Channel Tools, a leading company driving new technology distribution and integration solutions, and Disruptive Technologies, a provider of wireless sensors and IoT solutions, today announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the adoption of IoT technologies.

Channel Tools will add Disruptive Technologies’ wireless sensors and cloud-based platform to its available portfolio of solutions. This will enable businesses to collect real-time data and insights about their operations, allowing them to make more informed decisions and optimise their workflows. In addition, the partnership will allow Channel Tools to develop a sales channel for driving Disruptive Technologies’ IoT solutions in the EMEA region.

“We are excited to announce this strategic partnership with Disruptive Technologies,” said Kewal Gupta, CEO at Channel Tools. “Their innovative wireless sensors and cloud-based platform are a perfect fit for our portfolio of solutions. This partnership will allow us to offer businesses a comprehensive range of IoT solutions, driving efficiencies, streamlining operations and reducing costs.”

Disruptive Technologies’ wireless sensors and cloud-based platform are designed to be easily integrated into any environment, making it easy for businesses to collect data and insights in real-time. The platform provides businesses with the ability to monitor critical aspects of their operations. Their wireless sensors, with a form factor about as small as a coin can be used for a wide range of applications, from temperature and humidity monitoring to occupancy detection and asset tracking. The sensors are small, durable, have a long battery life, are easy to install, and can be customised to fit your specific needs.

“We are excited to join the partnership with Channel Tools. This will enable us to expand our reach in the European region” said Thomas Caspersen Nielsen, VP of Sales EMEA of Disruptive Technologies. “There is a huge interest in IoT sensors and infrastructure, and together with our partners we will provide companies with the insights they need to operate smarter, more efficiently, and more sustainable.”

If you are interested in finding out more about our agreement with Disruptive Technologies, please contact us.

About Channel Tools

Channel Tools is a leading company driving new technology distribution and integration solutions. The company works with high potential, emerging, and innovative technology vendors to support their growth and adoption with channel. In addition, Channel Tools provides comprehensive marketing services. For further information, visit channel-partnerships.com.

About Disruptive Technologies

Disruptive Technologies is a provider of wireless sensors and cloud-based solutions for IoT applications. The company’s sensors are small, wireless, and can be easily integrated into any environment, making it easy for businesses to collect real-time data and insights about their operations. For more information, visit www.disruptive-technologies.com.

Contracts are a company’s lifeblood. Delays in contract signings have a direct impact on revenue. The bottleneck of productivity: legal departments. Volatile market conditions, complex business relationships and legal frameworks increase their workload. One solution to up efficiency and reduce costs is legal tech and automated contract review.

We provide an overview of which software can effectively support which contract management processes, how users can ensure high quality in contract review tools, and how legal departments can improve their future readiness.

Golden 20s? Challenges in Contract Management

On average, companies lose more than 9% in sales due to slow contract management processes . This is the conclusion of a study by the World Commerce and Contracting association. The economic impact of slow contract processes varies, depending on industry and company size . But anyone who works in  legal will be able to confirm: Contract management is time-consuming as it involves a lot of manual effort.

According to an EY study, the workload will increase by an average of 25% in the coming years without any increase in staffing. That’s why investments in technology will skyrocket and demand is already increasing. While 70% of companies have developed a technology strategy for their contract management, 99% lack the data and technological foundation to implement effective change.

Solution Building Block: Legal Tech

Legal Tech is a buzzword that’s never missing from any discussion about more efficient processes in legal departments.

What is Legal Tech?

Legal Tech refers to all digital applications specifically designed to speed up legal activities, improve the effectiveness of legal support, and make it easier for people to access legal services.

The spectrum of legal tech is wide, ranging from simple rule-based applications such as document management systems for law firms to legal tech AI, i.e. tools that automate work processes using artificial intelligence.

In contract management, legal tech can be used in all phases of the contract lifecycle, from contract review to document archiving.

The 5 Phases of the Contract Life Cycle

Which lifecycle phases a contract goes through varies depending on the type of contract. Individual phases can be skipped and the order of the phases might change. In principle, however, five phases can be identified in contract management, with numerous opportunities for digital support.

1. Initiation

In this phase, companies decide that a contract needs to be concluded, for example because a product is being sold or a business partnership is being entered into.

By using document automation applications, lawyers can access standardized contract templates that speed up drafting. Other digital solutions offer add-ins for text editors so users can search legal databases directly from the contract document.

2. Negotiation

In this phase, the terms of the contract are negotiated, including price, deliverables and liability. Employees review contract drafts and templates.

Cloud-based software solutions can simplify the process by allowing the various parties to leave change requests and comments on paragraphs directly in the document.

3. Conclusion

The contract is signed and both parties exchange the necessary documents and records.

Digital signature applications eliminate the need for on-site appointments and reduce waiting time which is unavoidable when sending documents by mail. Thanks to encryption and certification, digital signatures are often even more secure than handwritten signatures on paper (reversal of the burden of proof).

4. Implementation & Monitoring

The terms of the contract come into force and the services are provided. Companies monitor implementation and compliance with the contract. If necessary, they agree on changes and adjustments to the contract.

Document Management Systems (DMS) serve as a central repository for contracts and simplify management, for example, through tagging and notification of deadlines. Contract analysis tools make it possible to extract data from contracts and identify opportunities for business development via comprehensive evaluations.

5. Termination

The contract is terminated or reaches the end of its term. Contract documents are archived in accordance with applicable law.

Legally compliant archiving is a function of DMS. Documents are removed from the operational system to optimize processing power and are stored securely and searchably in cost-efficient archive systems.

Legal Tech Use Case: Automated Contract Review

While digital solutions have long been available for managing and archiving legal documents, researching sources and creating contract templates, the actual review of contracts has hardly been accelerated. The comparison of old and new contracts, the compliance check with internal regulations, requires the expertise of lawyers. Automated contract review promises to open the bottleneck of productivity.

Benefits of automated contract review

• Massive acceleration of contract review
• Fewer errors due to lack of focus
• Consistent review quality
• Review by departmental staff possible

The market for automated contract review is growing. To assess the quality of the applications, it is necessary to understand the different ways in which the tools work. This is because the performance of classic automated contract review differs significantly from the capabilities of AI-based tools.

How does classic automated contract review work?

Without going into the workings of individual tools, classic automated contract review works according to the following principle:

The contract is entered into the system, either as a text document or a scan of a paper document.

The system works on the basis of defined rules or algorithms and thus searches the contract for specific clauses or language patterns.

The system then performs pre-defined actions, including marking matches or mismatches or generating a report. If a free-text search is offered, the software only finds content if there is a 100% word match.

Since the classic automated contract check is based on fixed rules/algorithms, it is prone to errors. As soon as contract sections are worded differently than defined, discrepancies or matches are not detected. The support provided by such tools can prepare the review by a lawyer in simple contract cases, but in many cases it increases the risk of errors.

How well does contract review AI?

Unlike classic contract review tools, AI-based applications work with self-learning algorithms.

Users provide feedback to the software where it has misrecognized text passages. Over time, the contract review AI gets better and better in its results. The drawback: training takes a lot of time and is expensive. Pre-trained artificial intelligence works in a similar way. If companies already have a large number of contracts in the way they will be audited in the future, the AI can be pre-trained. This reduces the training effort for companies, but it’s costly and in most cases there is not a large enough dataset to perform reliable training. In addition, this type of AI is prone to errors, as new wording or contract components that were not included in the training are not recognized.

The alternative is artificial intelligence that understands texts on the meaning level. These semantic algorithms do not need to be trained. They read documents similarly to humans and can recognize discrepancies and matches even in text sections that are worded completely differently.

An example of a contract review AI of this category is semantha®. The application offers high review accuracy because it understands texts at the level of meaning. Thus, it’s possible to compare different phrasings without training. At the same time, it minimizes the risk of errors by consistently following a human-in-the-loop approach: Legal professionals and artificial intelligence work hand in hand and  combine the strengths of humans and machines.

More info on semantha for contract review

The future of (automated) contract review

Legal tech is about to fundamentally transform the way legal departments work. Investment in contract management tools will increase significantly in the coming years. Out of sheer necessity.

While automation is already commonplace in other areas of business, the automation of legal processes is only starting to take off. With the rapid progress in artificial intelligence, it is now more and more possible to outsource demanding tasks to AI, tasks that previously required human judgment.

Among lawyers, this evolution is viewed quite critically. And understandably so. However, the concern about becoming replaceable and losing jobs to AI is holding back the digital transformation of legal departments.

Instead of viewing AI as competition, lawyers should see the smart tools for what they are: Tools whose value depends on how they are used. It’s true, the technology will change how lawyers work, but it’s also true that these tools will increasingly become a necessity for achieving competitive efficiency.

What are the use cases for AI in your legal department?
Schedule a free strategy session with one of our AI experts.

This is an article written by Moritz Maier at thingsTHINKING.

Introduction

Are you looking for a way to keep your organisation safe and secure, monitor certain spaces or moderate, monitor and comply with any policies and guidelines within your industry, but you’re not sure where to start? but you’re not sure where to start? There are a number of camera solutions that could suit your needs.

But which video technology solutions are available and how can they benefit your business? First, let’s look at the different types of cameras.

IP/PTZ/Fisheye

IP camera’s, or Internet Protocol camera’s, are commonly used for surveillance but unlike CCTV cameras, they require no local recording device, only a local area network. These cameras receive control data and send image data via an IP network.

A PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) camera is built with mechanical parts that allows them to swivel from left to right, tilt up and down, and zoom in and out of a scene. PTZ cameras are a great option for providing wide coverage, covering blind spots or large areas with a single camera.

Fisheye cameras offer a panoramic view with a wider angle offering up to a 360-degree field of vision. They are typically used to cover larger geographic areas and expansive locations.

Available Options

IP PTZ cameras from Bolide Technology can quickly move between user-defined presets, tours, and positions. Using premium components provides extended life span and millions of rotations. They are auto-tracking, meaning they follow moving persons and objects as they enter and exit the camera’s view. Contact us to learn more about the options available or take a look for yourself.

Where do you want your video footage stored?

The first video recorder to note is a digital video recorder (DVR). These are electronic devices that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SSD or other local or networked mass storage device.

DVRs connect to security cameras with an analog video cable and provide a more budget price for multiple cameras, however, multiple cables are required. Another thing to note is that the analog signals power decreases with distance so if you were looking to capture video at a large distance, this can lead to poor video quality due to a weaker signal. Although some DVRs offer audio connections, they don’t always have enough audio ports for every camera.

Another option is a network video recorder (NVR) which records video footage and stores it on a hard disk, a mass storage device, or cloud storage. They are paired with digital IP cameras to create a video surveillance system.

An NVR receives pre-processed video files from IP cameras over ethernet cables or wireless connection. Comparing to a DVR, NVRs only need one cable to send power and signal. They also use newer technology such as AI motion detection and audio so may be a better option for your business if audio and a better signal are required.

Mobile Video Solutions

Depending on your needs, a mobile video solution may be a great option as they can easily be moved from location to location. There are a range of mobile video solutions available on the market including Mobile Dashcams, Mobile DVRs and Mobile Cameras.

As well as remote monitoring of mobile assets, Mobile Dashcams are very useful for vehicle surveillance. Do you have a fleet of vehicles? Mobile Dashcams can help with any potential accident insurance claims, reduce insurance premiums and can be used to record driver behaviour. Keeping your staff safe is important and Bolide Technology can also provide driver behaviour alert systems which helps drivers stay alert and focused, reducing vehicle accidents. Distractions and signs of fatigue are detected and the driver’s attention to the road is monitored with visual and audible alerts in real time.

Conclusion

Each camera solution has its own benefits and drawbacks. It is also important to consider what resolution and data you will need to be best suited to your needs. We work with Bolide Technology, a worldwide manufacturer and ISO 9001:2008 certified distributor of CCTV surveillance products and accessories based in Southern California, to provide all your camera needs. Still not sure which camera solutions are best suited for your requirements? Contact us today to learn more.

Contact Channel Partnerships directly by calling: 01923 618099
Or email: info@channel-tools.biz

Organisations are increasingly turning to AI-driven technologies to analyse data, trends, and performance. With growing competition and time constraints, organisations of all sizes and across every sector increasingly need to make quicker decisions to win more customers and achieve their goals. Many of these organisations see real-time data analysis as a critical component of their plans to measure and affect changes, such as enhancing customer experience, increasing safety, and improving product quality.

As a result, organisations across all sectors are looking at AI-driven technologies such as Video Analytics to analyse real-time images and videos. Computer Vision Analytics enables live data analysis and decision making. It applies deep learning techniques to captured images and video streams collected from intelligent cameras.

Introducing Viana from meldCX

In response to the increasing demand for sophisticated vision analytics tools, Australian AI company meldCX™ has developed Viana™, an AI-powered vision analytics solution that allows organisations to leverage vision analytics software through a straightforward interface to gain real-time insights from images and videos.

Viana employs Synthetic Learning, Vision AI and edge inferencing to capture human and vehicle activity across various use cases to produce insights. By deploying Viana, organisations can quickly measure and react to how customers work, shop, learn and play in physical and digital environments without complicated hands-on AI development.

Teaching Machine Learning Model with Synthetic Data

Viana™ creates solutions through the GAN (General Adversarial Networks) method by using a game engine, like a virtual 3D environment, to create synthetic data in its virtual world. The result is better privacy compliance for the customer, as no identifiable data is captured, alongside reducing costs in the data-gathering stage of the machine learning workflow.

Viana™’s impressive edge stack includes cameras, sensors, an inference engine, and a media player. Requests are sent in real-time to the cloud for processing, and business intelligence data is then pushed into the Viana™ interactive dashboard, ready for end-users to view.

Available as a SaaS solution, Viana™ has a variety of buildable out-of-the-box AI modules for Anonymous Audience Measurement, Signage Content Effectiveness, Traffic Measurement, Licence Plate Recognition, Parking Management, People Counting, Zone Engagement, and Programmatic Advertising. In addition, meldCX has custom solutions for highly specialised use cases supported by bespoke model training and delivers results in shorter time frames at lower costs.

Viana™ allows organisations to analyse images and videos using machine vision and artificial intelligence data without latency issues because all processing is done at the edge. The solution is trained using anonymised synthetic data, ensuring that any data collected is anonymised and secure.

Organisations also have the choice to consume Viana™ in multiple ways; Ready to Go, Bring your own AI model, and a bespoke or personalised offering.

Learn more about the Viana™ solution

meldCX aims to simplify IoT, AI, and computer vision with the Viana™ solution, so organisations can effortlessly access the cutting-edge technology to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Organisations of all sizes can now use AI-driven vision analytics technologies, leveraging the expertise and experience of meldCX to deploy elegant AI data-driven business enhancements.

meldCX is working in partnership with Tech Data and Channel Partnerships to help organisations evaluate their visual analytics solutions. Channel Partnerships can set up a meaningful and tailored demonstration that will show the Viana™ solution working for a real-world evaluation.

Contact Channel Partnerships directly by calling: 01923 618099
Or email: info@channel-tools.biz

How IMSCAD is helping to integrate true Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions for architectural and design firms across the globe.

IMSCAD is one of the world’s leading specialists in graphics virtualisation. The company has a close working relationship with its customers and suppliers, including partnerships with Autodesk and SolidWorks. Additionally, it acts as the CAD consultant to many leading Citrix and VMware virtualisation specialists.

IMSCAD has the remote capabilities to roll out projects across the globe, thanks to its locations in London, New York, and Zurich. They deliver virtualised applications and desktops to architecture, design, and manufacturing firms. “We’ve done much work with smaller practices with systems that range from just one server and ten users,” says IMSCAD CEO Adam Jull, “but the biggest is currently for 3,500 users, rolled out across 80 offices.”

With over 500 successful projects completed, IMSCAD can draw upon unrivalled experience in deploying CAD applications in virtualised environments.

One notable project has been for Parkhill, a multidiscipline architecture and engineering firm in the USA with more than 300 creative, technical, and support personnel. Parkhill provides collaborative and innovative services to the public sector alongside private healthcare providers, faith-based organisations, and commercial clients.

With a remote architectural workforce in multiple locations, Parkhill decided to investigate virtualisation as a potential solution to complement their growing workflow demands. Parkhill reached out for support from IMSCAD because of their specialist knowledge in virtual graphical software deployments.

Following IMSCAD’s consultancy advice, Parkhill invested in sixteen physical servers running Nvidia RTX8000 GPUs, supported by a 3Par storage array. IMSCAD configured and optimised the host servers and migrated the environment to a fully virtualised production infrastructure. This approach culminated in a new, robust, fully functional VDI graphics environment optimised for Parkhill’s high-intensity CAD workflows. Parkhill has now moved confidently into deployment for over 300 users.

Parkhill can now efficiently share its complex and graphically intensive data from any office location. The VDI system is accessible to all Parkhill team members, providing seamless communication between internal and customer teams.

Are you thinking of moving your CAD workflow to a virtualised infrastructure?

Try the IMSCAD NVIDIA vGPU Guided Demo and see how their VDI solutions can deliver impressive performance. The demo includes a consultation and a review with an IMSCAD specialist, so you can fully evaluate the IMSCAD VDI solution and how it can help improve your graphics-intensive workflows.

Smart Building Monitoring Solutions offer innovative technologies for intelligent building monitoring and control. Modern systems use advanced analytics, AI-driven insights and IoT devices to give housing providers, facilities managers, and developers total peace of mind.

Anyone responsible for managing a building, campus or even a town or city can achieve significant insights with dynamic asset visibility and real-time alerts for a complete site overview. Decision making becomes quicker and more accessible, saving costs, reducing incident severity, and solving problems before they can develop.

Intelligent building monitoring systems can track fire risks across multiple facilities in cities, towns, or campuses by tagging assets such as smoke and fire detectors, heat sensors, and fire doors.

Benefits of a Building Monitoring System at a glance:

• Reduce costs and identify energy-saving opportunities
• Identify carbon footprint reductions
• Gain complete visibility of buildings in real-time
• Remotely control building environment and safety systems
• Reduce issues caused by human error
• Automatically comply with legal and safety standards throughout an entire estate

Smart Building Monitoring & Control Systems

Upgrading your building processes and capabilities has never been simpler. Smarter building systems can drastically enhance your operation, allowing you to keep costs low and productivity high.

Using smart building sensors, facilities managers can achieve complete visibility and transparency over all aspects of an estate.

From energy monitoring to EV charging stations, systems from vendors such as Smarter Technologies can deliver smart building solutions that can transform facilities management tasks from reactive to proactive.

Automating buildings compliance reports

Protecting public health and preventing contamination are some of the most critical considerations for building managers. Additionally, as environmental legislation for building design continues to develop, managers are increasingly looking for ways to streamline the monitoring of environmental control systems while reporting on maintenance and routine cleaning.

Systems such as the Orion Network from Smarter Technologies provide an intelligent platform to automate many of the time-consuming upkeep practices that burden facilities managers and allow them to generate schedules and reports instantly.

Introducing Smarter Technologies’. The affordable smart building management platform.

With Smarter Technologies’ innovative building monitoring solutions, users can achieve 360-degree visibility of their entire building estate. The platform delivers real-time notifications, event-triggered alarms, asset tracking and more.

By harnessing the power of the Smarter Technologies Orion Data Network, users can monitor their entire estate, asset by asset, within a fully configurable dashboard.

How the Orion Data Network compares

The Orion Data Network is a low-power, long-range, real-time tracking, and monitoring network that’s in use worldwide. The military-grade communication technology runs on low-power radio and sends real-time, automatic updates to the user’s dashboard.

The Orion tags can be placed on any assets and work with gateways to provide a succinct overview of all the estate’s assets, including usage, location, and activity within the dashboard.

Users also receive instant alerts and notifications for important events and triggers, such as heat or fire alarms, water leaks, after-hours motion, temperature fluctuations, or any other unusual events.

Why choose Smarter Technologies’ Orion Data Network?

SIM Free

No GSM associated costs and smaller devices.

Lower frequency than GSM

Tags are visible anywhere and everywhere.

Lower power requirements

Tag batteries last for years

Multi-functional tags for every type of asset

Easily track location, usage, temperature, movement or shock.

Remotely configurable

Tags can receive updates in any location.

Coverage

Tags are reachable from 500m to 10km per gateway.

Zero failure

Tags can switch automatically from digital to analogue to increase recovery capabilities and accurate location finding.

Rapid infrastructure deployment

The Orion Data Network is wireless and can be installed quickly.

Smart Building Monitoring Examples

Automated Legionella Compliance

Smarter Technologies delivers a unique and effective automatic flushing and temperature testing system, controlled via a platform and dashboard, ensuring compliance with Legionella testing requirements. Users can schedule tests easily, with detailed compliance reports generated automatically.

Asset tracking and monitoring

Smarter Technologies tags help facilities managers monitor their assets’ location and usage anywhere within their estate. With dynamic control and efficient reporting on your assets, you will benefit from insight-driven decisions that promote profitability.

Smart Lighting

The smart building monitoring and control platform leverage smart LED lighting to give users ultimate control of their lighting systems. Users can choose from any colour and lighting temperature. More importantly, they can set specific operation times with automatic shutdown whenever any part of the building is empty for a specified amount of time.

Occupancy and Traffic Monitoring

Smarter Technologies’ ground-breaking building traffic monitoring systems allow managers to monitor their buildings and staff with real-time information on room occupancy, hot desk usage, vehicle car park thresholds and more. The system enables users to proactively manage their workforce, making the best use of space in smart buildings, improving energy efficiency, and encouraging better collaboration.

Building Energy Monitoring Systems

The unique Orion Data Network and building energy monitoring software allows users to monitor utilities and identify where energy is being wasted. Additionally, the system alerts users to cost-saving opportunities and carbon footprint reduction ideas. Managers can benefit from automatic electricity load balancing, sub-metering solutions and peak power output control.

Air Monitoring

Managers can observe and monitor the air quality within a building to comply with legislation while protecting staff in line with health and safety regulations. The Smarter Technologies’ platform uses outdoor sensors to monitor the air for pollutants. In contrast, indoor sensors are perfect for insulated buildings where air quality can be affected by high occupancy levels.

Building Temperature Monitoring Systems

The Orion Data Network uses smart thermostats connected to the platform to offer real-time temperature monitoring and direct control capabilities within rooms, floors, buildings, and estates. Managers can also gain granular HVAC control and comply with minimum and maximum threshold warnings for fridges and freezers.

Building Fire Safety Monitoring Systems

Facilities managers can automatically use the Orion Data Network and the Smarter Technologies platform to run checks on fire safety equipment automatically. The intelligent sensors can remotely monitor fire doors, fire extinguishers, alarms, and smoke detectors, alerting users immediately to any change of condition.

Creating smarter buildings that you can control

This article has sought to highlight some of the main use cases of Smarter Technologies’ smart building monitoring solutions. With the Orion Data Network, 360° building management becomes a reality for facilities managers and estate owners, regardless of scale, industry, or application.

Smarter Technologies is working with Tech Data and Channel Partnerships. Channel Partnerships can set up a meaningful and tailored demonstration that will show Smart Technologies’ solutions working for a real-world evaluation.

Contact Channel Partnerships directly by calling: 01923 618099
Or email: info@channel-tools.biz

While for most of history, making a building or campus area “smart” has meant investing in sustainability and energy efficiency, and approaches have recently focused more on ICT-enabled Smart building solutions.

Recent developments in Cloud and IoT technologies alongside new low-frequency connectivity have reached a maturity that can enable many new Smart Building services for the first time and extend the range of monitoring beyond the campus.

Smart Building solutions already go beyond traditional Building Automation Systems by leveraging common, horizontal platforms that enable data sharing across the various systems and services. They form a vital component within the overall Smart City ecosystem, connecting to and supporting many other application areas thanks to the range delivered by the latest wireless networks.

Why are Smart Buildings beneficial?

Smart Buildings bring cost savings, efficiency and sustainability improvements, and better health and well-being for occupants. Smart Buildings help increase the convenience of living or working in a building and improve the overall quality of living throughout an intelligent campus environment.

Ultimately, for property owners to reap the benefits of Smart Buildings for their business, they need to partner up with the right companies to assist them in implementing the different layers of the Smart Building framework. Smarter Technologies’ is one provider that can deliver the technical and industry expertise to deliver increased value in making buildings intelligent.

Smarter Technologies’ network and asset tags can drastically enhance the day-to-day operation of any enterprise, allowing managers to keep costs low and productivity high. Using the latest range of intelligent building sensors, building owners get complete visibility and transparency over all aspects of their buildings and assets.

Reaching further with Smarter Technologies’ Orion Data Network.

The Orion Data Network from Smarter Technologies’ is a low-power, long-range, real-time global tracking and monitoring network. The proprietary, military-grade communication technology runs on low-power radio, and the intelligent sensors, tags, and gateways deliver real-time, automatic updates to each user’s bespoke management dashboard.

When placed on assets within a building, Orion tags work with the gateways to provide a succinct overview of all the tracked assets, their usage and output on one bespoke dashboard. Users also receive instant alerts and notifications for important events and triggers, such as water leaks, after-hours motion, temperature fluctuations, or other unusual circumstances.

Advantages of the Smarter Technologies’ Orion Data Network

SIM Free
There are no GSM associated costs with the Smarter Technologies’ Orion Data Network.

Lower frequency than GSM
Thanks to the low-frequency signal, the tags on your asset network are visible no matter where they are (inside a building or room, corridor and even an elevator).

Reduced power requirement
The Smarter Technologies asset tags have enough power to last for years, so there is no need to swap out batteries or charge tags constantly.

Multi-functional
The intelligent asset tags from Smarter Technologies can track assets that indicate temperature, movement, shock and more.

Remote configuration
Asset tags can receive messages in all locations, including heavy data packets and configuration settings.

Coverage
Each gateway can deliver coverage from 500m to 10km, covering an entire town, city, or campus.

Recovery ability
The asset tags and gateways can easily switch from digital to analogue modes to increase recovery capabilities and accurate location finding.

Rapid deployment of infrastructure
The Orion Data Network allows for straightforward and rapid deployment no matter the scale of the location, thanks to its wireless infrastructure.

The impact of environmental legislation on smart building technologies.

Environmental and Health Compliance demands drive organisations to turn to Smarter Technologies’ innovative building programs. Protecting public health and preventing contamination has become a significant focus area for building owners.

At the same time, keeping track of local and national changes in compliance is becoming onerous for building managers. To alleviate these challenges, the platform from Smarter Technologies automates many of the time-consuming maintenance and monitoring practices that managers experience and allows them to handle compliance from within an easily accessible application.

With Smarter Technologies’ building monitoring solutions, users can gain complete visibility of their entire estate with real-time notifications, alarms, and asset tracking. Harnessing the power of the Smarter Technologies’ Orion Data Network, users can observe and monitor their entire estate, person by person and asset by asset, from within a single interface.

Smart Building Monitoring Examples

Legionella Monitoring and Compliance
Smarter Technologies offers unique flushing and temperature testing system controlled via an intelligent platform. Users can ensure that their business stays within Legionella compliance regulations by efficiently scheduling tests and generating automated reports.

Smart Asset Tags
Users can run equipment more efficiently with Smarter Technologies’  intelligent tags, which allow them to track everything they need in their buildings. With dynamic control and efficient reporting across all assets, users benefit from insight-driven decisions that promote profitability.

Smart Lighting
Managers can easily switch out their current bulbs with Smarter Technologies’ intelligent LEDs, giving them ultimate control of their lighting systems. Users can choose from any colour and lighting temperature, and more importantly, they can set specific operation times with automatic shutdown whenever areas of the building are vacant.

Occupancy and Building Movement Monitoring
Smarter Technologies’ ground-breaking building movement monitoring system allows users to monitor buildings and staff with real-time information on desks, meetings rooms and other facilities. Intelligent monitoring enables users to securely manage their workforce, proactively making the best use of space and availability, improving energy efficiency, and encouraging staff collaboration.

Building Energy Monitoring System
The state-of-the-art Orion Data Network and building energy monitoring software allow users to monitor their building’s utilities to identify where energy and cost savings are available. Additionally, the monitoring can help users identify where they can further diminish their carbon footprint. You’ll benefit from automatic electricity load balancing, sub-metering solutions and peak power output control.

Air Quality Monitoring
Users can observe and monitor building air quality to comply with legislation while protecting staff according to health and safety regulations. Our outdoor sensors monitor the air for pollutants, and indoor sensors are perfect for insulated buildings where high occupancy affects air quality.

Building Temperature and Humidity Monitoring Systems
Smart thermostats connected to the Orion Data Network offer real-time temperature control in an intelligent building. Managers can also gain complete HVAC control and comply with minimum and maximum threshold warnings for fridges and freezers.

Fire Safety Equipment Monitoring
Users can keep their buildings safe and compliant with fewer time-consuming and labour-intensive manual checks on fire safety equipment. The Smarter Technologies’ intelligent fire equipment sensors can monitor fire doors, fire extinguishers and smoke detectors – alerting managers immediately if any change of condition occurs.

—

Smarter Technologies is working with Tech Data to help organisations evaluate the Orion Network and their Smart Building technologies.

Channel Partnerships can set up a meaningful and tailored demonstration that will show Smarter Technologies’ solutions working for a real-world evaluation.

Contact Channel Partnerships directly by calling: 01923 618099

Or email: info@channel-tools.biz

Pfizer turned to Komprise to create an intelligent data strategy to manage their migration to AWS and leverage cloud efficiencies without disrupting applications or users.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL CASE STUDY.

Komprise delivers a unique cloud data management service that allows users to analyse quickly and access stored data and object data across clouds without shackling that data to any vendor. The Komprise Intelligent Data Management platform helps users take control of vast amounts of growing unstructured data while cutting on average 70% of enterprise storage, backup, and cloud costs.

Pfizer is one of the world’s premier biopharmaceutical companies responsible for creating life-saving vaccines, including the Covid-19 vaccine. Pfizer had 5 petabytes of unstructured data in scope for its cold data strategy, 64 per cent of which hadn’t been accessed for more than two years.

With no end in sight to their rapidly growing data demands, the company needed a plan for moving their cold data to the proper storage solution. Komprise helped Pfizer quickly determine what data was truly cold – and then easily tier those files to Amazon Web Services (AWS), drastically cutting costs while creating a global tagged data lake to drive research and innovation.

Importantly, for a company that relies heavily on data for research and testing, the initiative resulted in zero changes in how users and applications access the moved files.

“Amazon S3 provides a great foundation – the water in the data lake – that can help customers build on other services such as analytics, which integrate seamlessly with Amazon S3 and, with Komprise, can help customers unlock the value of that cold data.”

Anthony Fiore, Senior Migrations Solutions Architect, AWS

Pfizer’s existing on-premises storage environment is a global heterogeneous NAS environment. Pfizer’s team needed constant visibility, a strategy for applying business rules for analytics, and better insight into their data storage and hosting.

“With data growing exponentially, we wanted to look at a better way of using analytics, to have data on a highly available platform still, but to make investments where it makes sense,” explained Matthew Braunstein, Director of Hosting Data Services at Pfizer. “And where it doesn’t make sense to have a highly available platform, push it to a more cost-effective platform.”

Komprise gave Pfizer a way to analyse all its data quickly and transparently tier cold files to AWS, cutting costs while building a global tagged data lake to drive business innovation.

“What sets Komprise apart compared with other solutions is the end-to-end process of analysing and moving data,” said Caitlyn Possehl, Global Strategic Alliance Leader at Komprise. “You can use Komprise to scan all your data, analyse costs and create business rules and then Komprise will act automatically against those rules.”

With a focus on research data on NAS, Pfizer found large amounts of data eligible for tiering. Komprise analytics helped Pfizer decide which data should be tiered to AWS by understanding what data was on NAS, who was using it, how much was cold, and what kind of data it was.

Komprise Intelligent Data Management deployed in Pfizer’s on-premises NAS datacentre and archived data to Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). Pfizer’s cost savings in the first 90 days alone were enough to cover the total cost of the Komprise solution.

Komprise helped Pfizer stop 20 years of increasing storage costs in its tracks. Komprise used analytics across multi-vendor storage environments to manage Pfizer’s data management and data movement to AWS. In the last year alone, Pfizer has migrated two petabytes of cold data to Amazon S3. They could tier unstructured cold data to the cloud without affecting or changing how users access it, which was crucial in the research and testing process.

The Komprise dashboard and management tools allow visibility, with a colour-coded data status and age, so the different stages of the data are identifiable.

“Many times, I come in and feel like it’s Christmas morning because we had planned 100TB to go out the door, and it’s 115TB because Komprise did their next scan and pulled some data I wasn’t counting on that aged out.”

Matthew Braunstein, Director of Housing Data Services, Pfizer

Pfizer now uses Komprise Deep Analytics to build different searches and queries on their data so they can create data lakes in AWS for further use in the cloud, leveraging insights from big data and AI, genuinely unlocking the data’s potential.

“It’s exciting that our researchers want to accelerate data movement using Komprise because they can analyse the data on AWS,” says Braunstein.

The Pfizer solution also deployed the patented Transparent Move Technology (TMT) from Komprise, which helps users migrate, tier and replicate data across multi-vendor storage and clouds – while enabling native use of the data at each layer. Data movement in this way is possible without disrupting users and without vendor lock-in.

Komprise is the only vendor that provides transparent tiering from the source storage array while including native access to the cold data on the target – without getting in front of the live data.

Files moved by Komprise TMT appear exactly as they did before, without users noticing any difference other than a link icon. They open like normal files on the desktop and don’t employ stubs or agents.

Key benefits of the Komprise solution include:

Clear access to moved files from the source storage device without obstruction.

• TMT moves files by policy to secondary storage of your choice, such as the cloud. The solution leaves an industry-standard dynamic link that represents the source data.
• Users and applications can still access and open the moved files from their original location by using these dynamic links without seeing any alterations.

File-object duality is preserved.

• The Komprise solutions allow moved files to remain natively accessible as cloud objects.
• When Komprise TMT moves a file to object storage such as Amazon S3, it writes the entire file as an object, unlike storage-based tiering. This means that users can directly access their moved data and extract more value from their static data.

Zero obstruction of hot data.

• Komprise TMT moves data using standard protocol constructs, so it is not in the hot data path, unlike storage tiering, global file storage gateways and data virtualisation solutions.
• Komprise is called when cold files are accessed, which happens rarely. This improves primary storage performance and allows you to run data analytics versus your file storage in the cloud.

No use of Stubs, Agents, or Proprietary Interfaces.

• Komprise Dynamic Links contain all the file system information a user or application requires in a simple, scalable format.
• No stubs or agents that are brittle and problematic to manage. No central database. Learn more about the fault-tolerance and load balancing of the Komprise Elastic Grid.

Minimise rehydration and egress fees.

• Komprise TMT moves data at the file level with the file metadata fully preserved at the target, so the transferred data is accessed as files from both the source and the target.
• With Komprise, you can use files in the cloud for file-based applications without bringing data back to the original NAS. This has the added benefit that your big data analytics projects don’t tax your primary NAS.

It helps to establish a layered defence against ransomware.

• Komprise customers can use immutable cloud storage via AWS S3 Object Lock to provide another layer of defence against ransomware.
• Komprise enables organisations to protect file data from ransomware at 80% lower cost through a combination of transparent cloud tiering and replication of all data to an object-locked location with file-level isolation.

Overall, Pfizer saved over 75 per cent on storage and cloud migration costs by accessing the powerful analytics Komprise offers. Cost savings came from removing manual data management and having Komprise intelligently and automatically move cold data from high-priced, on-premises storage to more cost-effective storage on Amazon S3.

If it needs to, Pfizer can directly access the data in AWS as Amazon S3 objects natively without paying fees to Komprise or paying egress fees, further reducing cost concerns.

The business impact of data management with Komprise speaks for itself. Pfizer gained efficiencies across the organisation, and unlocked value from data moved to AWS, allowing them to reinvest those discovered resources into their central mission, driving better patient outcomes.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL CASE STUDY

Click here to download the Komprise case study in pdf format.

—

Channel Partnerships can set up a meaningful and tailored demonstration that will show the Komprise Analytics and their patented Transparent Move Technology™ working for a real-world evaluation.

Contact Channel Partnerships directly by calling: 01923 618099

Or email: info@channel-tools.biz

Recent studies have shown that the $15T global retail industry is suffering significant turmoil, but the most recent disruption from the global health crisis has caused the biggest shock of all. The global pandemic has highlighted the differences between retail businesses while seriously concentrating on digital transformation and e-commerce.

Additionally, the consumer revolution has sparked a search for convenience, better pricing, and improved customer experience, shifting consumers towards online-only shopping.

Retailers are now striving to unify online and offline shopping environments – which will require investment in new technology and an emphasis on trust.

As retailers reshape their landscape, hundreds of operational decisions will need to be made even more rapidly across the value chain. Retailers are turning to advanced technologies to protect their businesses, and inevitably these technologies will include both artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Retailing is shifting from a product-centric approach to customer-centric, experiential retail blending products, physical and digital services, personalisation, and unprecedented levels of convenience.

Advanced technologies will be central to retail transformation – from warehouse automation to robotic store associates and driverless car delivery. Consumers will soon expect automated and real-time service and fulfilment as standard.

Physical stores will continue to form an essential part of the retail shopping experience. They will, however, need to be transformed to offer more personalised experiences, from tailored services to showrooms, fitting rooms, and entertainment. The transition is already underway, but retailers must build consumer trust by treating data safely, delivering the right product quality, and providing a seamless experience from shopping to consumption and returns.

Choosing the right platform for today’s innovative store

Retailers are already taking advantage of the actionable insights that predictive AI platforms deliver.

For example, in a move to help global retailers achieve their smart store ambitions, SAP has partnered with G2K, a leading artificial intelligence platform provider and one of the top innovative companies in Germany. SAP and G2k’s collaboration is already rolling out a Smart Store for intelligent global retail operations.

In January, the “Intelligent SAP Mart” incorporating the G2K Parsifal AI platform was launched at the National Retail Federation awards in New York. The Parsifal platform underpins the foundation of SAP’s Smart Store solution, from intelligent shelf management to improved customer experience and sustainable energy management.

G2K’s Parsifal Platform has been designed to help retailers quickly understand complicated situations that usually demand a great deal of analysis and human resources to overcome. Powered by AI and Machine Learning, Parsifal can predict in-store patterns and instances before they happen – and helps managers overcome both security and customer experience issues.

Security Management

The Parsifal AI system employs intelligent camera systems to imperceptibly detect and predict activity that could be of a security concern to the retailer.

If an accident happens anywhere on the premises or somebody requires assistance, Parsifal will instantly recognise it and alert the systems to trigger rapid action.

When combined with advanced virtual perimeters, the system has precise knowledge of specific places and their people. If someone enters a no-go area, an alarm is triggered to alert staff and systems.

Advanced Access Control

The Parsifal platform offers advanced features that respect customer privacy without storing any facial information beyond matching it with your database of flagged customers.

So, if someone enters the premises you have banned, Parsifal will detect their faces and alert security. Conversely, if a VIP enters the building, Parsifal will point them out.

Much more than a customer management solution

Parsifal can recognise the gender and age of store visitors, providing important demographic insights while conforming to the highest data security. By providing retailers with heat maps of visitor flows, retailers can optimise their experience in terms of facilities, services, or shopping.

Additionally, Parsifal’s queue solution can minimise frustration with intelligent throughput management.

Parsifal can even parse the registration plates of vehicles in parking and loading areas, giving retailers precise control over traffic and parking management – and predicting traffic volumes. And by recognising the car brands, Parsifal can even estimate customer spending power.

Parsifal is a software platform that employs thousands of algorithms to process and parse data appropriately. Pattern recognition and interpretation happen in real-time, providing instant knowledge of any situation.

The knowledge produced by Parsifal materialises in different ways, depending on retailer preferences. Parsifal can provide instantaneous alerts in a security context when a dangerous situation looms. This knowledge can reveal insights into customer flow and behaviour in a retail context.

In conclusion, retailers worldwide are reshaping their strategies with AI to help consumers and deliver even more compelling and personalised experiences.

Advanced AI platforms such as the Parsifal solution from G2K can underpin retailer technology creatively, leveraging their data to help them deliver on new, unique journeys for their brands. Retailers can now benefit from these advanced AI technologies as they are integrated with more traditional retail systems such as SAP to build smarter, predictive retail environments.

Additionally, solutions from companies such as SAP and G2K mean retailers don’t need to have advanced data science and machine learning skillsets in house. SAP and G2K’s Parsifal solution delivers the robust AI platform that allows retailers to build their own Smart Store solutions and meet the unique needs of their customers.

Learn more about the G2K Parsifal solution

G2K Parsifal is an advanced AI Platform with use cases in Retail, Transportation, Events, Corporate & Industry, Hospitality and Smart City. In the UK, G2K is working in partnership with Tech Data and Channel Partnerships to help organisations evaluate the technology.

Channel Partnerships can set up a meaningful and tailored demonstration that will show the G2K Parsifal solution working for a real-world evaluation.

Contact Channel Partnerships directly by calling: 01923 618099

Or email: info@channel-tools.biz

https://channel-partnerships.com

Customers have become used to accessing a vast amount of product information at their fingertips simply by browsing online and on their smartphones. They are adept at accessing and comparing product features, reviews, and availability in their quest to make better purchasing decisions.

However, the personal touch has become lacking in physical purchasing environments such as retail stores and outlets. There is often no one to guide the consumer in making better purchasing decisions based on experience, understanding and awareness.

Physical spaces vs digital solutions

Although consumers increasingly use digital channels to browse products and services, they remain committed to physical shopping across all generations. They value the ability to see, touch and understand products before making a purchase decision – and they appreciate the advice of an assistant armed with in-depth product knowledge. Personalised interactions are precious for higher-value purchases – or where there is a greater emphasis on purchasing the right product.

Additionally, digital channels are becoming more integrated into consumer purchasing habits, and consumers are increasingly expecting more from their physical shopping experiences. The demand for better advice, alternative solutions, and more personalised services are rapidly growing. Therefore, retail and service orientated businesses need more innovative tools to help them help their customers. The key is to give consumers access to data in their hands at the right time and place, giving them a more personalised store experience that exceeds their expectations.

Applying digital to physical

The application of mobile apps and physical retail guiding technologies can help consumers navigate their options and decide which solution suits their needs. Technologies such as Ombori Grid are already helping service providers and retail stores easily leverage omnichannel retail, visitor management and customer experience data to personalise product recommendations and in-store services.

The Ombori Grid solution delivers streamlined deployment and management of integrated apps and experience management tools via the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, an online repository providing access to a wide range of applications and services for use on the popular Azure Cloud platform.

The Azure marketplace delivers instant access to Ombori’s powerful ready-to-use range of no-code apps such as Appointment Booking, Queue Management, Occupancy Control, and the Digital Signage Playlist. These can be deployed quickly and easily without the need for costly and time-consuming custom development.

The powerful Ombori Grid range of solutions gives retailers and service providers the ability to deploy quickly, test and manage a range of in-store experience technologies that will empower customers and staff alike.

Users can interact with Ombori’s Grid apps via Web, mobile, voice, touchscreen, or gesture, among other options. All the apps can include an interactive digital kiosk solution, enabling consumers to easily access product information such as in-store location (wayfinding) and requesting a product solutions expert for a demo. Additionally, the apps easily connect to many IoT devices, such as cameras, sensors, smart speakers, mobile phones and even customer smartwatches.

Ombori Grid apps can also share data with retailers and existing data sources such as websites, inventory management, or customer databases – making the apps a gold mine for behavioural data capture and analysis. Combining apps and devices in innovative ways allows business owners to create unique experiences and identify bottlenecks in customer journeys.

A high-quality experience outcome

The benefits of experience apps and physical technologies are clear for those committed to high-quality customer engagement. Ombori Grid offers a speedy, flexible, and affordable way for business owners to gain the advantages of these technologies. It rapidly delivers increased customer engagement, loyalty, footfall, revenue, and productivity. Ombori Grid also includes developer tools to allow you to create your Grid apps.

Ombori Grid is a Microsoft Preferred solution currently deployed worldwide, offering reliability at any scale. It can handle tens of thousands of devices across thousands of locations and supports multiple languages.

To take advantage of Ombori’s Grid solutions, contact us and we can help you set up a free account and select the apps you need via the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. In addition, we will add a free consumption voucher worth 100 Euros* to your account.

You can add or remove apps on-demand, only being billed for what you use. You can configure and customise your apps from the Grid console to meet your specific needs and branding – and you can also deploy your apps directly to wherever they’re needed, across multiple locations. If the hardware is already in place, you can be up and running within minutes.

Request a demonstration

Working in partnership with Tech Data we are helping organisations take advantage of the technology.

Channel Partnerships can set up a meaningful and tailored demonstration that will show the Ombori solution working for a real-world evaluation.

Contact Channel Partnerships directly by calling: 01923 618099

Or email: info@channel-tools.biz

https://channel-partnerships.com

*subject to a qualifying conversation.