Sensile Technologies SA, Telit Wireless Solutions and WACnGO LTD, have jointly announced today a very interesting new M2M-based deal with Latin American LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) Distribution Giant. We'll abbreviate it LALPG, and yes indeed, that is quite a translated name, which probably reads better in the original than it does in translation.
Even more interesting, Telit is headquartered in London (and has a presence in the United States), Sensile is a Swiss company, and WACnGO is based in Tel-Aviv Israel. That makes for quite a global partnership. WACnGO is in fact a subsidiary of WAC US, a company founded in 1988 in the U.S. The partnership underscores exactly how a great many M2M applications are actually architected, and how M2M applications work. Given the large regional distribution of LALPG and the numerous devices being monitored, the new application can also be considered something of a big data app as well.
WACnGO, from its end, is a global player in overall logistics optimization solutions for the LPG distributors. The company provides a complete solution - from tank level remote monitoring to truck deliveries. Through special equipment in the trucks, which includes RFID, WACnGO also provides real RFID tank identification “handshakes” for entire tank filling transactions. Sensile and Telit, meanwhile are direct partners, and Sensile has built its wireless NETRIS M2M product using Telit's cellular M2M module (GE865-QUAD). Sensile has over 10 years of experience in development and production of autonomous telemetry equipment for the oil and gas industries.
Telit’s collaboration with Sensile now continues into South America, and more specifically Brazil. In this case, WACnGO brought in Sensile as its partner, and Telit joined in the solution through Sensile. Soon after winning the rather significant bid with LALPG, WACnGO initially partnered with Sensile to implement new capabilities into Sensile’s new remote monitoring units, dubbed NETRIS.
The contract with LALPG - the actual M2M application and solution that was developed, involves the deployment of thousands of NETRIS units on LALPG's LPG tanks. The goal is to directly enhance efficiencies in distribution logistics, Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), carbon emissions reduction, and safety throughout LALPG's Latin American distribution operation.
“This deal in Brazil achieved by our partner WACnGO is an important milestone in Sensile’s globalization efforts, with operations started in Europe, Australia, Africa, and North America. With the WACnGo system we were able to penetrate the Latin American market and address very complex and advanced customer requirements. We believe the WACnGO system’s overall capabilities in combination with SENSILE NETRIS® units comprise the most complete solution in the market today“, notes Jean-Marc Uehlinger, operational director, Sensile Technologies. “With Telit we have a technology partner enabling us to further improve our solution which is more critical now as we go global."
NETRIS' secret sauce is a user-friendly design that makes it quick and easy to install in a wide variety of gas and liquid storage tanks. The combined use of NETRIS with WACnGO’s solution, in turn, allows total control of vendor inventory of oil and gas consumables in customer tanks, which leads to non-trivial savings in logistics costs. It also reduces transportation hazards and carbon emissions typically associated to tanker-truck fleets. The embedded Telit GE865-QUAD enables NETRIS to use either GSM (SMS) or GPRS (IP-data) from cellular networks to connect to monitoring services allowing it to function from inside buildings, underground, remote areas, and so on.
“Working with Sensile since 2007 has provided us with rich insight into the Oil and Gas vertical segment. Our products will evolve to continue meeting more stringent specifications from this important segment,” adds Dominikus Hierl, chief marketing officer at Telit Wireless Solutions.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
