advanced processing technologies for businesses and consumers following the rapid pace of Moore’s Law.

Intel offers end-to-end IoT solutions connecting smart sensors and devices across the cloud infrastructure and instigating automated machine operations. The Intel IoT platform provides a foundation for third-party applications to connect and perform tailored IoT functionality in a secure environment specific to unique customer requirements. Intel processing chips capture sensor data, verify and transmit raw information to the cloud database yielding actionable insights using advanced Intel analytics capabilities.

Vast developer support and an endless range of semiconductor products make Intel one of the top IoT chip manufacturing companies in the world for organizations investing in customized IoT systems.

More info on IoT offerings: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/internet-of-things/overview.html

Qualcomm

Stock Ticker: QCOM

Market Cap: 124.26B

Primary IoT Offerings: Processors, networking, and IoT software.

IoT Target Verticals: Automotive, Education, Healthcare, Smart Cities, Consumer, IoT Vendors.

IoT Tagline: Internet of Everything.

As a global leader in mobile processor and connectivity technologies, Qualcomm delivers off-the-shelf IoT products for a range of industry verticals. The company is inclined toward consumer-oriented IoT applications with initiatives such as smart home and smart cities. Qualcomm IoT products allow consumers to transform the existing home network and power infrastructure into a connectivity hub for mobility-based IoT use-cases.

Qualcomm products for automotive, mobile, healthcare and education allow organizations from these verticals to develop consumer-facing IoT applications. Notable products include the Snapdragon processor powering over a billion mobile devices globally, wireless connectivity systems and advanced software IoT applications that allow business organizations to empower their customers with next-generation IoT capabilities.

More info on IoT offerings: https://www.qualcomm.com/products/internet-of-everything

ARM

Stock Ticker: ARMH

Market Cap: 22.07B

Primary IoT Offerings: Processors and microcontrollers, sensors, networking technologies, cloud infrastructure.

IoT Target Verticals: IoT Vendors.

IoT Tagline: The Architecture of the Digital World

ARM operates on a distinct business model of creating and licensing its technologies as intellectual property to third-party IoT vendors. Licensees of ARM processors for IoT applications range from consumer technology giants Apple and Samsung, to enterprise technology vendors IBM, Qualcomm and Intel, among others.

ARM IoT offerings range from sensors and processing chips to networking equipment and cloud servers establishing an end-to-end IoT hardware infrastructure. The company also provides development platforms such as the ARM mbed solution for third-party IoT vendors and business organizations to create IoT applications based on ARM microcontrollers.

More info on IoT offerings: http://www.arm.com/markets/internet-of-things-iot.php

Atmel

Stock Ticker: ATML

Market Cap: 3.16B

Primary IoT Offerings: Microcontrollers, memory products, custom ICs and wireless technologies.

IoT Target Verticals: Automotive, Smart Energy, Consumer, IoT Vendors.

IoT Tagline: Atmel and Internet of Things.

Atmel is leading the “Industrial Internet” movement with advanced logic memory components, microcontrollers, and capacitive touch solutions. Atmel IoT offerings are geared toward consumer, industrial, communications and automotive verticals. Atmel adopts the ARM Cortex for its processor technologies.

The current generation of Atmel microcontrollers extends the industry-proven Atmel 8051 microcontroller architecture for next-generation IoT use cases. The extensive portfolio of Atmel microcontrollers is designed for pin-to-pin compatibility with end-of-lifecycle legacy 8051 devices still working effectively across a range of IoT and automation applications.

Atmel also develops other devices constituting the front-end of IoT systems including sensors, wireless solutions, touch screens and wearable gadgets, among others.

More info on IoT offerings: http://www.atmel.com/applications/iot/default.aspx

Freescale

Stock Ticker: FSL

Market Cap: 4.28B

Primary IoT Offerings: Microcontrollers, memory products, custom ICs and wireless technologies.

IoT Target Verticals: Automotive, Consumer, Industrial, Healthcare, Energy, IoT Vendors.

IoT Tagline: Connected Intelligence.

Freescale IoT solutions include embedded processors, microcontrollers and multi-faceted sensors used in industrial, healthcare, automotive, smart energy as well as consumer applications. The company refers to its Internet of Tomorrow philosophy as an advancement of IoT in terms of highly connected and secure end-nodes within enterprise-wide cloud networks.

Freescale’s off-the-shelf IoT applications are primarily aimed at automotive, healthcare and smart energy industries. The company also adopts ARM processors for IoT vendors and business organizations to develop custom IoT systems. These systems are complemented with Freescale Sensor Data Analytics capabilities guiding insightful decisions from the data generated by Freescale sensors and the wider IoT infrastructure.

More info on IoT offerings: http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/homepage.jsp?code=IOT-INTERNET-OF-THINGS&nodeId=0229AB

While this list does not encompass the full spectrum of chip makers currently in the IoT space, it highlights some of the key IoT chip manufacturing companies. Stay tuned next week as we continue to explore the three fundamental areas of IoT, this time focusing on the radio modules that are enabling connectivity between devices.

The post IoT Hardware: Top IoT Chip Manufacturing Companies appeared first on Omni m2m.

Pharmaceutical and Healthcare

Temperature tracking using data loggers connected to a centralized information repositories is a critical compliance requirement for healthcare institutions. Improperly stored medicine is not only ineffective but it can also be costly for organizations to devote human hours to manually monitoring ambient conditions. Wireless data logging happens automatically, creating logs and records that ensure safe storage, prevent damage, reduce labor costs and prolong useful life of valuable and rare medicines, blood and other healthcare necessities. IoT temperature monitoring solutions reduce the overall cost as well as improve quality of patient care by maintaining stable environmental conditions in pharmacies, blood banks, laboratories, patient and operation rooms.

Datacenters

Silicon chips keep accommodating more transistors to boost server capacity and speed – actually, increasing two-fold per square inch every 18 months according to the prevalent Moore’s Law. Millions of transistors embedded into small Integrated Circuit chips naturally dissipate immense heat upon processing computing operations with super-fast circuit switching. Datacenters containing server stacks house colossal centralized A/C systems to cool and maintain optimum operating environment for energy-hogging silicon chips. Any fluctuation in temperature can have huge monetary implications because of resulting service failures. A study in 2013 found that 93% of Datacenters that had more than 10 days of downtime went bankrupt. Data loggers are often a secondary or tertiary defense in the case of a power outage, failing A/C system or to diagnose HVAC gaps.

Food and Restaurant

Taste and quality of commercial delicacies is often attributed to experience in cooking and ultra-secret recipes. From a scientific perspective, it is the chemical composition of molecules in the food that establishes taste quality. Storage and cooking temperatures determine how well the end-product attains optimum chemical composition and the resulting taste. The ‘Danger Zone’ is also another factor that influences the characteristics of food, by allowing potentially harmful bacteria license to grow and thrive. Data loggers with internet connectivity inform kitchens, grocers, and food production companies that optimum temperature requirements have been met throughout the entirety of the food preparation lifecycle.

Livestock

Temperature monitoring with IoT technologies give farmers universal connectivity to allow livestock farmers and meat processors the ability to remotely observe and control the quality of herds. Barns or animal shelters often get dangerously hot from increasingly warm summers and increased barn and animal shelter density. These conditions can have an adverse effect on meat quality, increase chance for spread of disease and often can kill young or weak animals prematurely. With an increasing eye on livestock handling, temperature monitoring with data loggers allows farmers to preserve their profitability and their herd.

Animal shelters and transporters have also been at the forefront of temperature tracking

Shipping and logistics

Transportation of valuable perishable and other temperature-sensitive goods is a multi-billion dollar business. But temperature tracking in logistics does more than enabling profitable businesses. Logistics companies rely on advanced temperature monitoring systems to ensure ideal storage environment is maintained through the transportation journey. And the risk of exposing these goods often goes beyond financial losses to customers and the resulting brand reputation damages. For instance, failure to maintain ideal storage temperature for hazardous and explosive chemicals risks lives of the transportation crew and people situated near the transportation vehicle.

Commercial and Rental Properties

Temperature monitoring systems at home and buildings indicate more than a fault in HVAC systems, they can also be a sign of dangerous conditions that can impact real estate value for years to come. With the unprecedented value proposition of promising cost-effective, accurate and personalized temperature control system. The consumer market is more tech savvy than ever before and prefer the convenience of controlling anything and everything from the palm of their hands. Smart temperature control system with data loggers present at the front line and integrated with a strong backend network performing all the necessary computing operations help achieve just that. The industry is booming as a result, expected to reach $490 billion at a compound annual growth rate of 67 percent by the year 2019.

Manufacturing Industry

Temperatures run high when the manufacturing plant fails to produce to desired specifications. And why not, if erroneous production causes immediate financial losses, compromises customer trust and damages brand reputation. For this reason, manufacturing companies from the largest IoT market pursuing initiatives such as smart manufacturing and connected supply chains. Data loggers collecting information from sensors monitoring temperature continue to drive these initiatives by allowing these companies to maintain optimum manufacturing environment.

Recording temperature wirelessly is just one of many applications businesses are using IoT products to solve. To learn more about tracking pressure, humidity, light and more, stay tuned for more blog posts our subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

The post Data Loggers – 7 Businesses Tracking Temperature appeared first on Omni m2m.

Cloud-Based Automation Control

Adding value is about focusing on mission-critical business operations and eliminating wasteful efforts on mundane manual tasks. Business organizations can use advanced IoT applications and gateways to connect legacy industrial devices with the cloud-based world of IoT. These devices generating real-time data can be programmed to automatically perform desired operations when certain conditions are met and empower employees to control the devices from across the corporate network. The distributed intelligence and control allows the workforce to focus on core business operations, eliminate costly human errors and optimize machine operations.

The ‘Cloud Wars’ taking place right now between Microsoft, Amazon and Google have created huge opportunities for business looking to manage hundreds or hundreds of thousands devices remotely and affordably

Intelligent Decision Making

The ability to act on real-time insights on internal business operations can transform cost centers into profit centers. Data from IoT applications helps organizations discover what exactly is happening, determine root causes and effects, predict future outcomes and prescribe appropriate best action plans. The IoT Big Data has extended the realm of business analytics to enable intelligent decisions based on true insights yielding invaluable competitive differentiation. Connected devices also establish feedback loops with the existing customer-base to return real-time usage information and performance statistics. Devising strategies based on this information is crucial for optimizing service quality amid rapidly changing and otherwise unpredictable customer preferences and market trends.

Enterprise Mobility

Mobilizing the enterprise streamlines workflows, boosts operational efficiencies and deepens customer connections. IoT enables these capabilities by connecting the workforce, devices and processes. Connected IoT devices transmit information to centralized cloud-based data repositories in real-time. Employees using wearable gadgets connected to the corporate infrastructure can access information and control connected machines remotely. The resulting enterprise mobility transforms siloed departments across geographically disparate locations into unified organizations with real-time collaboration among devices, infrastructure and employees. IoT applications and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) connectivity constitute the underlying foundation of enterprise mobility that emerged as a leading initiative for business organizations in 2015 and is only expected to rank higher in preference for years to come.

Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff, has already begun a push into the Wearables space with their Salesforce Wear product fund

New Revenue Streams

IoT applications allow organizations to institute processes that yield fast response to customer requirements, create new value streams. Real-time IoT data on mission-critical systems enhances visibility across siloed departments for on-the-fly up to achieve operational excellence and align all processes with business goals. IoT-enabled services tailored to unique customer requirements lock-in customers and help create additional revenue streams on top of traditional product offerings to increase profitability.

Improving Safety 

Business organizations are in a constant struggle to maintain profitability while complying with stringent global regulations. Improving safety, reducing risks and meeting regulatory requirements tends to limit innovation and increases operational expense when organizations have limited information and control on technology and processes. IoT applications such as alarms, sensors, tracking devices and monitoring equipment connected to cloud networks allow organizations to protect sensitive assets. Wearable technologies monitoring health metrics ensure that employees are not incapacitated from potentially hazardous work conditions. Other areas of internal organizational improvements with IoT applications include enhanced resource and capacity utilization, inventory tracking, disaster planning and recovery, downtime minimization and loss prevention – the list goes on.

The post 5 IoT Benefits You’re Missing appeared first on Omni m2m.

IoT is going to go beyond fitness tracking, lighting, improvements and notifications – it’s going to permeate 

UPS is a shining example of how connected sensors can benefit a businesses bottom line.

Since 2008, UPS has been equipping 200+ sensors to thousands of their delivery trucks and the payoff has been substantial. Fuel efficiencies have been increased by 3.3% and delivery rates have gone up by 1.8% in the first 3 years of their program. With a profit margin averaging around 6%, every percentage point increase has huge gains for UPS as they compete against DHL, USPS, and their largest adversary, Federal Express.

Shipping isn’t the only industry that is gaining from the adoption of connected sensors and at Omni, we recognize the enormous opportunities in many businesses from monitoring refrigerator temperatures, optimizing delivery schedules for fuel distributors or even reducing trips for pest control operators through cloud based software and internet connected hardware. It’s not sexy, it doesn’t make a great headline, but it does have incredible ROI for clients like ours – and some in the business world see the enormous potential of IoT outside of the consumer segment.

Tim O’Reilly is one of those people.

The ‘Oracle of Silicon Valley’, O’Reilly invested in ebooks 20 years ago, started the first commercial website, and saw the business opportunities for open source software long before it became the norm

In a recent interview with VentureBeat, Tim brought up the huge opportunity that Silicon Valley (and it’s investors), are missing by focusing on the impact that ‘smart’ products will have on the consumer segment and not the business segment. We have no doubt that the Apple Watch will be amazing, fun to use, and change the way we interact with notifications, our phones, and even future consumer products. That being said, business process optimization should be garnering more headlines and more investor capital as they will, and already, are making businesses more effective, efficient, and profitable every day, as the cost of sensors, data, and software becomes more available, affordable and robust.

The post IoT Is Heating Up, But Not How You Think appeared first on Omni m2m.

With constant water shortages, massive food importing, and deadly temperatures, Las Vegas is a perfect place for M2M.

It sure is an exciting time to be in this business.

Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technology has graduated from the simple garage door openers to fleet management, and beyond. Business owners, government reps and tech geeks flocked last month to the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas, where wireless giant Verizon hosted a trade show featuring a wide variety of its M2M partners. We were honored to be among them.

Besides manning our own booth (we gave live demos of tank and refrigerator monitoring), it was fun for Omni’s VP of Business Development Brad David and me to walk around, check out presentations and products, and talk to others in this burgeoning field. By far the biggest segment represented at the show was fleet management. Since this is one of the areas Omni specializes in, it was interesting to see how others showcased the benefits of remote fleet management like automated mileage logs, GPS tracking, route analysis and access to track conditions.

Some of the other partners at the trade show illustrated the spectrum of possibilities for M2M tech:

• Cradlepoint: Supplies Redbox (DVD Rental kiosks) and Coinstar (coins-to-cash kiosks) with their wireless connection. Without this connectivity, Redbox and Coinstar couldn’t process credit card payments or schedule deliveries when they’re needed.
• Feeney Wireless: Demonstrated a mobile-ready office (MRO), featuring cellular and satellite communication with a multi-day, built-in battery. The MRO is ideal for remote working conditions and disaster response situations, where critical communications and infrastructure are compromised.
• Field Sync: Showcasing healthcare products that reduce reliance on time-consuming paper database systems. Care providers save money on paper costs, storage, and dramatically improve employee assignment and reporting capabilities.

One of the highlights of the show, was the VGo robot, showcased by Verizon.

The robot stands in for a person (healthcare worker, student, business person, etc.) in a remote location so that they can see, hear, be seen, be heard, interact, learn and perform their job as if they were there. It was especially moving to see how positively this technology can impact handicapped or chronically ill students who can be “remote students” and continue to learn despite their physical limitations.

Many see the immense opportunity represented by M2M, and Verizon has taken a lead in nurturing major innovations for people and processes. We’re already seeing many of these exciting applications come to life, and the potential for new ideas that can help people access information, run their businesses more efficiently, and gain more time is near limitless.

The post Sun and Silicon: Verizon Hosts M2M Trade Show in Las Vegas appeared first on Omni m2m.

I stopped for gas recently and noticed an old payphone booth on the corner. The phone had long since been removed and the cord that once held the phone book swayed in the wind, connecting to nothing. I tried to remember the last time I’d used a payphone (or a phone book), but I couldn’t.

Cell Phones all but rendered payphones obsolete in just a few years’ time and that was astonishing enough, but when, in 2007, Apple introduced the first iPhone, we had no idea how archaic the basic cell phone would become in less than a decade. Today, interacting with our smartphones via the apps we download has become second nature.

And now everything is getting smart.

With sensor systems sending information over existing communication networks, we’re now able to actively interact with and manipulate machines and environments, to avoid costly mistakes, and to live life a little more fully without having to always be present at work to keep an eye on the important things. Heck, with Apple Pay and Google Wallet, we don’t even need to keep cash or our credit cards with us, we can now do it all with our smartphones.

Despite the fact that connected technology on this level is fairly new, we’re already seeing creative and useful applications that are transforming industries.

1. Consumer Electronics

From the huge line of GE connected home appliances, all the way down to the newly released digital drink shaker the B4RM4N, the wave of connected devices is growing astoundingly fast. The sensors used here are many, especially in GE’s product line, but they all hinge on making your stuff sexier and more intuitive.

What do these three sous vide products have in common beyond temperature control? They all raised north of $300,000 (Anova hit $1.8 million), on Kickstarter in 30 days.

2. Environment Management

With the success of the Nest Thermostat Philips Smart LEDs. Home and business owners can improve experience and efficiency by watching environmental conditions such as temperature, pressure, energy use, air quality, and automatic light activation.

3. Health Care

Doctors can see health data beyond the examination room with Samsung’s Gear tech, FitBit, and the new Apple Watch. Constant monitoring of pulse, body temperature, activity level, and many more, will begin to fill a picture of health never accessible before.

The new Pulse O2 is a fitness tracker that costs a mere $20

4. Security

The much hyped Lockitron unlocks your door with your phone and allows you to send temporary passcodes to guests – ideal for AirBNBs or realtors. Piper security system (not Pied Piper) are two examples of how businesses and homes are improving security. Intelligent alarm systems can incorporate sensors for motion, sound, smoke, light, and many others. These triggers can dispatch security, lock doors, begin video cameras, and send alerts to your phone or important personnel.

5. Transport & Logistics

Transportation companies are already years ahead of other industries, with UPS and many of their can receive real-time information about vehicle location, distance driven, fuel usage, driver speeds, automated form entry, and more.

This is just the beginning. We’re watching M2M and IoT trends closely and can’t wait to see the new applications people are coming up with to harness this exciting use of technology.

The post 5 Industries Getting Smart appeared first on Omni m2m.

• How consumers and businesses are using their wireless devices to improve regulatory compliance.
• How M2M solutions are allowing businesses to monitor and control their remote industrial assets.
• How M2M technologies are minimizing risk, improving business processes and enhancing the bottom line.

Operator? Why is Verizon in the M2M Market?

The cellphone market is pretty well saturated. According to a study by Pew Research Center, 91% of Americans own at least one cellular device. With aggressive marketing campaigns from AT&T, Sprint, and especially T-Mobile, it’s has become more difficult to keep customers from switching. With the nation’s largest and most reliable network, this isn’t a huge concern for Verizon, but to continue it’s amazing growth, Verizon sees a huge opportunity for their company and customers with the growing M2M market.

 M2M is different than IoT, but they are often lumped together because of their similarities

With M2M technology, cellular providers like Verizon can substantially increase the number of connections on their existing network. Similar to cell phones, Verizon leads the M2M market because of their reliability and expansive coverage, they are the forerunner in the M2M field and have been so for the past several years. Another reason for this success is their excellent partner program, which pairs cellular, business, and M2M experts together to find the right solution for companies. As a Verizon partner, Omni’s goal during the event was to help Verizon sales agents and customers identify M2M solutions that can help their clients conduct business more efficiently, and also demonstrate some of our most popular solutions.

Seeing is Believing

There’s nothing like a live demonstration to showcase your stuff, and at the event, we showcased two of our most popular solutions.

Tank Monitoring

Fuel, wastewater, dairy, and even beer tanks are difficult and costly to monitor manually – especially when they’re remote. To demonstrate our m2m tank monitoring solution, we installed an ultrasonic sensor to the top of our clear iced tea dispenser and set up our NetTelligence software to show how our tank monitoring solution, reflects changes in liquid levels in real-time.

The glowing red light is the ultrasonic sensor and the NetTelligence software is displayed on the MacBook next to it

Refrigeration Monitoring

Restaurants, food processors, caterers, hospitals, and even wineries have a need to maintain specific temperatures to preserve the quality of their goods. For this demo, we used a mini fridge stocked with Coca-Cola, housing the easy to deploy, PT 300 with built-in temperature, GPS, and cellular gateway. Each time the door opened, the PT 300 sent an alert to our software dashboard and smartphone.

The PT 300, NetTelligence software, and our red fridge at the Vegas event

The post Beyond Cell Phones: Why Verizon Is Nurturing M2M appeared first on Omni m2m.