Simpl Global is a technology company with a focus on optimizing energy usage and storage. They develop innovative, patented software and hardware to deliver the energy optimization solution. They design, manufacture, and license their products under their SimplBox, SimplGrid and SimplMeter brands.
Their products and services are designed for residential and commercial systems. Specifically, their SimplMeter product is an integral part of their operation. SimplMeter is a decision-making tool for optimizing energy consumption and minimizing electricity expenses while at the same time presenting a real-time picture of the pattern of energy consumption and energy generation.
Simpl Global started out using Wi-Fi for their SimplMeter product, a real-time energy and power measurement device for electricity. However, many customers either didn’t have the Wi-Fi to connect the product in the first place, or they were concerned about weakened security that comes with having a third party on their network. Simpl Global realized that they needed a connectivity option that could reliably connect their product to the internet.
After meeting with OptConnect, Simpl Global partnered with the company in January of 2020 to use OptConnect ema™, a fully certified LTE Category 4 embedded modem, to provide redundant connectivity to their customers.
Every SimplMeter product now comes with OptConnect ema™ embedded in the device. “We needed to offer another way for customers to connect to the internet,” said Farid Dibachi, Founder and CEO at Simpl Global. “One reason we really were drawn to ema was the capability it provided for our customers.”
Through OptConnect ema’s cellular connectivity, SimplMeter is able to communicate with other integral Simpl Global products. ema is embedded into SimplMeter and provides a bridge from any of their products to the internet via cellular. ema also comes with access to Summit, OptConnect’s robust monitoring platform.
“Having a platform to see what our systems are doing and get a view of the backend is really helpful,” said Dibachi. “To be able to check on the status of devices and see a collection of analytics has helped us find bugs within our own system.”
In thinking about our customers and the future of IoT, we knew we wanted to create a product that could scale with our customers and save them time, money, and help provide a more reliable embedded connectivity solution than what is currently available in the market. That is why we created OptConnect ema™. It takes all the complexity out of the process so customers can get their product connected to the internet in a few days and for a few hundred dollars versus months and hundreds of thousands of dollars later.
OptConnect ema™ combines a fully certified 4G LTE embedded modem, onboard intelligence, embedded firmware and software, and robust suite of managed services. It features dual carrier SIM card support for carrier-to-carrier failover and all of the low-level software control so customers can just use the modem without having to develop all the software and code to make it work. The creation of OptConnect ema™ allows companies to focus on their core business strengths and outsource one of the biggest stumbling blocks for IoT projects.
In the future, Simpl Global hopes to make solar panels a 24-hour source of energy. In order to do so, Dibachi says that all the pieces have to be able to work together, meaning the network has to be rock solid. “Connectivity is an integral part of this initiative,” said Dibachi. “We want to make sure the systems stay connected all the time and with ema, we can do that.”
“I recommend OptConnect because of the people and the products. With OptConnect, I feel like we have a leg up. ema is a well thought out product and we have found it very useful for our customers.”
Before you can monitor energy assets in real time, you need relentlessly reliable cellular connectivity. OptConnect partners with top-tier OEMs and cellular carriers to ensure that your monitoring equipment stays securely connected, with autonomous repair actions, dual-carrier redundancy, and firmware updates.
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