Founded in 1992, Tower Water began as a cooling tower cleaning company. Shortly after being founded, Russell Baskin brought his 10 years of experience in the water treatment field and created the Tower Water service department. Then in 1996, Baskin created the water system construction consulting department, which revolutionized the chemical cleaning marketplace by creating and refining the equipment used to perform the work. With its vast experience and knowledge in the New York metro area, Tower Water has been able to grow from a 2-person business into a 43-employee organization.
After trying to manage its own connectivity, Tower Water ran into issues with inconsistent signal, a need for constant IT support, and an overall difficulty with managing all its locations. Tower Water turned to OptConnect in January 2022 and now relies on the OptConnect mylo dura, an LTE Cat M1 industrial router fully supported by both Verizon and AT&T.
Tower Water now has a connectivity system that has proven to be reliable and has addressed all previous connectivity problems.
Tower Water is a premier provider of water treatment. They offer solutions for any water treatment needed by property managers, as well as solutions for pharmaceutical, educational, and light industrial facilities. Tower Water focuses on solving problems, not selling products. They provide a personal, team approach to every assignment. The team includes the company’s owners who are fully involved and work regularly with the entire Tower Water team. The entire operation is positive, cohesive, and highly advantageous to clients.
“The Tower Water Client comes first in our company because they are the reason we are here,” said Thomas Hardy, Director of Service at Tower Water. “We strive to inform and educate them about their water treatment plan to ensure they understand everything that we do. By remaining flexible and working around our client’s schedule, and by maintaining a meaningful, close relationship, we allow the client to rely on us and trust our forward-thinking methods. Clients are the most valuable part of our organization.”
Proper water treatment is crucial to reduce corrosion, scale and fouling, and to maintain the designed longevity and efficiency of your system. These treatments will provide a direct return on investment in water, energy, and manpower costs, and will protect your system from expensive repairs and early replacement. Water treatment is also critical in protecting individuals from harmful waterborne disease. An integral part of water treatment systems working efficiently is the reliability of their connectivity.
After trying to manage its own connectivity, Tower Water leadership realized they needed a more robust connectivity solution. “Prior to using the mylo dura with OptConnect, we were using a system designed and managed by Tower Water,” said Hardy. “Our previous solution was difficult to manage as some location’s signals were not as available as we have had with the mylo dura. Connectivity was inconsistent and required on site IT support.”
Tower Water utilizes the mylo dura, an industrial router built specifically for machine-to-machine (M2M) applications, for its range of locations. When compared to standard 4G devices, mylo dura has superior building penetration strength, works further from cell towers and performs better in crowded and congested environments. The mylo dura is activated on both Verizon and AT&T networks – two networks on a single device with a single all-inclusive bill. This means that if one network goes down, mylo dura automatically switches carrier networks to ensure critical equipment stays connected.
OptConnect mylo dura also comes in a rugged aircraft grade aluminum case for better protection. The aluminum casing has an increased temperature rating for industrial applications. The standard 35mm DIN rail bracket makes mounting simple inside your enclosure. OptConnect mylo dura comes standard with an IP69 waterproof, dust-proof direct mount external antenna, as well as an IP67 rated AC 18-24V, DC 8-40V power supply. Optionally, a magnetic mount antenna and 5VDC power supply are available for ease of installation in all deployments.
Every OptConnect device comes with full access to a robust monitoring platform, Summit. In addition to utilizing the mylo dura, Tower Water also frequently uses Summit to check device health including check ins and any device interruptions. Summit enables OptConnect customers to have access to their wireless portfolio wherever they go and conveniently view and manage devices via phone, tablet, or computer. OptConnect also works to consistently improve the Summit platform, recently releasing a large platform update to better support ever-evolving customer needs.
Tower Water intends to continue growing its current market and wants to extend into new locations. “As we continue our growth, we are considering remoting into facilities with more regularity and more services as we know connections are more reliable,” said Hardy. “As we grow and scale, we look forward to continuing to use OptConnect for our connectivity needs. The reliability, security, and support are unparalleled.”
"I recommend OptConnect to multiple peers focusing on customer service, competitive pricing structure, equipment reliability, and monitoring software. They have been great to work with and continue to provide reliable connectivity.”
Even the most sophisticated water management system can’t make up for unreliable connectivity. OptConnect designs, deploys, and fully manages your IoT portfolio – for an end-to-end wireless connection that improves quality control, helps reduce operating costs and labor, and increases efficiency of the entire facility.