Posts

Case Study: TEPSYS, Japan

TEPSYS uses DataHub® technology supplied by BellChild to upgrade data collection, storage, and visualization in a hydroelectric power plant.

Red Lion adds new platforms for cellular RTUs that further IIoT connectivity

Red Lion Controls, a global expert in communication, monitoring, and control for industrial automation and networking, announced that its RAM industrial routers and cellular RTUs now support the Microsoft Azure, Cumulocity, and Nokia IMPACT IIoT platforms.

This follows the recent announcement that Red Lion’s RAM products now support the MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol. The addition of these two platforms moves Red Lion RAM products to lead the market in the greatest number of platform integrations, providing greater flexibility for industrial customers to quickly connect to their choice of leading IIoT cloud platforms.

In addition to those announced, RAMQTT, Red Lion’s embedded MQTT client, simplifies implementations with pre-configured profiles for AT&T M2X, AWS IoT Core, AutoDesk Fusion Connect and Telenor Connexion. Customers connect using a simple drop-down menu to select their cloud platform of choice. Also, using the RAM Software Development Kit (SDK), connectivity can be enabled with additional platforms, including LEC IQ Web SCADA, Set-Point IPwebcontrol, Skkynet SkkyHub, and Telit deviceWISE.

Skkynet Welcomes New Advisory Board Member

Software licensing and sales expert Francois van Vuuren to advise on new partnerships and strategy as newest member of Skkynet’s Advisory Board.

Mississauga, Ontario, May 30, 2017 – Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc. (“Skkynet”) (OTCQB: SKKY), a global leader in real-time cloud information systems, is pleased to announce that Francois van Vuuren, Director at Harmonic International AG, has joined Skkynet’s Advisory Board. Mr. van Vuuren has been certified as a Certified Licensing Professional, and is currently in charge of service sales in the EMEA and APAC regions for Silicon Valley-based Harmonic, and will be a valuable asset in assisting Skkynet with complex partnership and sales negotiations.

“We are fortunate to gain the benefit of Mr. van Vuuren’s wisdom and experience,” said Paul Thomas, President of Skkynet. “As the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market expands, solution providers will offer an increasingly wide array of IIoT products.  Skkynet will grow its partnership portfolio to enable these products, and we expect Mr. van Vuuren to contribute significantly to our efforts.”

“I’m looking forward to working with the Skkynet senior team,” said Mr. van Vuuren.  “The approach to secure connectivity taken by Skkynet is unique, and may well become a key factor in ensuring the success of cloud-based industrial computing.”

Skkynet’s software-based solutions allow industrial and embedded systems to securely network live data in real time from any location. They enable bidirectional supervisory control, integration and sharing of data with multiple users, and real-time access to selected data sets in a web browser, either on-site or remotely over insecure networks such as the Internet. Skkynet’s DataHub software and SkkyHub service are capable of handling over 50,000 data changes per second per client, at speeds of just microseconds over network latency. Secure by design, SkkyHub requires no VPN, no open firewall ports, no special programming, and no additional hardware.  Seamless integration with Skkynet’s ETK provides for secure, end-to-end Industrial IoT and Industry 4.0 connectivity for real-time, bidirectional data flow.

About Skkynet

Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc. (OTCQB: SKKY) is a global leader in real-time cloud information systems. The Skkynet Connected Systems platform includes the award-winning SkkyHub™ service, DataHub®, WebView™, and Embedded Toolkit (ETK) software. The platform enables real-time data connectivity for industrial, embedded, and financial systems, with no programming required. Skkynet’s platform is uniquely positioned for the “Internet of Things” and “Industry 4.0” because unlike the traditional approach for networked systems, SkkyHub is secure-by-design. For more information, see http://skkynet.com.

Safe Harbor

This news release contains “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future, and results of new business opportunities. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, such as the inherent uncertainties associated with new business opportunities and development stage companies. Skkynet assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements. Although Skkynet believes that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that they will prove to be accurate. Investors should refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in Skkynet’s annual report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cisco Study Shows Most IoT Projects Unsuccessful

One of the big take-aways from the annual Internet of Things World Forum (IoTWF) held in London last week were the results of a new Cisco study that only about 1/3 of the IoT projects were considered completely successful, technically.  Financially the success rate was even worse—just 15%—according to the business executives surveyed.  The study was conducted among over 1,300 executives in medium and large size companies in the manufacturing, energy, health care, transportation, and similar sectors. The findings suggest several reasons for low IoT project completion rates, and more important, point to specific remedies.

Unexpected Difficulties

As we have seen in the past, one of the primary reasons for project failure or lackluster results for IoT projects has been that those initiating the project were not aware at the outset how difficult implementation would be.  This is illustrated in the Cisco study results, where cost overruns and the need to extend timelines to completion were common.  Many respondents noted that they lacked the necessary internal IoT expertise.  As a result, over half of the IoT initiatives didn’t make it past the Proof of Concept phase, and of those that did, many ended up with poor IoT integration and/or low quality of data.

Need for Partnerships

These results underlined, according to the majority of survey respondents, the need for IoT partnerships.  At every stage of the project, from planning and design, through implementation and deployment, and during the management and maintenance phases, those organizations that engaged with IoT partners were more successful.  This applied to general areas of technical consulting and support, as well as specific aspects such as data analytics.

Commenting on this kind of relationship, the final report stated: “Our study found that the most successful organizations engage the IoT partner ecosystem at every stage, implying that strong partnerships throughout the process can smooth out the learning curve.”

Learning from Failure

The good news in all of this is that companies are willing and able to learn from mistakes.  Most survey respondents are optimistic for the future of the IoT, and they see its potential.  Over sixty percent believe that they “have barely begun to scratch the surface of what IoT technologies can do for their businesses.”

Among the participants who have completed projects, most said that they are using data from the IoT to improve their business.  Two out of three of them have seen the greatest benefits in improved customer satisfaction, more efficient operations, and better quality of products and/or services.  The most unexpected benefit was improved profitability for the company.

These results corroborate our experience.  The companies that we partner with report a much higher success rate than most of those participating in the Cisco study.  We agree with the finding that “strong partnerships throughout the process can smooth out the learning curve,” and we take seriously the challenge of removing the difficulties that may crop up when embarking on an IoT project.

ThunderCloud Alliance Aims at World Market

ThunderCloud Alliance Aims at World Market

Small and medium-sized companies cooperate in Industrial IoT and M2M venture

ThunderCloud Alliance (関西積乱雲プロジェクト) was launched on 2013 December to showcase each company’s products and the technologies for cloud computing and the IoT (Internet of Things).

Cogent Real-Time Systems is one of the key companies for the ThunderCloud Alliance, offering real-time data connectivity middleware to communicate between devices (M2M) and remote monitoring, along with six other companies in the Kansai area. There are a total of nine companies are participating in the ThounderCloud alliance project at present.

Each company is contributing from its own specialized field. TOA Musendenki Co., Ltd is in charge of communication and various sensor devices. BellChild Co., Ltd is responsible for cloud servers. Kobata Gauge Manufacturing provides various sensors. Haneron Corporation offers remote monitoring equipment. NiC is responsible for industrial networks. Nissin Systems Co., Ltd. is in charge of control systems and embedded software. Puerto Co., Ltd develops industrial protocols, and provides expertise in OPC UA. Japan Direx Corporation does real-time network intelligence analysis.

All members get together regularly each month to exchange information and share each companys’ technologies, new ideas, and market trends. They collaborate to develop, innovate, and test new systems.

Recently they have been working together to develop a system which collects information from various sensors and sends their data to the cloud by highly secure wired and wireless transmission technology.

“This organization welcomes any company that wants to collaborate on new technology. Each company can bring in their own special skills or knowledge with no pressure.” Mr. Kobata, President of Kobata Gauge Manufacturing, emphasizes.

“Specifically, we have been focusing our development on communication between various sensors and gateway devices, simultaneous data transmission, and highly secure systems,” said Mr. Fujita, President of BellChild. “As a result, we completed a secure micro cloud system named ‘iBRESS’ on June 15, 2015 which leverages IoT technology.”

“Currently, iBRESS is installed in the monitoring systems of small hydroelectric power generators using agricultural water, and it is also used by freshwater plants on remote islands,” he said. “We are beginning to see good results, and it has been getting a good reviews from users.”

“This project’s success demonstrates that when small and medium-sized enterprises collaborate together it enhances the security of cloud systems for remote monitoring,” said Mr. Emi, President of TOA Musendenki. “Now a number of major companies are paying attention to this secure technology for cloud-based remote monitoring products. In addition, ThunderCloud Alliance members are motivated to develop next-generation systems in the future.”

“We would also like to cooperate with sales departments among the participating companies to be able to aim at even the global market,” said Mr. Kobata, expressing his enthusiasm for the potential applications of the technology.

We will continue to monitor the activities of the ThunderCloud Alliance on an ongoing basis, and look forward to seeing this kind of collaborative movement among different companies in other areas and regions.

Published by Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun (日刊工業新聞社) on January 5th

Renesas New Platform Could Speed Embedded Development

Renesas Electronics this week rolled out the first components for a new platform that promises to simplify embedded product development.

Known as Synergy, the platform could be the most concerted effort yet by a supplier to integrate all the disparate pieces of hardware and software that make up an embedded system. Incorporating a real-time operating system (RTOS), TCP/IP stack and middleware along with each microcontroller (MCU), Synergy is said to be aimed at product developers whose expertise may not lie in the software arena. “It’s exactly targeted at those people who don’t have a lot of development resources in house,” Vin D’Agostino, vice president of the General Purpose Products Unit at Renesas, told Design News.

During the platform’s development, Renesas partnered with 11 software companies with expertise in wireless, middleware, security, embedded boards and cloud-based services. Partners included Express Logic Inc., Future Designs Inc., Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc., IS2T, Icon Labs and GainSpan, among others. It also partnered with ten independent design houses that are now trained in Synergy.