IIoT and Work-Life Balance: A Healthy and Productive Relationship
This article was authored by Kirk Byles, FreeWave CEO The Industrial Internet of Things can improve productivity and promote a healthy work-life balance. Here’s how. “There is no such thing as work-life balance anymore. You’ve got to integrate them. Otherwise, you will fail miserably at one of them.” – Benjamin Laker, Forbes Because of COVID-19, the boundaries between our work and home lives continue to blur. I often find myself doing chores while on a conference call or listening to a webinar while cooking at my barbeque. And I’m becoming more interested in who is at the office, now that we’ve opened part-time (I use the key card application on my phone to monitor access). It’s not my intention to be Big Brother – working from the FreeWave office is voluntary. Rather, I want to gauge how folks are feeling. I took the same action to monitor my kid’s activities at home when I was still working from the office, to see whether or not they crank the heat or A/C when they get home from school. These are typical IoT-related activities we take for granted. Like most people, I’ve tried to strike the perfect balance between my life at work and my life at home. Since I’ve worked remotely for most of my professional life, I’m fairly disciplined when it comes to shutting off work at the appropriate time. Still, like so many people, I’ve recently found myself working extended hours. Experts criticize the concept of work-life balance because it suggests life and work are in opposition. And the pursuit of balance is exhausting. Some researchers suggest it’s better to embrace imbalance than strive to achieve a state of work-life nirvana. And I tend to agree with them. Of course, you have to schedule aspects of your work-from-home time, just like you’d plan family activities. Still, there’s nothing wrong with blocking out personal time during the day if you can spend a few hours hiking with your kids or friends during the afternoon. Even if you’ll be working at 10 PM as a result. This balancing act is new to quite a few folks, and it’s difficult. But, if you have the right solutions at your fingertips, it gives you peace of mind and helps you become more efficient. I mentioned mobile apps for my home and office, but what about tools for people working in industries that need to go beyond looking at cameras or names on a screen? Many people work in oilfields, on manufacturing floors, water sanitation sites, farms, or cities. And for most of their careers, they’ve been able to pull data from remote locations, view pressure gauges, monitor flow rates, check on pick and place machines for errors, and in some cases, manipulate those machines remotely (assuming they have the necessary skills). How does this work get done when you have to work from home? The right technology makes it possible. By placing edge computers with industrial applications where the action is happening, people can see the apps at work and relax, knowing they’ll be notified if there is a problem. This helps remote employees see what might be happening, and it also helps them know what is actually happening and how automatic changes improve systems. With edge computers, application-specific software, and communications technologies, folks working from home don’t have to stress about what’s happening on-site. And they don’t have to try to fix issues. The software corrects the issue before you know there’s a problem, so you can cook for the kids and rest easy knowing you’ve had zero downtime and machinery is running at absolute efficiency. The IIoT helps Mom, the field services director for a major utility, work from home, and be 10x more productive because of remote applications at the edge that make sure everything runs as it should. She can spend more time with the kids, and address aspects of her work she couldn’t get to before implementing this technology. It’s about creating efficiencies and solving problems before you even know there is one. An imbalance between work and home life is okay as long as you’re doing all you can to ensure work gets done and your home life isn’t neglected. The Industrial Internet of Things can make this possible for all of us.
FreeWave Technologies Introduces ZumEdge™
FreeWave’s Edge Intelligence portfolio allows instant data access and decision-making from the harshest edge environments to Cloud, analytics platforms in an easy-to-use integrated package BOULDER (May 19, 2020) – Today FreeWave Technologies, a leader in industrial edge computing and long-range industrial wireless connectivity, introduced ZumEdge™, the next generation of its Edge Intelligence platform. ZumEdge delivers an integrated I/O edge computing and narrow band radio network platform that makes it easy to connect analog and digital I/O devices directly to IIoT networks. The platform allows enterprise customers across numerous industry verticals to access and monitor critical data in the field and act on it immediately. “ZumEdge is ideal for any industry that requires sensor data capture, edge computing and long-range networking in isolated and potentially hazardous environments in a single, integrated package,” said FreeWave’s Chief Technology Officer, Parthesh Shastri. “The ability to simplify, capture and process a high volume of data at the industrial edge empowers our customers and partners to lower costs and time to market for new solutions.” With limited networking and data acquisition capabilities, critical sensor data is often stranded in the field, creating both inefficiencies and adding costs. ZumEdge with an I/O module reduces complexity, providing enterprises the data they need in minutes, not hours. Its web-based integrated I/O and network configuration tool supports the remote configuration of up to 15 IOEX modules (up to 180 individual I/Os). ZumEdge comes standard with the FreeWave IQ application environment and contains the Z9 radio module, making it over-the-air compatible with existing ZumLink networks and is housed in a DIN-Rail-Mountable case. To learn more about ZumEdge capabilities and specifications, as well as FreeWave’s comprehensive portfolio of edge computing solutions, contact your sales representative or visit www.freewave.com. About FreeWave Technologies With deployments in over 32 countries, FreeWave’s products are leveraged by industrial end users and OEMs alike to connect, control and optimize remote machines and processes to impact smarter decision-making, improve operational efficiencies and drive cost savings. Throughout our 26-year history, Freewave’s IIoT Connectivity and EDGE Solutions have solved thousands of customers’ problems in government/defense, energy, agriculture, and municipalities – achieve reliable connectivity for data telemetry and command and control in some of the most challenging, remote and rugged environments in the world. Today, we are transforming the extreme edge of operations – and the proliferation of smart devices within it – into a connected part of the enterprise with our IQ edge computing platform and ecosystem of solutions evolved for IIoT. Are you ready to transform your operation? Visit freewave.com to get started. Media Contacts: Lisa DiBenedetto Corporate Communications lisa@ldbcomm.biz 630-338-2208 Renea Sloan Director, Channel Marketing rsloan@freewave.com
The Smart Businesses Guide to Intelligence at the Edge and IIOT
Technology that enables business continuity and agility in every condition is essential today and into the future. Remote processes that enable agility in changing conditions are critical, given our current circumstances. And while today’s drastic measures aren’t permanent, it’s never been more crucial to optimize remote operations for business continuity. To that end, tools that limit on-site personnel without compromising integrity are essential. The right Edge computing and IIOT (Industrial Internet of Things) strategies and solutions, not only transform industrial environments and help a business maintain operations under every circumstance, but they also enhance overall efficiency and performance, regardless of factors outside your control. Edge computing and connected devices can give countless critical industries transformative insights into their remote operations. What is IIOT? Before getting too far down the rabbit hole of in-depth technical explanations, we should touch on the basics of IIOT (forgive us if you already know). In simple terms, connected assets and Edge devices send information to data communications infrastructures and turn the insights into actionable info. Engineers can use this data over time to uncover patterns that help identify more significant issues and their root causes. The gathered information can also drive meaningful business decisions, improve processes, and save money. As digitization becomes a critical business priority, the Industrial Internet of Things (sometimes called the Industrial Internet) is increasingly becoming pervasive. But technology is not without its faults. We won’t paint a rosy portrait without transparency around potential challenges. IIOT-specific challenges. Before your business adopts IIOT and Edge computing technologies, you need to take a hard look at security. Any technology that makes business-critical data and information available through the Internet can leave you exposed. The added expense of employee education and training and advanced network security sometimes offset the cost benefits associated with IIOT. If you’re looking at implementing these technologies, you need to be realistic with your expectations around ROI – at least in the beginning. There can also be standardization challenges when implementing IIOT and Edge intelligence technologies. Integrating your industrial environment to the IoT is more complicated than using the standard machine to machine and connected devices. You’ll need to upgrade legacy devices and infrastructures and, at the same time, implement new IIOT and Edge technologies to allow for seamless communication between connected devices, operating systems, connectivity frameworks, and protocol standards. IIOT and Edge computing benefits. Still, the benefits of IIOT and Edge computing technologies far outweigh their challenges and the initial up-front cost. We’ll give you a short run-down of those benefits, starting with overall efficiency. When you have complete visibility into every aspect of your business, from field operations to internal resources and applications, nothing is missed or wasted. FreeWave customers in varying industries have implemented IIOT and Edge technologies across all their businesses to achieve operational intelligence. Intelligence enables them to gain end-to-end visibility to increase productivity, reduce operational risks, mitigate costs, and, most importantly, keep employees and essential on-site personnel safe. IIOT and Edge technologies allow your teams to remotely monitor operations in real-time without putting them at risk – essential, considering today’s circumstances. These technologies also enhance your overall security posture and not just cybersecurity. It’s never been more crucial to track personnel and on-site visitors in the field. We’re not saying that you don’t, or shouldn’t trust your employees, but the reality is people are the biggest threat to your business. Tools that allow you to remotely track and monitor activities in the field keep your business safe – and operational. These technologies also help to maximize production and output and allow you to make real-time adjustments with real-time data, something virtually impossible just a decade ago. So, where do you start? We’ve got an in-depth discovery and implementation process when working with new FreeWave customers, but here’s a simple breakdown of the general procedure for implementing your new IIOT and Edge Intelligence project. You first need to define your overall goals for the IIOT project. Second, you’ll want to identify how you plan to measure success. Third, it’s essential that you document your execution plan to shore-up loose ends and consider every detail. Fourth, and this is the most critical component – you need organizational buy-in to move forward. And last but not least, it’s time for work on the initial implementation. The time is now. Your business needs data visibility to transform digitally. But that’s only half the battle. You also need to ensure that all relevant stakeholders can access, assess, and act on that data. FreeWave gives you the power to do it all in a complete and cloud-enabled Edge ecosystem. Our IQ platform provides immediate and expandable capabilities for high fidelity industrial data capture, analysis, control, and automation. And it’s designed for future growth or to build upon your existing infrastructure. Readily expandable as your Edge computing needs evolve, our products give you a future-ready solution to solve today’s operational challenges and to capitalize on the future opportunities that come with a smart edge. Enabling business continuity and agility is essential today. 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COVID-19: A Letter to Our Customers and Partners
A Letter to Our Customers and Partners: In these challenging times, we wanted to take a moment to update you on how we’re responding to the COVID-19 virus. Our hearts are with everyone who has been impacted by this virus across our global community. In the midst of a pandemic, we are reminded of how quickly things can change and that we should take nothing for granted. With that in mind, health and safety remain our top priority. We’ve mandated all non-production employees who can work from home to do so, and have arranged for those essential production employees to observe social distancing at work to further eliminate risk. We are sanitizing our factory daily by wiping down all surfaces with anti-bacterial disinfectant. Any employee that displays or feels any illness symptoms are not allowed in the factory for a minimum of two weeks. Much like you, we’re continuously monitoring the evolution of this situation as we balance employee safety with business continuity. While these are clearly unusual circumstances, we’re committed to you our customers by trying to maintain, as much as possible, business as usual. We are assessing our supply chain daily for any signs of constraints, and at this time we are well positioned and don’t expect any changes in lead times. As things continue to evolve, we’ll continue to communicate with you. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your FreeWave Sales Representative. Best, FreeWave Technologies
Business Continuity and COVID-19
COVID-19 is forcing a change to the way we do business and globally confining employees to their homes, forcing the cancellation of public events and schools. FreeWave remains committed to our employees and customers as it has for the last 26 years and is here to continue supporting you during this challenging time. FreeWave’s solutions keep your workforce safely connected by allowing you to gather insights and analytics from the field, and transmit the data to any device, from anywhere, and at any time, without putting your employees in harm’s way. The health and wellbeing of FreeWave partners and customers is our number one priority. Which is why we offer solutions for remote and ruggedized environments that reduce costs and keep people free from harm: Contact Your FreeWave Account Manager today to learn how we can optimize and digitize your network, keeping your business on track.
Remote University On-site Training
Join FreeWave for our Remote University On-site Training Date: March 10th and March 11thTime: 830am-430pm each dayLocation: MCM Elegante Hotel, 5200 E. University | Odessa, Texas 79762Agenda: Tuesday March 10 RF Networks 101 Advanced Serial Network Configuration and Troubleshooting Intro To ZumLink and Ethernet Radios Q&A Wednesday March 11 ZumLink Ethernet Configuration ZumLink Optimization ZumEdge – Edge Enabled I/O Intro and Overview IQ Edge Platform Overview Q&A To register, please contact Jim Garrison, jgarrison@freewave.com. Space is limited. You are welcome to register for both days or just one. Just indicate which day(s) you’d like to attend.
FreeWave Announces the Release of their New Online Training Portal
Take your FreeWave experience to the next level with our new online learning center. FreeWave is primarily a supplier of hardware for the industrial space, which means that our products aren’t as simple to use as hardware designed for the consumer market. The specificity of FreeWave equipment makes training and certifications crucial. We’ve always offered training, but in the past, the sessions were conducted in-person. And while our team enjoys interacting with customers in a live setting, there are obvious drawbacks to on-site education. The value of hands-on training is undeniable, but it requires expensive travel, often for both the FreeWave team and our customers, and the system isn’t available on-demand, nor is it scalable. Understanding the importance of high-quality training, as well as the budgetary and scaling issues inherent to in-person instruction, we set out to create a different solution. Our team worked tirelessly to build the all-new FreeWave online training portal – a video-based learning platform designed specifically to train and certify FreeWave hardware customers. FreeWave’s team of tenured educators built the learning platform to address known customer challenges. We are one of the first in our hardware niche to provide a video-based online learning center. The training portal is a differentiator for us and you. What makes the FreeWave online training portal valuable? The FreeWave online training portal allows customers and partners to learn at their own pace. There are assessments after each chapter that allows users to test their knowledge. The learning center is specific enough to help customers and partners with their unique applications but broad enough to apply to every FreeWave customer regardless of industry (industry-neutral). The education center operates in real-time and will continue to evolve. Customers or partners will have up-to-date information about product releases, as well as notices and advisories specific to FreeWave hardware. The learning center is an excellent resource for notifications about products our customers might already use. Each course has a corresponding message board. Trainees can ask questions and receive follow-up responses from an instructor. The complimentary platform is immediately available to FreeWave customers. Public and private sector organizations with restrictive budgets aren’t always able to justify sending employees for training. Many learning courses with certifications cost up to $2,000 per ticket to attend, and the average group-size for in-person training ranges from 12 to 15 people. The ease of access and affordability of our new learning platform combined with on-demand features and real-time updates make it an invaluable resource. What are early adopters saying? “FreeWave did an excellent job on the videos, and I learned a lot! I especially like that the videos are broken into bite-sized chunks. I took notes throughout and nearly went through an entire pad of paper.” – FreeWave customer “I started the online course, and I love it!!!” – FreeWave customer A mini-case study: A newly-onboarded customer conducted a successful field test and sold FreeWave hardware the day following his training and certification. A learning process that in the past would have required on-site training conducted by a FreeWave educator, and hands-on assistance in the field test and sales process, was achieved within 24hrs and at no cost to either the customer or FreeWave. It’s important to note that the customer attempted to use a competitor’s hardware last year for the same purpose and was unsuccessful. The online training portal is designed for both resellers and end-users of FreeWave hardware. Our initial launch includes one certification and roughly seven hours of educational video content to get you started. Additional certifications and training videos will be added throughout the year. Are you an existing customer or partner? Click here to register for the FreeWave online training portal! New to Freewave products? Contact Us.
FreeWave Technologies Expands Global Footprint and Has Record Growth
FreeWave Technologies Welcomes New Decade with Expanding Global Footprint and Record Growth BOULDER (February 11, 2020) – FreeWave Technologies, a leader in industrial edge computing and long-range industrial wireless connectivity expanded its global footprint and continued its record growth trajectory in 2019 thanks to gains in the smart agriculture, UAV, oil and gas and municipal water/wastewater verticals. With 2019 revenue growth up more than 10 percent, international growth up 50 percent and EBITDA up 38 percent over 2018, the company is well-positioned to meet the growing global demand for Edge Cloud and Virtualized Edge platforms that deliver true Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) benefits to new and existing markets. “These are dynamic and exciting times at FreeWave and in the industry in general,” said FreeWave Technologies CEO Kirk Byles. “We’ve been connecting the industrial edge for decades. However, our strategy to shift the business toward integrated edge connectivity and computing solutions has had an immediate impact on our bottom line. Delivering high-fidelity data capture capabilities for analysis, control and automation via a single, scalable IIoT platform is certainly on point. We see this proven out by our continued performance and growing demand,” said Byles. “By building a strong and diversified ecosystem of partners, we believe we can provide customers with effective solutions to address network challenges and optimize algorithms to capitalize on IIoT opportunities today and into the future.” Since 2017, FreeWave has steadily and strategically expanded its portfolio beyond SCADA to include investments in its Zumlink™ industrial products and ZumIQ™ EDGE compute platform. Recent updates have added improved processing power and memory, as well as additional ports for USB and Ethernet connectivity. Here’s a quick snapshot of key 2019 business milestones: Announced an agreement to team with MachineShop to provide a turn-key edge computing solution that seamlessly extends Amazon Web Services (AWS) computing to the edge, transforming how edge computing is deployed, managed, and connected with AWS IoT Greengrass and related services. Invested and grew international sales by 50 percent by executing agreements with partners and customers in Latin America, APAC, MEA, & EU. These partnerships will allow FreeWave to continue to diversify and scale its solutions globally. Announced strategic partnerships with Inductive Automation and AUTOSOL to deliver a fully integrated Edge solution that optimizes real-time data acquisition via a MQTT publish/subscribe SCADA architecture. Established new Board of Directors comprised of highly accomplished executives in the IIOT, software, product development and professional infrastructure services industries to support its IIoT solution evolution. Continued to align with various edge and cloud software tool and solutions providers to simplify the adoption of IIoT. IIoT is rapidly becoming more important to industrial enterprises as they look to evolve their operations. The emergence of OT Cloud capabilities also promises to be a powerful asset. The proliferation of sensors and devices being implemented brings new demands for computing power at the edge as well. FreeWave has taken its rugged OT products, designed for low-power operation across wide temperature ranges, and infused them with open IQ intelligence. By connecting them to a smarter platform, they can reliably address the data-intensive realities of IIoT, create data transparency, foster interoperability to enrich existing infrastructure and enable new business models. “It’s about moving organizations from reactive models to predictive optimization enriched by real-time IoT insights,” said Byles. “We look forward to helping customers solve all their problems in all the industries we serve through IIoT transformation.” For more information on FreeWave Technologies’ and its Intelligent Edge solutions, visit www.freewave.com. About FreeWave Technologies With deployments in over 32 countries, FreeWave’s products are leveraged by industrial end users and OEMs alike to connect, control and optimize remote machines and processes to impact smarter decision-making, improve operational efficiencies and drive cost savings. Throughout our 26-year history, Freewave’s IIoT Connectivity and EDGE Solutions have solved thousands of customers’ problems in government/defense, energy, agriculture, and municipalities – achieve reliable connectivity for data telemetry and command and control in some of the most challenging, remote and rugged environments in the world. Today, we are transforming the extreme edge of operations – and the proliferation of smart devices within it – into a connected part of the enterprise with our IQ edge computing platform and ecosystem of solutions evolved for IIoT. Are you ready to transform your operation? Visit freewave.com to get started. Media Contacts: Lisa DiBenedetto Corporate Communications lisa@ldbcomm.biz 630-338-2208 Renea Sloan Director, Channel Marketing rsloan@freewave.com
Pittsburgh, PA Lunch + Learn with AUTOSOL and FreeWave Technologies
Hungry for knowledge? Don’t miss out on our free Lunch & Learn with AUTOSOL and FreeWave Technologies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania! Join technology experts from both companies to discuss field case studies that demonstrate the joint solution of eACM software and FreeWave radios for both secure data transmission over long distances and application deployment. Please email jgarrison@freewave.com to register.
FreeWave Technologies Expands Distribution into Philippines
New Partnership Penned with Presidium Controls and Industrial Technologies Corporation Boulder, CO – December 16, 2019 – Today, FreeWave Technologies, a leader in long-range industrial wireless connectivity and wired edge computing platforms announced it will expand the distribution of its industrial automation and edge computing solutions to the Philippines with new authorized partner Presidium Controls and Industrial Technologies Corporation. Established in 2003, Presidium Controls has been helping Philippine industries achieve and maintain maximum productivity, efficiency and quality through automation and process control solutions. They are a shared partner with Inductive Automation, with four offices across the Philippines. “FreeWave’s focus on the international market will be boosted by engaging with partners like Presidium Controls,” said Mike Tate, senior vice president, FreeWave Technologies. “They have the experience, the people and the products to deliver ground-breaking solutions for their customers.” The collaboration of FreeWave, Inductive Automation and Presidium Controls will deliver a powerful combination of strengths in the industrial automation space with transformative solutions to help customers achieve the full benefits of IIoT. “With area demand for Industry 4.0 solutions growing, our partnership with FreeWave and Inductive Automation uniquely positions us to deliver comprehensive solutions for manufacturing, plant automation, process control, energy monitoring, and smart agriculture – from the edge to the core to the cloud,” said Presidium Controls CEO Jopriz Zamora. For more information on FreeWave Technologies’ and its Intelligent Edge solutions, visit www.freewave.com. About FreeWave Technologies With deployments in over 32 countries, FreeWave’s products are leveraged by industrial end users and OEMs alike to connect, control and optimize remote machines and processes to impact smarter decision-making, improve operational efficiencies and drive cost savings. Throughout our 26-year history, we’ve helped thousands of customers – government/defense, energy, agriculture, and municipalities – achieve reliable connectivity for data telemetry and command and control in some of the most challenging, remote and rugged environments in the world. Today, we are transforming the extreme edge of operations – and the proliferation of smart devices within it – into a connected part of the enterprise with our IQ edge computing platform and ecosystem of solutions evolved for IIoT. Are you ready to transform your operation? Visit freewave.com to get started. Media Contacts: Lisa DiBenedetto Corporate Communications lisa@ldbcomm.biz 630-338-2208 Dava Baumann Chief Marketing Officer dbaumann@freewave.com Emilio M. Enriquez III Presidium Controls sales@presidiumcontrols.com