The following are news announcements made during the past week:
PRESS RELEASE:
Unified Office Adds Operations Performance Suite to Its Managed Hybrid Cloud Service
Unified Office, Inc., a leading managed services provider offering reliable hybrid cloud-based virtual communications services and business analytics, has announced its new Total Connect Now (TCN) Operations Performance Suite (TCNOPS), the latest addition to their award winning product line. TCNOPS enables Quick Serve Restaurants (QSRs) and other SMBs to dramatically improve their operational performance and effectiveness using Unified Office’s new Internet of Things (IoT) based operational performance suite. TCNOPS integrates alerting and reporting functions for business critical information into Unified Office’s industry leading Visual Performance Suite (VPS), advanced analytics platform.
“We are bringing TCNOPS to the restaurant industry first.” said Ray Pasquale, CEO & Founder of Unified Office. “They live in a highly regulated world. For example, refrigeration and prep table temperatures are crucial not only to maintain food safety compliance but also temperature variations that might result in food inventory waste. Regulations for things that we might take for granted like exhaust fan emissions are also critical to their industry. The reliable delivery of business critical information such as refrigeration outages and exhaust emissions are important to our QSR customers.”
“Our award winning Highest Quality Routing Protocol (HQRP)) hybrid cloud network is the foundation by which this business critical information is delivered. TCNOPS is an important next step in the evolution of our communications/IoT network platform for businesses.”
TCNOPS is a natural evolutionary step to the Unified Office award winning TCN business communications platform. TCNOPS extends beyond simple real-time basic monitoring to proactive and predictive analysis, which can eliminate component failure before it becomes a problem. Unified Office uses the same highly reliable, secure broadband connection (HQRP) to deliver and report business critical information as it does for its Total Connect Now business communications system which offers higher quality business VoIP services.
“There is a great deal of hype and confusion surrounding IoT in the marketplace today. There are lots of companies offering solutions in search of a real problem to solve. This is particularly true in the SMB space,” said Steve Hilton, Principal Analyst, MachNation. “Companies like Unified Office that can provide a common user experience for IoT and other SMB applications will be able to deliver real business value to SMBs. Providing SMB customers with valuable and actionable real time information will dramatically improve their operations.”
“Helping businesses cope with the rapid pace of technological and behavioral changes in the marketplace where social networks and online searches drive business transactions in real-time is paramount to what we do,” Pasquale added. “Our customers report that our systems and services typically pay for themselves in a matter of weeks.”
PRESS RELEASE:
Altizon, Novecom Complete Smart Cities Technology Test
Smart Cities are poised to take off according to a recent IDC FutureScape[1] noting that 30% of major cities in 2018 will put a plan into place a smart cities platform strategy in order to utilize the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, intelligent software, sensors, and wireless technology. The end result will be widespread use of systems that interoperate to provide new levels of data and automation throughout municipalities and city agencies, from education, healthcare, transportation and buildings.
As a real-world application of this trend, Altizon, a global industrial IIoT platform company, and Novecom Pty Ltd, a leader in environmental monitoring and data management systems for industry, has announced the completion of an integrated smart IoT solution with sensors used to measure noise levels at the recently completed Newcastle 500 Supercar race in New South Wales, Australia. The test application enabled Novecom to publish live sound readings in decibels from the Newcastle 500 Supercars track during the annual motor racing event, held at the Newcastle Street Circuit.
The V-8 “supercars” can produce sound levels at above 95 decibels and reaching over 105 decibels for hours at a time during race events. The purpose of the noise measurement was to better understand the attenuation of noise from the outside and inside of nearby businesses and homes during the races. The assessment was modeled to take into account the various environmental realities of the Newcastle 500 precinct and the particular circumstances of every business and home within that area.
Thirty-one buildings surrounding the track were identified by a consultant as having the potential to experience sound that was one to four decibels above public safety guidelines.
“As an on-point demonstration illustrating the power of smart cities and the industrial IoT, we designed a system with Altizon and placed sensors within a house adjacent to the track. We then gathered that data and made it available in a form that was highly meaningful to end users,” said Jeremy Pola, Managing Director for Novecom Pty Ltd. “We measured noise levels and reported them to the community, so they could be more informed about their environment.”
“Together with Novecom, Altizon is committed to be a trailblazer in establishing meaningful applications that make Smart Cities work,” said Vinay Nathan, CEO for Altizon. “We’re pleased to play a leading role in monitoring a physical environment to help inform the public and pave the way for better planning and civic outcomes in the future.”
Novecom is Altizon’s first partner in Australia and a member of the company’s 30+ global partner network. Together with its partner ecosystem, Altizon is continuing the company’s mission to ease and accelerate IIoT adoption.
PRESS RELEASE:
Teracom Intros IoT Temperature and Humidity Data Loggers
Teracom LTD has announced the availability of highly reliable (3-year warranty), affordable and easy to set up and use TCW210-TH data loggers for remote temperature and humidity monitoring applications. Each TCW210-TH can monitor up to 8 temperature and/or temperature-humidity sensors of various brands and types (up to 24 different parameters each) via either 1-Wire interface and/or the more robust MODBUS RTU over RS485. For example, 4 sensors can connect via MODBUS and another four can connect via 1-Wire, all at the same time.
“Our new TCW210-TH data logger device has a very intuitive setup process and is so easy to configure that most customers will never need to open up the manual,” says Ognyan Dimitrov, CEO of Teracom. “The humidity and temperature records can be monitored on the WEB interface of the device. There is no need for special software and conversions – you only need a standard web browser like Chrome, IE or Firefox.”
Utilizing an Ethernet interface for web and network connectivity, the device monitors real time data for temperature, humidity and dew point, and records all monitored parameters using internal FLASH memory. The records can be made on set time intervals and/or on alarm conditions. The capacity of memory allows at least 36 days logged with data recorded once every minute. The log file can be periodically uploaded on a dedicated server by HTTP Post.
The device is supported by Android and iOS applications, as well as by Teracom’s remote and monitoring software TC Monitor, which provides a free license for up to 10 items. The logger utilizes a circular buffer in FLASH memory (up to 70,000 records). When it is full, the new data overwrites the oldest one. In this manner FLASH memory can store a full log all the time.
For security reasons, there is not a command to clear the log. A copy of the full log is always available for download. The TCW210-TH can initiate a connection (HTTP Post) to remote dedicated servers. The payload of this post are XML or JSON files. Standard protocols as SNMP, MODBUS TCP/IP, and HTTP API are also available for M2M applications. TCW210-TH also supports communication with ThingSpeak servers. Four different parameters (channels) can be processed simultaneously.
PRESS RELEASE:
SAM Launches Out of Stealth, Raises $3.5 Million to Make IoT Secure
SAM, a home network cyber defense company, has announced its launch out of stealth as well as the completion of a $3.5 million seed round, led by Blumberg Capital. SAM’s cybersecurity software seamlessly integrates into any router, providing homeowners with a simple, easy-to-use solution for protecting home networks and all connected devices.
With a spike in the number of connected devices per household coupled with a reluctance to upgrade home routers and firmware, the challenge of protecting home networks has become increasingly more difficult. To overcome this challenge, SAM has built an innovative and proven security solution that can be seamlessly installed on aftermarket home gateways with no impact on the user experience.
SAM’s solution fingerprints and uniquely identifies every connected device on the network. Then, using its AI-powered cloud, the technology applies the appropriate security policy for each device and detects any occurrence of anomalies. Its virtual patching allows ISPs to deploy security fixes within days of their detection. For example, a fix for the recent Krack attack was deployed within 48 hours to hundreds of thousands of routers running on 15 different platforms.
“The growing number of connected devices in homes is increasing the exposure to online threats — most consumers are unaware of the risks and do not know how to properly secure their household network,” said Bruce Taragin, managing director, Blumberg Capital. “SAM’s software is downloaded onto home routers, providing a universal cybersecurity envelope for all of their connected devices.”
SAM’s business model uniquely combines benefits for telecommunication and service providers as well as hardware manufacturer of routers and chipsets.
While operating in stealth mode, SAM officially partnered with Bezeq, Israel’s largest telecom provider with over 2.5 million home subscribers. SAM’s technology was packaged both as a comprehensive cyber protection platform as well as a premium interactive mobile application to control the home network with advanced features such as device fingerprinting, parental control, etc. Since partnering with Bezeq in May 2017, SAM’s technology has been installed on over 200,000 routers running on dozens of hardware/firmware configurations including routers already installed in homes.
“We’ve been able to offer our users a sense of control with the help of SAM,” says Gil Rosen, Chief Marketing Officer at Bezeq. “Having real-time information of when a cyber attack is imminent means we now provide the most efficient and up to date security system to completely protect our customer’s homes.”
As part of SAM’s mission to deliver the best home security to all available routers, the company works closely with Intel’s Connected Home Division and was recently selected to exhibit with them at the International Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. Integrating SAM’s technology with Intel’s chipsets has allowed the two companies to create a platform that offers the strongest security feature with unmatchable performance.
SAM’s seasoned team of frontline security experts come from the elite security Israeli intelligence units and includes researchers, IoT specialists, and maverick reverse engineers.
The company’s advisors include Nadav Zafrir, Israel Grimberg and Liran Grinberg, former leadership of Israel’s elite intelligence unit 8200, and the founders of Team8, a leading cybersecurity think-tank and company creation platform.
“With SAM, Telecom providers now have the opportunity to offer an added security value to customers, and at the same time, they are armed with real-time data about the ongoing threats and infiltrations attempts. This allows them to deliver an unmatched comprehensive solution for secure home connectivity,” said Sivan Rauscher, Co-Founder and CEO of SAM.
“Additionally, countless vulnerabilities within connected devices have already resulted in widespread attacks. Smart thermostats, gateways, baby monitors, televisions, and even baby toys have been demonstrated as hackable. As people continue to bring more of these devices into their homes, security both within home and the network will continue to be severely compromised. SAM was built to help solve this problem.”
PRESS RELEASE:
Industrial Internet Consortium, Plattform Industrie 4.0 Publish Architecture Alignment and Interoperability White Paper
The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) and Plattform Industrie 4.0 announced the publication of a joint whitepaper − Architecture Alignment and Interoperability – which details the mapping and alignment between the two leading industrial internet of things (IIoT) reference architecture models, the Industrial Internet Reference Architecture (IIRA) and the Reference Architecture Model for Industrie 4.0 (RAMI 4.0), published by the two organizations respectively.
The white paper documents the highly complementary nature of the two reference architectures. The IIRA looks at IIoT across industries, stressing cross-industry commonality and interoperability, while RAMI 4.0 focuses on manufacturing and related value-chain lifecycles. It is important and valuable for IIRA and RAMI 4.0 to enable interoperability among IIoT systems that are built based on these reference architectures.
“In a connected world with a network of IIoT applications, interoperability and standardization, including the lingua franca of machine2machine communication, is imperative. I am happy to see that our efforts to lead IIoT architectures IIRA and RAMI 4.0 to work in concert have been fruitful,” said Dr. Tanja Rueckert, President IoT & Digital Supply Chain, SAP, and Chair of the IIC Steering Committee.
“The similarities of concepts, methods and models for developing concrete architectures in IIRA and RAMI 4.0 can be mapped to each other well, despite each being based on different architecture framework standards,” said Dr. Shi-Wan Lin, CEO & Co-Founder, Thingswise, LLC and Co-Chair of the IIC and Plattform Joint Task Group 2.
“The next steps include addressing the semantic interoperability between the two architecture models and exploring how to leverage Industrie 4.0 components from RAMI 4.0 for smart components and devices in the IIRA,” said Martin Hankel, Project leader Industry 4.0, Bosch Rexroth AG, Co-Chair of the IIC and Plattform Joint Task Group 2.
“It makes great sense to enable interoperability among IIoT systems that are based on these reference architectures. This white paper is a good first step in that direction,” said Thomas Hahn, Chief Software Expert, Siemens AG, Plattform Industrie 4.0.
“The IIC and Plattform Industrie 4.0 understand the need to ensure interoperability between the leading connectivity standards. We are excited to work together to combine the strengths of both DDS and OPC UA for manufacturing and other industries,” said Dr. Stan Schneider, CEO, Real-Time Innovations, Inc.
You can read the Architecture & Interoperability White Paper at http://www.iiconsortium.org/pdf/JTG2_Whitepaper_final_20171205.pdf.
PRESS RELEASE:
Dover Microsystems to Demonstrate Hardware-based Cyber-security Solution
Dover Microsystems has announced it will be exhibiting at Embedded World, February 27 to March 1 in Nuremberg, Germany. Dover will feature its flagship product, CoreGuard, the industry’s first hardware-based cyber security solution designed to directly integrate into silicon processors and deliver robust security against network-based attacks.
Dover will be demonstrating their CoreGuard technology live at the show. Attendees will see firsthand how CoreGuard ensures the safety, security, and privacy of embedded systems by stopping attacks in real-time, before any damage can be done. The live demonstration will feature identical attacks on two different systems, one protected by CoreGuard and one left unprotected. In this demonstration, attendees will see how the CoreGuard-protected system can easily stop an attack, ensuring the privacy and security of the system, the user, and the data.
Steve Milburn, Dover’s Chief Technology Officer, will also be a featured presenter at Embedded World during the RISC-V session on February 27. Steve’s abstract, based on the CoreGuard IP, was selected from a wide range of submissions. His presentation will explain how CoreGuard’s solution of securing RISC-V machines using software-defined metadata policies is the most robust, flexible, and updatable approach on the market today.
“The growth of IoT means more entry points and more opportunity for cyberattacks. Unfortunately, traditional software-only approaches to security act as a bandage, seeking to protect devices with layers of inherently flawed software. Unlike anything else on the market today, CoreGuard delivers security directly in silicon and is guaranteed to defend against all network-based attacks,” said Jothy Rosenberg, Founder & CEO, Dover Microsystems. “We look forward to connecting with our colleagues at Embedded World and to sharing some exciting news about the commercialization of our technology.”