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SensiNet Services Takes Wireless Sensor Networks to the Web

October 16, 2006

Sensicast's new offering enables remote temperature and energy monitoring from any Web-enabled device.


Houston, TX and Needham, MA -- At ISA Expo 2006 (Booth 2267), Sensicast Systems, worldwide provider of wireless sensor networks, announced SensiNet Services, a hosted application services offering for industrial and commercial enterprises. SensiNet Services lets plant/facility managers and operators gain access to Sensicast's award-winning temperature and energy monitoring applications over the Internet, without having to locate the applications within their own network infrastructure.

Enabling secure access to data captured by Sensicast Smart Sensors (measuring temperature, electrical usage, pressure, and other essential operational levels) operating within industrial or commercial environments, SensiNet Services lets users remotely receive data on any Web-enabled device (e.g., PDA or laptop), then track and act on the information.

In keeping with the ISA Expo 2006 theme, "Automation Without Limits," SensiNet Services extends the reach and power of wireless sensor networks beyond the enterprise—to the Internet. This service offering continues Sensicast's Zero-IT footprint approach to streamline machine, process, and environmental monitoring while adding utility and ensuring accuracy. Sensicast calls this approach Pervasive Sensing.

"SensiNet Services is a key step in the evolution of our end-to-end offerings for Pervasive Sensing," said Gary Ambrosino, CEO of Sensicast. "By eliminating the boundaries between wireless sensor networks, industrial and commercial physical infrastructure, and the ubiquitous Web, sensor network information is now securely available for actionable use from anywhere there is a Web connection."

Available this quarter (4Q-2006), SensiNet Services includes the following features and benefits:

  • Hosted applications for temperature monitoring and energy monitoring and analysis

     

  • User-configurable alarms and alerts and customizable data analysis and reports

     

  • Secure, automatic, real-time M2M connectivity with SensiNet wireless sensor networks

     

  • "Zero-IT" footprint, requiring no change to security policies or firewall configurations

     

  • Plug-and-play deployment and interoperability, with popular industrial and commercial automation software applications

Last month, Sensicast shipped SensiNet 3.0—the "industry's first end-to-end, wireless sensor network solution" that can be tailored to specific applications using a self-configuring building block approach. The company also announced its new SensiNet Services Gateway—a fully self-contained network appliance with embedded connectivity and data-reporting functionality that manages the SensiNet network and integrates it with legacy systems (e.g., ICONICS, Intellution, Wonderware); built-in Web 2.0 data visualization applications; and industry-standard communications protocols (e.g., SOAP, OPC, ODBC, XML).

The SensiNet Services offering extends the power and capability of SensiNet 3.0 by providing hosted applications that communicate over an M2M link with the SensiNet Services Gateway. They are designed as an alternative for customers who do not have existing industrial automation software or who lack an extensive IT infrastructure and/or a large internal IT support team. Customers who already use one of the many industrial automation software packages for can easily connect to the SensiNet system through SensiNet's ModBus and OPC software interfaces.

SensiNet Services and "Pervasive Sensing" are representative of "The Pervasive Internet," a term coined by Glen Allmendinger, founder and president of Harbor Research. Allmendinger defines "The Pervasive Internet" as "a global technological and business phenomenon of unprecedented proportions: It ushers in an era in which all manufactured objects (buildings, vehicles, appliances, medical devices, etc.), and thus people themselves, will be connected and be communicating constantly."

In its recent "M2M/Pervasive Internet Market Forecast", Harbor Research predicts, "shared and secure Internet access for device interaction" as well as "network-based services such as status monitoring, usage tracking, consumable replenishing, and automated repairing. These new services are based upon the convergence of networks, embedded computing, control, and content."

About Sensicast
Sensicast provides comprehensive wireless sensor networks that help operating managers dramatically reduce costs and improve efficiency. Sensicast's robust and easy-to-deploy SensiNet systems continuously report real-time operations data from applications, processes, and facility conditions. SensiNet is a patented, self-installing, self-healing "Zero-IT" solution that captures critical data through smart sensors and makes the information available and actionable through internal and Web-based access. Sensicast's Pervasive Sensing solutions address the needs of a wide range of industrial and commercial enterprises—including remote monitoring of temperature, energy use, moisture/humidity, and other data types—while also facilitating predictive maintenance and governmental/environmental compliance. For more information, visit the company's Web site.

Sensicast and SensiNet are registered trademark, and Pervasive Sensing is a trademark of Sensicast Systems Inc. All other trademarks or service marks are property of their respective owners.






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