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How this Company Connected its Air Cleaners to the Cloud

Quick Facts

Customer Profile

Founded over two decades ago, this company provides some of the world’s largest companies with solutions to control indoor environments and air quality. These solutions are deployed in a variety of settings, ranging from production plants in heavy industry to warehouses in global logistics. 

Objectives

The company wanted to connect its air cleaners to the cloud so that it could obtain real-time data on its units, which would help it improve its services, find efficiencies and acquire an edge over its competitors.

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Sierra Wireless Octave™, the all-in-one edge-to-cloud solution for connecting industrial assets to the cloud.

For example, a high concentration of impurities such as paint fumes, oil and soot at automotive facilities can lead to sore eyes, irritated airways which can cause more serious health conditions such as asthma and, in worst-case scenarios, cancer.

Further, impurities in air can affect products, particularly during production. For instance, in the food industry, airborne particles can contaminate food production. Air cleaners can minimize the level of dust on food products and maximize their shelf life before they are dispatched for retail consumption. 

An environment devoid of air impurities is essential to ensure the continuity of production processes; for example, in logistics warehouses, the accumulation of dust on optical sensors can make it difficult to locate parcels – this can halt production and delay fulfillment. By improving air quality, air cleaners can increase equipment uptime so that production processes do not have to be halted.

How Octave Simplified the Company's Industrial IoT (IIOT) Transformation

The reason behind choosing Octave was clear: Being an end-to-end solution, Octave provided gateways, connectivity and cloud APIs. Having one partner to take full responsibility for the edge-to-cloud infrastructure dramatically simplified the company’s IIoT project. 

Here is how Octave simplified the company’s IIoT transformation: 

Simplified Data Extraction:

With Octave, the company was able to remotely monitor its air cleaners and obtain real-time information around critical data points such as power consumption, fan speed and temperature, particle levels in the air, etc.

Data Orchestration and Actuation:

The availability of massive amounts of machine data can overwhelm businesses and dramatically drive up their connectivity costs; with Octave, however, the company could easily dictate what kind of data should be transmitted from devices to the cloud and at which specific time intervals. The company did not need a continuous stream of data every second – with Octave, it could make sure that it received basic information around the setting and status of its units every 30 minutes. It could also set the system so that an alert was immediately issued if something critical happened. Further, Octave also gave the company the flexibility to easily change data processing rules at the edge should its business requirements change over time. This was particularly important as the company’s clients would change their air cleaning requirements based on changes in their production processes.

Global Connectivity and a Unique Pricing Model:

As Octave is an all-in-one solution, businesses do not have to worry about sourcing a connectivity provider for their IIoT application. Octave comes with built-in connectivity with over 600 mobile network operators across 160+ countries. With its units scattered all over Europe, the company was able to rely on Octave without having to worry about managing multiple data plans, or signing new agreements with new carriers if their units were moved to a different location. 

Competitive Advantages and Added Customer Value:

Using Octave, the company can obtain data on how its units are being used at client sites. This data surfaces valuable insights on trends such as how particle levels develop and change over time and similarities in indoor environmental conditions across different verticals. Based on this information, the company can understand industry-specific needs such as the frequency with which support would be required and how often the filters would need to be changed. This gives the company a competitive advantage as it can offer more accurate business proposals to potential customers. 

Learn More About Octave

Use Sierra Wireless Octave™, the all-in-one edge-to-cloud solution, to connect your industrial assets to the cloud. Octave integrates all the components of your Industrial IoT infrastructure into one solution so you no longer have to build your IIoT application from scratch.

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LOCATION

EMEA

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Industrial Asset Management
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PRODUCTS & SERVICE​

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All-in-one Edge-to-Cloud Solution

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