CRN’s 2020 IoT Innovators Awards

CRN honors top solution providers leading the charge in bringing unique and innovative Internet of Things solutions to enterprises, SMBs and government agencies.

The 2020 IoT Innovators Awards

Luis Alvarez said his company was able to withstand a slowdown in business caused by the pandemic by focusing on IoT solutions for fever detection and contact tracing.

Alvarez, CEO of Salinas, Calif.-based Alvarez Technology Group, said his company’s fever detection solution, which ties together thermal imaging cameras, networking and software, isn’t meant to be a silver bullet for dealing with the coronavirus since people with COVID-19 can be asymptomatic.

Instead, he said, it’s meant to be a long-term solution that recognizes the course correction many organizations are making in the way the think about how illnesses and viruses spread in general.

“Before March of this year, we wouldn’t have thought anything about going to work and watching the guy in the other cubicle sneezing his nose off or the gal sitting down the hall coughing and wheezing. And we’re like, man, I hope I don’t get sick,” he said. “Now I don’t think that will ever happen again.”

Alvarez Technology Group is among several solution providers that have pivoted or expanded their IoT offerings to offer solutions that are helping organizations respond to health and safety needs brought about by the pandemic.

“This is what helped us really continue to build our business,” Alvarez said.

For the 2020 IoT Innovators Awards, CRN is honoring these solution providers and others, 25 in all, whose solutions range from remote assistance applications powered by augmented reality to digital twins for manufacturing. Take a look at this year’s IoT Innovators in the following slides.

Allied Reliability

Top Executive: Kevin Bourbonnais, CEO

Allied Reliability provides a condition-based maintenance solution called SmartCBM for manufacturing and industrial companies.

The Houston-based company’s SmartCBM solution uses condition monitoring for early detection of component defects as well as to prevent unplanned downtime and lower maintenance costs.

The company provides multiple deployment methods for SmartCBM, including an always-on intelligent monitoring system that can be used for equipment that is highly critical or difficult to access.

Altaworx

Top Executive: Rickie Richey, CEO

Altaworx provides a variety of IoT solutions, including AT&T Control Center Managed Services, IoT connectivity, and fleet and asset tracking.

The Fairhope, Ala.-based solution provider, which is an AT&T partner, provides IoT connectivity services that can help businesses program, control and monitor their connected devices as well as trigger actions automatically when critical events occur.

The company’s fleet and asset tracking solution combines GPS technology with a wireless LTE network to help companies manage fuel costs, adjust shipment scheduling, schedule fleet maintenance, and improve customer satisfaction with web-based applications.

Alvarez Technology Group

Top Executive: Luis Alvarez, CEO

Alvarez Technology Group provides thermal monitoring solutions, which can be integrated with existing access control systems, to prevent the spread of illnesses.

The Salinas, Calif.-based solution provider’s solution can scan the temperatures of a large group of people in a quick and efficient manner and then flag anybody who may need a secondary screening. The solution can also help enforce social distancing and collect data for contract tracing.

The solution makes use of thermal imaging cameras, network connectivity and software that provides alerts and other functionality.

Aquitas Solutions

Top Executive: Jeffrey Brown, CEO

Aquitas Solutions provides enterprise asset management and connected maintenance solutions for asset-intensive industries and has expanded more recently into augmented reality.

The Roswell, Ga.-based solution provider this year expanded its partnership with PTC to help customers create digitized work instructions and provide remote assistance with the vendor’s Vuforia Expert Capture and Vuforia Chalk augmented reality solutions.

The company has also expanded strategic partnerships with Arrow Electronics, Everactive and IBM for an expanded portfolio of connected maintenance solutions that address everything from industrial connectivity and sensors to workplace safety and smart exit signs.

Atos

Top Executive: Elie Girard, CEO

Atos provides a variety of IoT and edge computing solutions for applications ranging from smart connected vessels to intelligent supply chains.

In one customer example, the multinational IT services giant is combining software and hardware with integration and managed services to improve operations, security, efficiency and engagement at the American Dream retail and entertainment complex in East Rutherford, N.J.

For the Nickelodeon Universe and Observation Wheel attractions at American Dream, Atos uses its BullSequana Edge servers and Codex AI Suite to analyze and predict the real-time performance of both attractions to reduce downtime and improve guest satisfaction.

Carahsoft

Top Executive: Craig Abod, President

Carahsoft works with a large variety of technology vendors to deliver IoT applications ranging from secure asset tracking to predictive maintenance.

The Reston, Va.-based solution provider’s IoT vendor partners include Amazon Web Services, C3, Google Cloud, MongoDB, Nvidia, Software AG and Forescout, among others.

The company’s customer base includes U.S. federal, state and local government agencies.

Chariot Solutions

Top Executive: Michael Rappaport, CEO

Chariot Solutions uses its expertise in software and hardware to develop a variety of IoT solutions for businesses and consumer products.

The Fort Washington, Pa.-based company uses a variety of technologies, ranging from Bluetooth and peer-to-peer mesh network to remote sensors and low-bandwidth internet, to deliver solutions.

For example, the company developed H2O Connected, a remote toilet leak monitoring system for multi-unit properties. The company has also developed a home lighting automation system, a wearable safety device designed for women, and a remote underground storage tank monitoring solution.

Consiliant Technologies

Top Executive: Dave Cerniglia, CEO

Consiliant Technologies provides intelligent edge solutions that combine video surveillance and analytics to aid law enforcement agencies and help organizations slow the spread of viruses.

The Irvine, Calif.-based company uses Hitachi Vantara’s Smart Spaces and Video Intelligence solutions as the foundation of its offerings, which can be used to monitor traffic and crowds to help law enforcement respond to incidents of violence and theft faster.

The company is also using Smart Spaces and Video Intelligence solutions, combined with sophisticated camera systems and analytics for human temperature and face mask detection, to help city employees know when it’s safe to admit citizens into city buildings.

CBT

Top Executive: Kelly Ireland, CEO

CBT, formerly known as CB Technologies, provides industrial IoT solutions for connected worker, video analytics, condition monitoring, predictive maintenance and asset integrity.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Orange, Calif.-based company has been focused on delivering a connected worker solution that enables or enhances remote work for field employees at oil and gas refineries, manufacturing plants, health-care facilities and other areas where experts may be out of reach and can provide remote guidance.

The solution is based on head-mounted, hands-free equipment that provides workers with real-time displays of sensor readings and historical data of systems in addition to bi-directional video and audio communication for remote guidance from experts. CBT’s key partners for the solution are Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Realwear, PTC and Augmentalis Enterprise Solutions.

GrayMatter

Top Executive: James Gillespie, CEO

GrayMatter is an industrial IoT systems integrator and GE Digital partner that provides solutions for advanced analytics, connected operations and cybersecurity.

The Warrendale, Pa.-based company’s cybersecurity offerings includes its deceptionGuard service, which creates virtual decoys and sirens that mimic real devices and network traffic to deceive attackers, allowing security professionals to respond proactively to threats.

GrayMatter provides deceptionGuard as a managed service, and it’s offered alongside another cybersecurity solution, empowerGuard, which provides threat detection and alerts as well as micro-segmentation, encryption and asset cloaking capabilities.

IMS Evolve

Top Executive: Frank Jones, CEO

IMS Evolve provides a suite of IoT solutions for applications ranging from energy management to connected supply chain.

The Buckinghamshire, U.K.-based company, which has an office in the U.S., provides a machine-learning platform that enables monitoring and management of everything from refrigeration and lighting to security and HVAC systems.

The company counts itself as a partner of Dell Technologies, GE Current, Arrow Electronics and NetFoundry. For one project, the company worked with NetFoundry and others to develop the “Digital Sandwich,” a blockchain-based system for food supply chain security.

Insight Enterprises

Top Executive: Ken Lamneck, CEO

Insight Enterprises has developed a scalable IoT platform called Connected Platform that can be used for anything from health and life sciences to manufacturing and retail.

The Tempe, Ariz.-based solution provider this year developed a Detection and Prevention application within its platform that can detect elevated temperatures in group settings, promote social distancing with proximity alerts and perform contact tracing.

The Detection and Prevention application uses data from a variety of sensors, including wearable devices, thermal imaging cameras, surveillance cameras and smart sensors that can be used to direct traffic flow based on location and room capacity.

KAASM

Top Executive: Shawn Sandoval, President

KAASM is an industrial IoT software developer and value-added reseller that has launched a new brand for a cloud-native location intelligence solution.

The Seattle-based company’s Locera brand offers location intelligence Software as a Service that provides a “simple, yet powerful hub for location and identification data,” the company said. By combining cloud services with RTLS and RFID tags that can be affixed to objects, the solution can help organizations accurately track the real-time location of a variety of assets. It can also be used for health and safety purposes, with the ability to configure social distancing rules, report violations and implement contact tracing.

The solution has been used in the automotive, federal government, durable goods and aerospace industries, and it’s under review with customers in the United Kingdom, India and Australia.

Klika Tech

Top Executives: Val Kamenski, Gennadiy M. Borisov, Co-CEOs

Klika Tech designs and manages a wide variety of IoT solutions, with applications ranging from connected health care and asset tracking to smart homes and smart mobility.

The North Miami Beach, Fla.-based company is an Amazon Web Services Advanced Consulting Partner for IoT services, and it holds partnerships with several other vendors, including GE Digital, Intel, Siemens, Lenovo, Rigado and SiFive. The company’s services range from market research and proof-of-concept development to software development for mobile, embedded and cloud applications.

Among the company’s projects is a solution designed to make wheelchairs safer. The solution makes use of several sensors, including stereo vision, infrared, ultrasonic and radar, which are integrated with software and AWS cloud services for real-time environmental monitoring. This allows the system to make automatic decisions such as braking to avoid collisions.

Lemongrass

Top Executive: Mike Rosenbloom, CEO

Lemongrass is a solution provider that focuses on SAP on Amazon Web Services integration and management services. The company’s capabilities also extend to IoT projects.

The Reading, England-based company, which has offices in the U.S., provides an IoT SAP service that helps customers “discover, define and develop AWS extension services” around SAP on AWS platforms that are managed by the company’s MiCloud platform.

NTT

Top Executive: Jason Goodall, CEO

NTT is providing IoT solutions for everything from smart cities to the Tour de France.

In the past, the solution provider has developed a system for the Tour de France that equips every rider with sensors underneath their saddles, which feeds real-time data on speed and GPS location through a moving mesh network to the NTT Cloud. The data is then used to build data visualizations and animations on the fly and provide real-time analytics for live broadcast.

A new addition for this year’s Tour de France was an augmented reality feature that allowed select observers to have an unprecedented view of riders from the sky.

OnLogic

Top Executive: Roland Groeneveld, CEO

OnLogic, formerly known as Logic Supply, provides industrial and embedded computers that are key for IoT applications in harsh and extreme environments.

The South Burlington, Vt.-based company earlier this year partnered with device management software vendor EdgeIQ to provide hardened, small-form-factor IoT orchestration devices that are easy to install right out of the box. The orchestration devices use EdgeIQ software as well as Amazon Web Services IoT Core to provide edge processing, serverless computing, machine learning, and event and container management from a single interface.

Patti Engineering

Top Executive: Sam Hoff, CEO

Patti Engineering combines its operational technology expertise with the Siemens MindSphere platform to provide industrial IoT solutions like digital twins to improve operational efficiency.

The Auburn Hills, Mich.-based company has worked with a large automotive manufacturer, for instance, to develop a digital twin that simulates the operations of five CNC machines and two robots by collecting machine data.

With that digital twin, the manufacturer can simulate different scenarios to determine the most cost-effective way to improve the production line without having to test hardware changes in real life that would cost time and money.

Quantela

Top Executive: Amr Salem, CEO

Quantela provides end-to-end solutions for smart city applications, ranging from smart parking and lighting to waste management and crowd engagement.

The Milpitas, Calif.-based company—which counts itself as a partner of Cisco Systems, Qualcomm, Amazon Web Services, Kloudspot and PTC—provides these solutions through an AI urban services platform that consists of an automation engine, a recommendation engine and a citizen-facing app.

Using Kloudspot’s situational awareness platform, Quantela integrated a smart city solution for Erie, Pa., that allows the city to better monitor, contain and predict the spread of viruses, including the coronavirus, using sensors and cameras. The solution is also used to disseminate targeted information.

Sirius Computer Solutions

Top Executive: Joe Mertens, CEO

Sirius offers a wide range of services in its IoT Services practice, including planning and consulting, software development, infrastructure integration, and managing and monitoring.

The San Antonio-based solution provider is using its IoT expertise to advise customers and implement solutions that aim to reduce the risk of viruses spreading in workplaces.

For instance, the company provides thermal imaging solutions as part of its IoT Smart Space technologies portfolio that can autonomously screen the temperatures of passersby and send alerts to the appropriate parties when an elevated body temperature is detected.

The Teneo Group

Top Executive: Paul Warnagiris, CEO

The Teneo Group is a managed security services provider that has expanded into IoT security.

The Washington, D.C.-based company is among the first partners in the IoT Discovery Program run by IoT security startup Ordr, which allows partners like The Teneo Group to use a small sensor device to scan networks for hidden devices.

In one case, The Teneo Group used Ordr’s sensor to discover that a health-care customer had connected medical pumps that were sending encrypted data to servers in China. From there, Ordr’s software can rate the security risk of all devices found on the network and then segment certain devices or create policies in the network’s firewalls and systems to improve the security stature.

TensorIoT

Top Executive: Ravikumar Raghunathan, CEO

TensorIoT is a solution provider that was founded with a focus on IoT, edge computing, machine learning and application development.

The Irvine, Calif.-based company, which is an Amazon Web Services Advanced Consulting Partner, designs custom solutions for a variety of verticals, including insurance, telecom and health care, using its Rubix platform, which integrates with AWS IoT services natively.

Among the solutions the company has developed is SafetyVisor, which is an easy-to-use computer vision solution that does mask detection and tracks social distancing, among other capabilities. The company also provides a Smart Building Reference Kit, which comes with a variety of sensors, a LoRaWAN gateway and a portable Wi-Fi to mobile hotspot to build and evaluate smart building applications.

TSP

Top Executive: Michael Oh, President

TSP got its start as a traditional IT and AV systems integrator and managed services provider, but the company expanded into smart home and smart building integration a few years ago.

One of the Cambridge, Mass.-based company’s most recent projects started as a low-voltage wiring, AV and network design job at the 10 World Trade commercial building in Boston, but it expanded into a full smart building project that integrated all of the building’s systems.

The end result is that building operators can monitor overall foot traffic, density and use of public facilities to adjust things like HVAC or open the doors to allow more outside air. The project also uses digital signage that can reflect the usage of public areas.

Wachter

Top Executive: Brian Sloan, CEO

Watchter is using its IT and operational technology expertise to provide IoT solutions geared toward keeping workers and customers safe amid the pandemic.

The Lenexa, Kan.-based solution provider has developed four solutions focused around scanning body temperature; monitoring social distancing and contact tracing; touchless meetings; and sanitation.

With ContactWatch, for instance, the company has partnered with AiRISTA Flow to provide a small Bluetooth- and Wi-Fi-enabled tag that employees wear. The tag then makes a sound or flashes lights if two people come within six feet of each other, and the location and time of the interaction is recorded in a back-end system so that the employer can monitor “hotspots.”

World Wide Technology

Top Executive: Jim Kavanaugh, CEO

World Wide Technology has an IoT Center of Excellence that aims to help businesses achieve desired outcomes through a variety of software and hardware building blocks.

The Maryland Heights, Mo.-based company partners with a variety of vendors and software providers to provide these building blocks, which range from platforms and tools to gateways and sensors, and then assembles them into fully integrated solutions.

This year, WWT expanded its partnership with IntelliSite to develop a human-based monitoring temperature solution that combines a thermal camera, a universal IoT gateway, a small-form-factor workstation and a touch-screen display with Deep Vision’s AI-based temperature measurement module, and the IntelliSite IoT platform to provide an easy way to stand up temperature scan checkpoints.