
Octonion, an Intelligent Edge IoT software provider, announced that its Brainium IoT software solution is addressing “skill gaps” identified between the ability to create an IoT-capable device, and to connect that device to the cloud, helping to bring IoT projects to market quicker and with less laborious integration. The solutions deliver functionalities such as edge monitoring and predictive maintenance to IoT projects in industrial and manufacturing environments.
The IoT industry has long presented great potential to bring smart devices, and the intelligent analytics and automation that come with it, to markets such as industrial and manufacturing environments. Yet Octonion’s founders noticed a huge gap in the marketplace between device skills and cloud skills, which has been hindering IoT adoption. For example, the developers who integrated connectivity didn’t design devices, and the engineers who created the devices didn’t typically have the expertise to facilitate connectivity.
IIoT (industrial IoT) solutions often require in-depth knowledge of embedded development to connect to the cloud and send telemetry in a secure manner. It’s difficult for developers to bridge the gap between low-level device messages and turn them into meaningful insights, events, and workflows. In addition, hardware sourcing, integration, and ramping to production can take several months or even years for most IIoT projects.
“The integration required to connect that IoT solution and make it function in the real world is the true challenge to adoption,” said software entrepreneur and Octonion COO Ongan Mordeniz. “An IoT solution was needed to help streamline this path to market, letting end-users and developers deploy their IoT projects at scale.” To this end, Octonion designed the Brainium Core solution as the three-layer software supporting the company’s SmartEdge Agile sensor device, created with Avnet. They provide an end-to-end solution that is crucial to gathering data from on-site devices, analyzing that data, and putting it into a meaningful context for users.
“Octonion’s software delivers fundamental IoT features, such as device management capabilities; advanced, customized dashboarding; and Smart rules, to kickstart IoT projects and add an industrial element from the outset. It brings key differentiators to the edge of an IoT solution,” said Mordeniz. This includes machine learning (ML) automation, which accommodates industrial use cases through the solution’s AI Studio tool; and secured, industry-standard connectivity from 2.4GHZ to sub-gig range (LPWA – low power, wide area).
Delivering Edge Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance
Octonion currently targets two main functionalities. One is the monitoring of devices in IoT environments. Octonion provides a “discovery portal” where users can access extensive features and widgets to build customized solutions in existing environments. This is accomplished through a “no-coding,” machine learning tool that delivers advanced intelligence to IoT devices. It allows developers and integrators to rapidly understand the challenges involved in their IoT projects and produce a “minimum valuable product,” or MVP, in record time for the current industry.
The solution also addresses predictive maintenance (PdM). This includes functions such as condition monitoring and vibration analysis, to be conducted on equipment utilized for Industry 4.0. Machinery data, no matter its nature, can be analyzed in a short period using advanced ML tooling and the SmartEdge Agile devices, predicting the onset of mechanical problems for users by way of alerts and anomaly types.
The Adoption of Microsoft’s IoT Plug and Play
One of the objectives in adopting IoT Plug and Play was to help integrators bring a true industrial device to market as opposed to a software development “devkit.” End-customers are looking for ready-to-use, scalable, in-production devices with evolutive features. Octonion’s Brainium core IoT software recently adopted Microsoft’s new IoT Plug and Play, designed to help software integrators and IoT developers quickly prototype, pilot, and produce end-to-end IoT solutions using Azure IoT certified devices, without the requirement of writing additional code.
The adoption of Microsoft’s new IoT Plug and Play enables Brainium to integrate the SmartEdge Agile device with the Microsoft Azure IoT Central platform. Users will be able to take advantage of Brainium’s core features from SmartEdge Agile in their IoT projects. This allows integrators to facilitate elements such as preprocessed telemetry data, managed security at-the-edge, and expansion packs for customization. In addition, thanks to the hardware’s modular architecture, all updates will be fully operational right out-of-the-box.
Developers can leverage the platform to create an out-of-the-box integration experience. Unlike the typical SDK devkit, the SmartEdge Agile device is ready-certified industrial and scalable, meaning it can be produced in large volumes with customization if required. The solution’s Azure integration was available for telemetry purposes upon the launch of Microsoft’s IoT Plug and Play. All data is secured, and device authority is managed from end-to-end through x509 ECC-based certificates.
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Availability
Buy SmartEdge Agile today at: www.element14.com/smartedgeagile
Sign in to the Brainium portal at: www.brainium.com/portal
About the Brainium IoT Solution
Brainium Portal is the storefront of the Brainium platform, which was announced at Electronica in November, 2018. Brainium’s three layers of software create a cloud-based, gateway-agnostic solution utilizing Octonion’s end-to-end IoT software platform and mature AI.
About Octonion
Octonion is an IoT Intelligent Edge software platform that meets today’s complete IoT requirements from the embedded layer to cloud based services. Octonion was created in 2014 in Switzerland and has since raised €16m from Foxconn (FIH Mobile Ltd), Ginko Ventures, Orkos Capital, Swisscom, and Almaz Capital. Octonion’s team has built an unprecedented AI framework and developed an edge computing architecture. Octonion’s expertise allows clients to deploy a connected project in six months as opposed to the 18 to 24 months currently needed with most other platforms. Its major achievement to date has been the launch of the PIQ Sport intelligence brand with major partners such as Everlast, Babolat, Rossignol, and North Kiteboarding. Learn more about Octonion at www.octonion.com.