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CASE STUDY

MachinePulse Vs IoTeractions

By – Alok Ranjan

Research & Development

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Executive Summary Today we are in the midst of what is often called the fourth industrial revolution: The Internet of Things. At IoTeractions, we want to make the IoT vision a reality-for a more enjoyable life and new better ways of doing business. The presented case study draws and highlight the distinctions/differences between MachinePulseTM and IoTeractions. It will give us the insight how the two companies differs in terms of their ideation and concept as far as the Internet of Things is concerned. It is often said that whoever provides the best of services will win the race when it comes to doing business but the actual truth is- whoever “wins the race” will definitely going to change the lives of people making it easier, better and ultimately lead it to a smarter planet.

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MachinePulseTM: About

Based in Mumbai, India, MachinePulseTM is a provider of rapidly scalable solutions addressing the machine data requirements of industrial protocols, M2M and IoT segments with real time big data analytics and decision science on a cloud platform. They provide machine data solutions powered by erixis™, their intelligent cloud based, analytics platform. MachinePulseTM has its seeds in Mahindra EPC, a Mahindra & Mahindra Group company.

MachinePulseTM : Reality Vs Hype

1. Startup (Development Stage)

2. Domain Area- Renewable Energy Solutions (Solar)

3. Restricted User Base.

4. Lacks Talented Workforce

5. Very Confused.

Let’s discuss all these one by one.

1. It’s a new born Baby. It’s a Startup.

MachinePulseTM came into existence in 2014. Mahindra EPC, the Engineering Procurement and Construction arm of the Mahindra Group, successfully installed its first diesel generator and solar photovoltaic (DG-PV) hybrid solution at Mahindra’s engine factory at Igatpuri.In order to maintain their day to day factory’s operational data, the company started working on data analytics henceforth they came with the idea of real time data tracking of their machines/devices deployed in the plant. Last year, in April they acquired US analytics startup FixStream for 60 crores for the same reason.This has led to

significant change in their initial ideation.Infact, they started working on Internet of Things to meet their desired needs i.e. collecting data remotely.

MachinePulseTM IS A MAHINDRA GROUP DEPENDENT BABY!

MachinePulseTM is still in it’s development stage. It can be clearly inferred from their online presence but there is no doubt when it comes to their growth. It’s tremendous and

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inspiring. They have launched ErixisTM, their cloud analytics platform which was

deployed in the lgtapuri factory.They are not providing demo version for the commercial purposes till now (check their website and click on demo button).Their Node X1, its universal Internet of Things gateway that connects machines, devices and sensors to the cloud launched recently. But till now, they have implemented it for its internal usages.

“NodeX1 embraces all legacy protocols and allows for connection to any sensors, devices on any network to any cloud platform and on top of that it is customizable according to

customer requirements, This very competitively priced enterprise edge device also saves users money by leveraging MQTT and CoAP to efficiently handle network traffic” says

Basant Jain, CEO of Mahindra EPC.

But its hardware specifications doesn’t give any proof of Operating Software stack which is exclusively meant for CoAP implementation. In fact, CoAP is one of the protocol which can

only be implanted over specialized stacked Linux. Contiki OS is one of the OS that implements CoAP (strange huh?).There are many faults in it’s gateway which can be pointed

out but I would like to restrict myself.

I don’t know about their cloud analytics software (They are not giving their demo :P), how accurate it is? But yes they are updating it fast. It will take time to get a good grip.

2. Domain

As mentioned earlier,at initial stage MachinePulseTM has its operations in providing analytics platform called SolarPulse, their remote monitoring and control solution for solar power plants.

Source: Taken from MachinePulseTM blog

As of now their solutions are focused on renewable energy power plants.

Long Way To Go To Unleash The True Potential Of Internet Of Things.

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3. Restricted User Base

MachinePulseTM has pretty amazing “Featured Clients” which includes Infosys,J.K. Lakshmi Cement,Fonroche,IM Gears, Super Auto Gears,IIT Bombay,Tech Mahindra, MM Forgings Limited. But wait! Let’s examine again.

Infosys: MachinePulseTM hired the company’s engineer to develop their softwares.

J.K Lakshmi Cement: Mahindra Group has the share stocks in J.K. Lakshmi Cement.

Fonroche: Mahindra and PR Fonroche group are collaborators of Solar Power Plant to be set up in Rajasthan.

IM Gears: Again a collaborator of Mahindra EPC in Solar Power Plant to be set up in Tamil

Nadu.

Super Auto Gears: Collaborator in Solar Power Plant (Tamil Nadu) with Mahindra EPC

IIT Bombay : They showcase their product at their Tech Fest.

Tech Mahindra : You guessed it right.

WHERE IS/ARE THE “ACTUAL CLIENT(s)”?

4. Dearth of Developers

We have to admit this fact that the wave of this technology is yet to come. There is absolutely a dearth of talented IoT framework developers.So,there is no point of asking “Expertise Level”. Expertise cannot not be achieved in an year and as far as IoT is concerned, it is fairly a new concept, hence there is a dearth of required skills/resources (sensors, chipsets, etc.) on which expertise is scaled.

That is why they are hiring. Their “Careers Page” demands the skills which are yet to come.

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6. VERY CONFUSED.

MachinePulseTM has everything on board! In one simple statement-

“It’s an IoT ENABLING hardware and Software Company for Enterprises.”

It confuses them which service they should provide.

“Hardware or Software”

This has surely deviated their foundational idea of providing Internet of Things to the Machines/Masses.

In one year, they were attending conferences to boast their achievement instead of updating their product! This will not going to take them anywhere. Internet of things is one such field where everyday a new version of the concept keep coming up which makes an important aspect to keep innovating.

So far we have discussed MachinePulseTM, Let’s throw some light on IoTeractions.

IoTeractions: About

We are a bunch of 5 engineers (undergrads-3 Computer Science and 2 Electronics and Commnication).We are

in love with Internet of Things so much so that we ended up forming a new venture based on Internet of Things-IoTeractions (try to imagine the word Interactions).We are building a low cost IoT services platform that can be accessible by masses.

IoTeractions is an IoT integrator and solution provider. With its PaaS and SaaS based cloud service model,We are building Internet of things enabling engine that allows graphically wiring and debugging advanced IoT implementation logic for automation and predictive maintenance use cases (imagine a drag & drop method) . Unlike alternatives, IoTeractions is an open and extendable plug & play platform that connects devices, SW platforms and applications. We are building a horizontal B2B cloud platform for smart connected device applications and can be used in multiple verticals including smart buildings, IoT devices installation and

maintenance of remote machinery.

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What makes us different?

1. An open and extendable platform for internet of things.

A modern REST-based architecture.

Sensor/actuator SDKs to customize platform according to the needs.

Export and import the IoT implementation logic in suitable format (JSON etc.)

2. Wire and debug your lnternet of Things graphically.

Drag-and-drop designer.

Compared to any other rules or workflow engine, the logic representation is extremely compact.

This facilitates easier debugging and ongoing real time maintenance.

3. Connect your back-end, fast and reliably.

IoTeractions connector framework allows to easily hook the existing back-end to its platform and

exchange data via REST, websockets or MQTT or through CoAP.

4. Complete lifecycle management.

Design, debug, deploy and maintain customizable logic.

Built-in simulation tools allow debugging even when not all sensor connectors are available.

Debugging tools and dashboard functionality.

5. Simplicity- Develop once, Deploy anywhere.

IoTeractions is a cloud platform, hence you need to develop your logic only once to deploy it across all

devices.

Avoid the synchronization of logic across multiple HW platforms and OSs. Customize it wherever and

whenever you want according to your need.

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Key Use Cases

Smart, real-time notifications

Notifications are an essential component in IoT applications ranging from building automation to remote patient or machine monitoring.IoTeraction’s platform allows building smarter notification services that logically combine multiple input data sources.

We are working on Smart IoT based Electromyography (EMG) device for real time remote patient monitoring.

The average cost for this test is $250-$350.We are reducing this to less than $100 (prototyping stage).

Smart automation

The Internet-of-Things improves operational efficiency via smarter automation. Have you ever thought about automating your office lighting based on a web calendar or connecting your HVAC installations to the weather

forecast?

We are playing with arduino(s) to cut the cost of Home Automation based on IoT.

Smart predictive maintenance

Real-time sensor data can be used to resolve problems faster, or even detect anomalies upfront, before interruption or downtime occur. Better troubleshooting and predictive maintenance save money and improve customer satisfaction. We are building a platform that supports advanced technology to determine the root

causes of problems based on observed sensor data and predictive analysis.

Smart innovation

We are innovating.We are combining physical world with the world of internet, objects and services- smart

home and elderly care, smart buildings and telecom services, transportation and smart cities. As a smart integration platform, we are combining data from different verticals to create new value propositions to make our lives easier, smarter and better.

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