The following are news announcements made during the past week:
PRESS RELEASE:
Logic Supply Release Fanless PC for Industrial IoT Applications
With an eye toward the evolving needs of today’s industrial computer users, Logic Supply (www.logicsupply.com) has unveiled the small form factor, fanless ML350 (www.logicsupply.com/ml350). Powered by Intel Apollo Lake processing, the ML350 is a highly customizable computing platform, purpose-built from board to chassis for applications ranging from digital signage and machine automation, to industrial IoT and edge computing.
“We believe computers should be designed for the people who use them,” says Murat Erdogan, Director of Product Management at Logic Supply. “This belief has pushed us to search for new, innovative hardware solutions – systems built from board to chassis to connect and power our clients’ innovations. With the ML350, we had the opportunity to create a board and chassis combination that would provide the flexibility and configurability to accommodate a wide range of embedded and industrial IoT applications.”
The ML350 has been engineered to strike an ideal balance between size and performance, while allowing for optimal configuration. Redundant solid state storage, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, 4G LTE, dual Gb LAN, dual DisplayPorts and optional expansion via CAN bus, give the ML350 flexibility seldom seen in such a compact fanless computer.
“Designing the ML350 motherboard from the ground up provided the opportunity to include a few commonly-requested features,” says Erdogan. “The system’s two mPCIe and one mSATA slots give users the freedom to select the expansion and connectivity they need, like concurrent 4G and Wi-Fi, and we also wanted to include capabilities that would be well-suited for the applications that might employ the ML350, like CEC for digital signage.”
Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) allows connected devices to exchange information, enabling users to control multiple devices with a single interface. In practice, the ML350’s optional multi-screen CEC capability means that users can control the on/off state of attached displays through the system, drastically simplifying power management in, for example, industrial digital signage applications like restaurants, outdoor digital billboards or transportation hubs.
PRESS RELEASE:
BRIDG Intros Power Source for Battery-Free IoT Wireless Sensors
BRIDG, an industry-led public-private partnership for advanced technologies and manufacturing processes, announces a collaboration with Face International Corporation in the development and integration of a patented energy-harvesting technology – the Evercell power cell – that is capable of powering wireless IoT sensors without batteries.
The Evercell technology employs a unique design and advanced materials to harvest thermal energy in any environment where the ambient temperature is above absolute zero – reliably generating the microwatts of electrical power needed to run wireless IoT sensors without the need for batteries. Evercell power cells are inexpensive to produce, consume no fuel, have no moving parts, and contain no toxic materials. According to company officials, an Evercell demonstration device has been operating continuously for 16 months with undiminished performance, producing enough electrical output to power a typical wireless sensor.
(A video demonstrating the Evercell technology and the detailed specifications for the Evercell power cell are listed at the end of the release.)
The breakthrough energy harvesting power cell was developed and patented by Face International Corporation, a technology company with more than 60 patents, to address a technology barrier that experts say has been the primary problem limiting the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) – the dependence on billions of batteries to power the sensors critical to its operation. As part of the collaboration to commercialize the Evercell technology, BRIDG and Face intend to cooperatively undertake technology validation for product integration development and prototype manufacturing of Evercell power cells at its NeoCity campus in central Florida, with the goal to achieve mass production by 2019, based on customer-driven demand.
“In driving the continued expansion of the IoT, the Evercell technology has the potential to be to batteries what the light bulb was to candles and oil lamps,” observed Dan Holladay, BRIDG’s Director of Strategic Partnerships. “The cost, inconvenience, and inaccessibility associated with battery replacement make them impractical as a power source for many of the IoT sensor applications. The promise of the Evercell technology could address an unmet annual demand for tens of billions of IoT devices relying on batteries that otherwise could not be deployed.”
Producing Evercell power cells in the volume required to respond to this demand is a major challenge that BRIDG is uniquely positioned to help solve. “BRIDG will be able to assist Face with its capabilities to provide continued development and assist in creating solutions to overcome the manufacturing demand for Evercell,” Holladay explained. “This could include coordinating efforts to optimize the Evercell technology into IoT devices and facilitating necessary patent licensing to satisfy IoT demand.”
To accelerate construction of new facilities specifically designed to mass-produce the Evercell devices, an international equity firm, Castlepines Corporation, has agreed to provide financing and other services through the investment of its own and partners’ equity in major assets for secure, long-term yields. “We are excited to be playing a role in delivering the revolutionary Evercell technology to the market,” stated Dr. Gareth Lucken, Castlepines General Manager, MENA region. “The positive impact of this technology on the IoT, and its potential to improve the quality of life for billions of people is obvious – as well as the importance of helping the world avoid the disposal of billions of batteries.”
The collaboration could result in the development of the initial prototype manufacturing line for the Evercell power cells at the BRIDG facility located in NeoCity, a 500-acre technology district in Osceola County, Florida. BRIDG operates a 109,000-square-foot state-of-the-art manufacturing facility focused on semiconductor-based processes for smart sensors, photonic technologies, and next-generation integrated devices to enable innovative breakthroughs for industry partners serving government and commercial markets.
The BRIDG facility includes approximately 60,000 square feet of cleanroom laboratory/manufacturing space for use by its industry partners, which is led by visionary stakeholders — Osceola County, the University of Central Florida, and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. Other major BRIDG partners include imec, Harris Corporation, Siemens, Aurora Semiconductor, Photon-X, University of Florida, University of South Florida, and Florida Institute of Technology, among others.
PRESS RELEASE:
Hoopo to Provide Low-Power Geolocation Solutions for IoT
In an effort to radically improve precision for low-power Internet of Things (IoT) tracking, hoopo has announced the launch of the company and its innovative, accurate geolocation solution for low-power wide area (LPWA) networks. The company also announced it has received $1.5 million in funding to further grow its business from a group of investors, including the initial investors in Mobileye; noted Israeli investor Zohar Gilon; and Ben Marcus, CEO of AirMap.
The need to understand and quantify asset location is quickly becoming a requirement for the enterprise and industrial IoT. However, the accuracy of today’s low-power geolocation isn’t precise enough to deliver on the full promise of the IoT. hoopo’s geolocation solution enables companies to locate their valuable assets, without the significant cost or battery consumption that can be associated with GPS. hoopo’s IoT solutions help companies precisely track specific assets in areas such as ports, vehicle dealer yards, parking lots, cattle ranches and other asset-dense areas.
LPWA networks are becoming the driving force behind Smart City and other IoT applications because of their low-cost, low-power consumption, and high-coverage capabilities in rural and urban environments. The long battery life of LPWA devices allows businesses to deploy a maintenance-free device in the field for several years.
“Hoopo is addressing a real business need of companies around the world: cost-effective, yet precise, tracking of their valuable assets with longevity of battery life up to 10 years in the field,” said Ittay Hayut, CEO of hoopo. “LPWA checks off all of the boxes companies need in terms of cost and coverage, and hoopo’s solutions work alongside these LPWA networks to help businesses keep their assets safe, anytime and anywhere.”
Hoopo’s solutions are based on a patent-pending, triangulation method that uses LPWA data transmissions to generate a precise location. The solutions suite includes low-cost LPWA gateways and devices, as well as a platform for management and real-time notifications. Companies can receive on-demand geolocation, establish geofences, receive movement alerts, and more, ensuring the protection of their valuable assets.
“Hoopo’s geolocation technology reveals new business verticals that were limited or impossible when using existing technologies because of their high-cost and significant power consumption,” said Menashe Terem, CEO at Tri-logical, a leading provider of tracking and management solutions.
“Early applications such as asset tracking are just the beginning of what advances in geolocation will enable,” said Dr. Eli Fogel, former CTO at Intel and an investor at hoopo. “Just as the advent of GPS launched a wealth of applications that no one ever thought of before, such as location-based advertising, there are future applications that this next generation of geolocation technology will enable. We’re excited to see what new applications emerge as customers embrace these new precision location capabilities.”
PRESS RELEASE:
Klaasen Lighting Design, Gooee Form IoT Partnership
Leading International Lighting-Design company Klaasen Lighting Design (KLD), which has offices in Singapore, Perth, Shanghai and Jakarta, has entered into a partnership agreement with US based data platform provider Gooee.
KLD has built a solid international reputation in architectural lighting with a focus on premium hospitality, corporate, commercial retail and urban residential projects in the Asia Pacific region. Additional services for the entertainment lighting industry and electrical lighting design are offered in support of their projects. The need for smart, sustainable and connected lighting systems (IoT) and lighting for well-being (circadian lighting) together with new demands towards Light-as-a-Service are now motivating KLD to embrace the new lighting technologies and eco systems in their designs.
Gooee’s Enterprise IoT Ecosystem is a unique ‘full-stack’ data & analytics platform incorporating hardware, software and cloud infrastructure that unlocks the smart buildings market at scale. Networked sensors and beacons communicate using Bluetooth Smart Mesh and are deployed via Lighting-as-a-Host, capturing the ‘4 Dimensions of Building Activity Data’ – People, Product, Place and Time. This ‘Data Brain’ drives application-enabling intelligence for developers, building-occupiers, property owners and managers.
Martin Klaasen, CEO and founder of KLD says: “We are excited to partner with Gooee, in a rapidly changing industry, a luminaire that is acting as a host, will have many additional functions beyond illuminating a space. This requires a whole new design-approach for specifiers and lighting designers. We value the flexibility the Gooee IoT platform offers us and our clients, it is the ultimate lighting-ecosystem allowing the designers to provide independent professional lighting solutions.”
Jan Kemeling, Chief Commercial Officer of Gooee mentions: “KLD is taking a leading position in creating a new lighting-design approach that considers and plans its designs around the device-integration in to Gooee’s data platform. KLD appreciates that a design project for lighting will now involve many new aspects which need to be taken in to consideration. While the illumination of the space remains key,” he explains, “occupiers of the space might now also need sensors or beacons or other connected technologies, which might have an influence on the layout and location of these multi-purpose devices. Illuminating these spaces will be just one function of the device. The role of the lighting designer will therefore be redefined to include the data platform options while making sure that the integrity, quality and standard compliance of the lighting design is upheld. Both Gooee and KLD are acknowledging the need for the lighting designer’s role to be redefined.”
PRESS RELEASE:
Arundo Analytics Raises Funding to Bring Machine Learning Into Asset-Heavy Industries
Arundo Analytics, a software company powering advanced analytics in heavy industry, has announced an initial closing of $25 million on its Series A financing round. To date, the company has raised over $32.5 million since its founding in 2015.
“This investment is a validation of the product and market strategy our team pursued over the last two years,” said Tor Jakob Ramsøy, CEO of Arundo. “We created flexible, user-friendly software that allows operators, OEMs and service companies in heavy industries to quickly integrate machine learning into their operations. With Arundo’s software, our customers can drive business value from operating data in days or weeks, rather than months or years. This resonates with both our customers and our investors.”
Several leading investors joined in this round, including Sundt AS, Stokke Industri, Horizon, Canica, Strømstangen and Arctic Fund Management. Existing investors also participated, including Stanford-StartX Fund and Northgate Partners.
While companies in sectors such as consumer Internet use the latest machine learning techniques to improve business outcomes, many heavy industrial companies are unable to capitalize on their data. This is due to a combination of legacy assets and challenging operating conditions. As a result, operational data often sits unused. Arundo Analytics solves this challenge with cloud-based, edge-enabled software purpose-built for deep industrial data science and advanced analytics, as well as machine learning applications in areas such as equipment monitoring and sensor anomaly detection.
“Our heritage is rooted in the maritime industry and we understand the challenges and opportunities presented by advanced analytics in such heavy industrial settings,” said Leiv Askvig, CEO of Sundt AS. “We are excited by the team, products and market opportunity of Arundo.”
Arundo plans to use the funds to expand sales and marketing efforts in asset-heavy industries, including the oil & gas, maritime, mining, chemicals, power and manufacturing sectors, as well as to continue to build on its team of world-class software engineers and data scientists in Houston, Oslo and Palo Alto. The company recently added personnel to support global customers in Lausanne, Switzerland and London, UK. It continues to grow its presence in major industrial markets around the world.
PRESS RELEASE:
Lanner Embedded PC Receives PTCRB Certification for IIoT Applications
LEI Technology, a North American subsidiary of Lanner Electronics Inc and a leading IoT-Ready industrial computing hardware manufacturer, has announced that its powerful embedded box PC, LEC-2580P, has earned the PTCRB wireless communication certification, which will allow OEM’s and system integrators from a wide range of vertical markets to develop robust turnkey solutions that offer remote communication, telemetric control, compute-intensive edge analytics and real-time IoT capabilities in one reliable open architecture embedded PC platform.
The PCS Type Certification Review Board, or PTCRB, is a forum of select communication service providers in North America that serves the purpose of ensuring the certification of devices using certain cellular communication technologies and bands. PTCRB certification is focused on and intended to verify devices operating on, but not limited to, GSM EDGE RAN (GERAN), UTRA, and E-UTRA. PTCRB certification tests and reviews to see whether a module or device under test (DUT) will harm a network in any way while also ensuring that it meets the criteria set by PTCRB member carrier companies.
Lanner’s PTCRB certified hardware platform, LEC-2580P, is a variant of one of Lanner’s flagship Industrial Automation PC’s LEC-2580. LEC-2580P’s high-performance processor, ample storage, scalable expansion rich I/O and networking communications interface make it the all-in-one, one-for-all solution for almost all Industry 4.0 as well as Intelligent Transportation applications, especially those involving machine vision and multi-vision.
Apart from Rich I/O features, LEC-2580P offers Intel’s powerful Core i7-6600U processor. There is a Sierra Wireless AirPrime MC7354 embedded module for high speed LTE connectivity. For networking communications, there are two 10/100/1000 Mbps ethernet ports and four PoE ports for even greater flexibility.
LEC-2580P is purpose built for video-intensive application scenarios where complex data crunching, object tracking/counting and facial or geo-location recognition technologies are utilized. Deploying applications such as Intelligent Transportation, city surveillance, remote site monitoring and machine vision based preventive maintenance requires high-performance industrial PC’s capable of not only providing computing prowess for data mining/video analytics and necessary I/O ports for devices/sensors/detectors, but also establishing stable network connections for real-time data transmission and software responsiveness.
Besides network reliability enabled by PTCRB certification, LEC-2580 offers industrial grade rugged features such as wide operating temperature 32-122℉ (0 – 50°C), shock and vibration protection and no-moving-parts, allowing for continuous operation in harsh conditions.
PRESS RELEASE:
Cyberbit to Demonstrate Integrated IT/OT/IoT Detection and Response Solution
Cyberbit Ltd., a world leading provider of cybersecurity simulation and IT/OT detection and response platforms is participating in Cybertech 2018 conference and exhibition, 29-31 January, in Tel Aviv.
With the attack surface expanding across IT OT and IoT networks, alerts volumes growing, and cybersecurity skill staff more limited than ever, security organizations are challenged with multiple solutions addressing niche challenges. However, attackers now traverse from IT to OT and IoT networks to penetrate into critical systems. During Cybertech 2018, Cyberbit will demonstrate, for the first time an integrated solution which addresses the entire attack surface including IT to OT attacks. This solution combines several best-of-breed technologies which are also available as standalone products:
SOC 3D: Incident Response Automation, Orchestration and is a single pane of glass for automating and orchestrating the security operations center (SOC), powered by big-data. SOC 3D addresses the growing volume of alerts and the cyber security skill shortage by accelerating incident response and automating manual work.
SCADAShield: ICS/SCADA Security for Operational Technology (OT) Networks is the world leading OT security platform chosen by sensitive, critical infrastructure organizations to protect ICS/SCADA networks, electric grids, transportation networks, manufacturing lines, smart buildings and data centers. SCADAShield provides unprecedented OT asset discovery and visibility, detects known OT threats, unknown OT threats and anomalies, as well as deviations from operational restrictions, by using 7-layer deep packet inspection (DPI).
Cyberbit EDR: Endpoint Detection and Response is a behavioral analysis platform for detecting stealthy threats that evade conventional endpoint security systems. Cyberbit EDR uses behavioral analysis to detect unknown, signature-less and IoC-less threats without depending on external sources, IoCs, threat intelligence or connectivity.
Cyberbit Range: Hyper-Realistic Training and Simulation: is a “flight simulator” for information security professionals that enables organizations to establish and manage a hands-on training center, proven to increase the incident response teams’ performance. The Range uses hyper-realistic simulated training disciplines similar to those of combat flight simulation. It is used by service providers, universities, enterprises, governments and military organizations to train and certify cybersecurity professionals. Cyberbit is the leading provider of Cyber Range simulation platforms, with 11 new training facilities announced in the last 6 months.
PRESS RELEASE:
Qorvo Releases ‘IoT Minute’ Video Series
Qorvo, a provider of RF connectivity solutions that works to enhance 5G networks, cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and other emerging applications, has released a series of “IoT Minute” videos featuring Cees Links, the company’s general manager. In these four videos, listed below, Links provides insights into the rapidly growing IoT.
• Defining the IoT: In Qorvo’s first IoT Minute, Links defines the IoT and explains how multiple systems that help solve real world problems are shaping today’s smart home.
• Making Better Decisions Faster: Links provides an example of how a senior lifestyle system and the collection of sensor data over time help take better care of an aging parent.
• When Smart Isn’t Smart: Links explores why the term “smart” may be a bit of a stretch when describing many of the devices that make up today’s smart home. He shares an experience of a smart device that wasn’t very smart.
• Standards that Drive the IoT: Links explores the importance of standards to global expansion of the IoT, and which wireless standards are emerging as the top contenders today.
PRESS RELEASE:
Venture Research Unveils 4G LTE Mobile Solution With Support for RFID, IoT
Venture Research has announced its MultiTrak tracking solution, which integrates multi-sensors; GPS, UHF RFID and BLE functionalities; and PTCRB-certified 4G LTE cellular capability. Available for immediate deployment, MultiTrak is housed in a rugged IP67-rated enclosure, suitable for hazardous or outdoor use. Constructed initially to satisfy the needs of the waste- and recycling-management industries, MultiTrak can also be used in construction, vehicle-tracking and yard-management applications.
“With MultiTrak, we now provide a full-featured, PTCRB certified solution that opens up new opportunities for asset tracking in even more industry sectors,” said John Baker, Venture Research’s president, in a prepared statement. Anticipating growth of the global waste and recycling management data-collection market from $57 billion in 2016 to more than $223 billion in 2025, Venture Research says it expects its customers will secure an early leadership position in this emerging, highly digitized sector.
As a mobile outdoor-rated solution able to integrate cloud-based computing connectivity with RFID and Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, MultiTrak can collect data as an IoT node and deliver it directly to the cloud for monitoring, alerting and analysis. This, the company reports, eliminates the need for middleware, reduces the cost of implementation and allows the solution to scale.
The MultiTrak solution can be deployed rapidly in virtually every application in any industry, according to Venture Research, including waste and hazardous waste management, vehicle and yard management, asset tracking, quality control management, logistics and supply chain management, parcel pick-up systems and IoT devices.