Startup Zuul Addresses IoT Configuration, Policy

A new company called Zuul that provides a way to automatically configure and set policy for a wide array of Internet of Things devices in the field is at IoT Evolution Expo this week telling its story. The company says its solution is ideal for anybody installing a large number of IoT devices.

For example, a large campus that needs to install a lot of connected security cameras would be a good use case for the Zuul solution. So would a hotel that is installing lots of guest hotspots. As would a transportation firm that is implementing the IoT in a fleet of buses or trains.

At IoT Evolution Expo, I spoke with Edward Stanford, Zuul founder and CTO, as well as with Drew Cohen and Steve Horn of MasterPeace Solutions Ltd. MasterPeace is the accelerator that is providing the business, financial, legal, and some of the engineering resources to help Zuul get off the ground.

The Zuul solution consists of two basic pieces, whose names fans of the Ghostbusters movies will appreciate. One is called the Keymaster; the other is called the Gatekeeper.

The Keymaster is the technicians’ piece. The Gatekeeper is the back-end part that integrates with IT, lets you know your network configuration, identifies which technicians are allowed to touch which devices, and ties into with your other ERP systems (so, for example, if someone leaves your company and is removed from the human resource system, is also removed from the Zuul system).

The Zuul solution minimizes the number of subject matter experts needed to do IoT configuration and policy setup. In the process, it lessens the possibility of human error.

The company doesn’t yet have any customers. But Zuul’s go-to-market strategy will initially be via integrators that do IoT implementations. It also expects to bring the product to market through platform providers. And it will probably have a small organic sales force as well. Zuul also has a relationship with Eurotech, which is bringing in pilot users.