For each new model, Volvo Cars builds a number of test cars that are driven for a long time in a variety of locations around the world. The test cars gather data that are useful during the development of the car and Volvo Cars wanted online access to this data. Volvo Cars set a number of requirements for the solution: it had to be built on standards to allow for quick implementation and expansion, and it needed to maintain the highest security standards – an obvious requirement in light of the fierce competition in the automotive industry.

Fast food chains like McDonald's seek to manage labor and energy costs along multiple nodes of their supply chain. One place where all the challenges of running these restaurants converge is the kitchen. In fact, the kitchen is the ideal place where energy can be saved, monitored and improved. The toughest part about effecting changes in the kitchen though is the fact that these buildings are often old and difficult to upgrade.

Formula 1® is a sport where every millisecond matters. With changing preferences and the growth of the digital medium, many fans choose to experience the sport through the F1.com website. The website needs to deliver a superior experience to tens of millions of fans across the world consistently. Hence, it is imperative to have a robust platform that can deliver the required performance and scale with growing trac and dynamic fan expectations. Some of the key challenges are: • Every race weekend, Formula1.com attracts up to 7 million fans. Managing this huge surge in website traffic, requires a scalable hosting platform that can simultaneously allow millions of fans to experience the excitement of the sport seamlessly. • Fans across the globe expect an engaging and immersive experience through enriched and enhanced race content across multiple devices. To meet this requirement Formula1.com needs to have a robust platform that is able to deliver real-time updates and information across screens, be it tablets, TVs or smartphones. • A global brand like Formula 1® needs to ensure it delivers a consistent user experience across all platforms across the globe. This consistent delivery of enriched content cannot be compromised through downtime or any other issue at any point. • In an age where threats to global websites are prevalent, Formula 1® needed a platform that was ready to meet any challenge to its website. They needed a solution that delivers consistency, scalability and yet at the same time is continuously monitored, secure and reliable.

With the acquisition of hardware and platform partner, AlertMe, in 2015, Centrica Connected Home was faced with the prospect of a significant shift in focus. Previously the relationship had been one of vendor-customer with AlertMe also pursuing it's own goals for expansion and licensing of its software. After the acquisition, Centrica Connected Home moved to quickly integrate the technical talent from the two companies and then to realign the development efforts of the teams.The new common goals of product evolution, feature enhancement and international launch, presented a number of challenges in the form of a rapid scaling requirement for their live platform, whilst maintaining stability and availability. Added to these demands on the company were an expansion into new markets, and brand new product launches, including smart boiler service and a growing ecosystem of new Hive smart home devices. They even found the time to develop deeply functional Alexa skills for their products and hence be a Smart Home Launch Partner for the Amazon Echo in the UK in 2016.

We can all agree that energy costs will continue to rise; this puts a significant amount of pressure on the restaurant industry. We can combat the rising cost with an energy management system that controls the largest energy draws in your restaurant; HVAC, lighting and walk-in coolers and freezers. The savings achieved from controlling these energy wasters goes straight to the bottom line. With energy costs continuing to rise, our customer finds it increasingly difficult to operate a profitable restaurant. By taking control of his restaurants HVAC, lighting and walk-ins they are able to reduce expenses and increase profits in this low margin food industry.

Cape Light was challenged with putting together a residential energy efficiency program that incorporates real-time, long-term behavior change by driving engagement with their customers.They turned to People Power (PPC) to provide them with both the underlying technology and the marketing and education needed to engage with their customers in a fun, flexible manner, which in turn would drive energy savings. Cape Light chose People Power because only PPC had the requisite combination of Green Button expertise, mobile, web and back-end infrastructure, and proven behavioral science knowledge.

Our client (confidential), a major provider of Nuclear Energy in the UK and Europe were looking to enable equipment monitoring and data reporting capabilities in their nuclear facilities for increased operational efficiency. In these facilities, the use of Radio Frequency based networking is prohibited and therefore, an alternative solution was required.

Managing remote power generation sites has its own particular challenges, not least in terms of the efficient monitoring of operations. Given the nature of its power sources, many of the company’s power generation sites are located in remote and difficult terrain. This can present challenges in terms of the monitoring and control of remote locations.

Due to the needs of its service area, the new healthcare campus doubled in size. With the vast size difference between the old and new hospital, Parkland had to address several issues — the most critical being adjustments in the day-today patient care provided by its clinical staff. The sheer size of the patient floors — nearly the length of two football fields — was a challenge. That size drove caregivers from a centralized care model to a decentralized one — creating the need to change how communication and collaboration happens.

Between 2005 and 2010, Aluar went through a substantial growth phase where most of the production facilities were upgraded. As a result of this expansion, the number of PLCs increased from 100 to 300. When it came to managing the control program software, however, flaws and cracks began to show in the established workflow and version control procedures that had prior to the growth phase, been based on manual backups and documentation. A rapid growth in the number of automation and maintenance staff (>100 users) also coincided with increasing accounts of infrequent and incomplete documentation of software versions, which then required an increasing effort where bug tracing and detection were concerned. This increased the risk of incidents that could not only affect operation, but that could also result in stoppages at the mid-term. It also increased the risk of safety risks remaining undetected.

The city needed a low maintenance, highly reliable communications system that was sufficiently robust for the delivery of constant updates to the kiosks. One of the problems facing the developers was that the environment in which these connections are maintained runs the gamut: under roadways and rail lines, next to hot cabling in the transit system through a variety of soil and wetness conditions. Depending on weather conditions, the transmission capabilities of the various physical media can vary widely.

• Need for integration of distributors and resellers in the service delivery chain • Rising support cost and inadequate service levels • Need for centralized reporting of the consumables status for proactive actions

Seventy percent of all Americans enter their homes through their garage door. In June 2011, LiftMaster unveiled an innovative new line of Internet-connected garage door openers. This portfolio of new products set the bar for convenience by enabling customers to monitor and control their garage doors from a smartphone-based app. LiftMaster was looking for the perfect middleware solutions meeting their cost and reliability goals for connecting LiftMaster products to the Internet, while at the same time enabling an easy installation process.

Engineers needed a fast, simple and cost-effective way of determining the safety of the Lake Champlain Bridge. If a replacement was needed, the safety of workers and civilians needed to be guaranteed throughout the process.

ATM needed a modern automation and monitoring system for an urban wastewater treatment plant in Karelia. They needed a reliable system that would best meet the needs of the modern market.

Countries throughout the world have a need, and in many cases a legal obligation, to ensure air quality is meeting specific standards. Policies aim to reduce exposure to air pollution, by reducing emissions and setting limits and targets for AQI. Public authorities in cities have deployed static stations to monitor air quality data for a set of pollutant with specific, and high cost, sensing technologies. These stations provide highly accurate data but their cost limits the quantity of deployments, leaving large gaps in coverage.

Qualcomm’s IT identity management team had to standardize their process to integrate with their business partners, which could enable managing application user accounts across the business-to-business boundaries in a seamless way there-by saving cost in the long run, at the same time meet their company’s growing business needs.

Gaudlitz was looking to achieve a lean management and production approach so as to improve production efficiency. Workers in the night shift were also taking a very long time to collect data.

Production of High Quality wine in Continental climate effected by Alps

The textile industry is one of the pioneer sectors in the rise of truly globalized supply chains. Fashion brands or high-tech fabric makers often operate a globally dispersed business, with designers far away from the actual production of their creations. ZSK Stickmaschinen GmbH stands as a critical lynchpin in that global system, as invaluable and much-coveted designs and production data pass through its high-tech design tools and embroidery machines – an alluring target for product pirates and more ruthless actors on the grey market.

Maintain Momentum Airports need to keep billions of passengers moving every year, while aligning with strict security protocols. Improve Control Airport buses need careful and constant logistical management, with dispatchers tracking operational, capacity and geographic data for each bus. Enhance the JourneyPassengers appreciate being well informed about where to go next, so easily accessible and available details enrich their traveling comfort. 

SCL Health’s IT department faced unique challenges when planning their security. In addition to securing thousands of endpoints spread across three states, they also have to be compliant with HIPAA regulations. HIPAA, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, sets rules for keeping patient information secure. If a healthcare organisation fails to secure sensitive patient information, they can face large fines and legal action. A major security goal was to make sure there were no malicious threats operating in their network. A singular locally installed anti-virus programme cannot protect against all threats. Advanced threats are smart enough to lie dormant for long periods of time and can bypass a specific antivirus engine’s vulnerabilities. SCL needed a solution that would provide stronger assurance of detecting all types of threats and that would help them show their efforts to maintain compliance with HIPAA.

Bosch security systems have quite a good number of resellers through which they sell security devices. For all of their security devices they have pre-installed SIMs/CDMA's in them. For each customer to have its own login and competitive prices for each operator was a big challenge. They offer the same services for each customer and therefore every customer spends the same amount of money for each device.

For the operation of the warehouse, including goods receipt, high rack warehouse, sorting equipment and conveyor belts, BAUR uses multiple conveyor systems and 14 stacker cranes (RBG). These are monitored and controlled by more than 60 programmable logic controllers around the clock. The messages run in the central WinCC visualization system together in the control room. Baur wanted to avoid unnecessary travel and thus increase the efficiency of staff deployment and save time.

The key for the Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority train system is flexibility and modularity based on passenger volume and changing car configurations.

QA automation is a cost-effective solution for manufacturers, as it saves time and money while reducing the risk of defective products. However, traditional QA methods are not sufficient for meeting the rigorous standards of Industry 4.0, and traditional machine vision solutions can be expensive and difficult to implement. BSH, a manufacturer of home appliances, faced this challenge and sought to improve the accuracy and efficiency of their batch inspection process without incurring high costs. They partnered with Inspekto to address the issue and reduce detection time of component defects at one of their oven manufacturing plants in Germany.

The assumption of trust which accompanied the early days of the internet is gone and replaced by privacy and security concerns accompanied with attitudes to risk which rise and fall across different sector and application scenarios. IoT covers a diverse range of services and products deployed in both managed and unmanaged use-cases with varying network topologies which bring different security challenges and new potential for attack.

Belcher Industries can with right be classified as a high-risk business due to the nature of the work they perform. The risks include public liability and project risks including fixed cost, time penalties and product quality. Belcher experienced the following problems – often imposing serious risks for the business: • Belcher Industries are subjected to OSHA regulations. The absence of the necessary controls can result in penalties and increased premiums. Belcher wanted to ensure that the necessary controls are in place to contribute to a 100% no incident reputation. • Immediate productivity improvement in the workshop was a major objective. • Senior management often travels and improved control over task management and the ability to monitor work from off-site locations were high priorities. • Tasks were allocated to staff during meetings. These tasks disappeared from Meeting Minutes; they were often not performed within the time required; or they were misunderstood and the work performed was not according to specification. This resulted in additional labour and material cost as well as time lost. • Meetings were held with clients. Design specifications were agreed or decisions made, but there was no record of the supporting design documentation or the design agreements reached. This resulted in disputes with clients often to the detriment of Belcher. • Various registers are required to support ISO certification. Even though Belcher had all the registers in place the systems were islands and not integrated. • A key objective was to integrate the existing accounting system with the new solution. • The existing BelcherTrac system, that included only job control, quotes and purchase orders, became out-dated. Replacing this system with the XMPro driven BelcherTrac enabled them to integrate loose standing processes and registers into one solution.

Concur is a leading provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions for companies of all sizes. As a leading SaaS provider, Concur constantly seeks to improve scalability and performance across their architecture and infrastructure stack especially the database and storage tiers.Initially, Concur utilized a homegrown caching system that turned out to be expensive and complicated to scale. They wanted to replace it with an open source solution that could help laterally scale their application, and provide the resilience and redundancy they needed with simplicity and efficiency. They also wanted the new solution to support their aggressive plans for using NoSQL technology extensively throughout their stack in the future.

Bosch security systems offer solutions with pre-installed connections in it, which is tested once before it’s made available for sale. Now when they have sold the solution they had to made sure its working and there is no loss in connectivity. Bosch security due to its nature of business has to keep track of where the said device is installed so they can troubleshoot in case of any issues. Now to keep track of more than 10,000 devices is a hard thing if you do not have any reference against devices. Bosch needed a solution where they can add information against each connection about its specific location and could see at a single glance if it's working or not.