by Gary Mintchell | Feb 24, 2017 | Automation, Internet of Things, News, Operations Management, Safety, Software, Technology
Connections, services, augmented reality. Three technology directions and three companies that contacted me last month to point out some cool things going on, often beneath the radar. One of them just raised a bunch of VC money, though. I think you’ll be hearing more.
Now that I’m catching my breath from a couple of intense weeks with the ARC Forum and then the Industry of Things Conference, I have time to look at some new directions.
Knowledge Connected
Omnity uses the tagline Knowledge, connected. It accelerates the discovery of otherwise hidden, high-value patterns of interconnection within and between fields of knowledge as diverse as science, medicine, engineering, law and finance.
More than 2,500 scientific papers and 2,200 patent applications are published every day. Just the last five years of most scientific and engineering fields have produced on the scale of 100,000 documents. Reading these one an hour would take 50 years, a professional lifetime. Pair-wise comparison of these documents at three minutes per comparison would take more than 9,000 years, nearly the length of recorded human civilization. It is impossible to stay current in any field, much less the boundaries between two or more different fields, where most innovation occurs.
Omnity enables research and development professionals in all fields to rapidly and efficiently detect otherwise hidden patterns of relevant document interconnections. Whether for basic research or advanced product development, Omnity allows real-time insight into complex document sets, enabling research and development professionals to efficiently and systematically answer a wide range of questions. Read more here.
I heard about it on the podcast/radio show Tech Nation.
Augmenting Field of Vision
Safety Compass overlays information on your smartphone camera view, enhancing your field of vision. Warnings when and where you need it most—it is with you at work whenever and wherever you are, with coverage for the entire team. Simple, clear functionality with interactive hazard information suits any workplace size.
- Sign in and Select Your Site
- Supervisors can add a site or specific area on site within minutes.
- Adding hazard information is easy, simply follow the prompts to identify issues quickly.
- Workers can then sign in with secure login details and select from any number of relevant worksites.
- Scan Your Location for Hazards Using Augmented Reality
- The Safety Compass uses intuitive augmented reality to communicate hazard information to users in the field.
- Using the phone’s GPS and accelerometers the app superimposes real time information onto the camera view that adapts and compensates for worker’s field of vision.
- View Hazards Site-Wide
- By accessing the worker’s physical location, the app presents vital information on present dangers straight to the worker’s phone, avoiding the necessity of bulky safety manuals to locate and manage risk.
- A worker’s position is shown in relation to hazards, and workers can zoom, tilt and pan across a detailed site map.
- Access In-Depth Safety Information
- Workers receive critical site information well before they enter a hazardous area, allowing them time to prepare for safe work practices and overcoming the challenges of reading large volumes of complicated text in dark, shifting, loud or crowded environments.
- Additional safety information including video content can be added for more detail.
Frameworks of Applications
MuleSoft Agility starts with an application network according to MuleSoft. Mobility, Cloud services, the Internet of Things are creating incredible opportunities for business — but they’re raising customers’ expectations. MuleSoft builds application networks: seamless frameworks of applications, data sources, and devices connected by APIs, whether on-premises or in the cloud. They speed up app launch and modification cycles, make it easier to secure and manage access, and ultimately enable companies to do more — and faster — with less.
Leverage the power of API-led connectivity for a complete connectivity solution for digital business. Connect and orchestrate data on IoT devices, across devices, or with back-end applications. Leverage open standards and developer-friendly tools for speed and productivity. Connect to devices using out-of-the-box transport protocols like Zigbee and MQTT. Adapt Anypoint Platform to fit IoT architecture, not the other way around. Achieve full flexibility with a hybrid architecture and extensibility to connect future technologies.
MuleSoft recently received a large investment. Look for more from it.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 14, 2016 | Manufacturing IT, Operations Management
Do you know which clouds your company’s files are stored on? Did you even know you had a “shadow IT” problem? This sounds like the problem of the 80s and early 90s when forward thinkers brought PCs into the office because IT took so long to provide information or update reports. Or the past five years as people brought in their tablets and smart phones.
In this case, it’s either the Rolling Stones singing, “Hey! You! Get off of my cloud.” Or maybe Joni Mitchell, “I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now.”
According to Cisco, over the past year unauthorized use of public cloud services has growth 112 percent with the average large enterprise now using 1,220 individual cloud services.
So, Cisco has developed and released Cloud Consumption as a Service. The software discovers and continually monitors cloud usage across an organization and helps organizations reduce cloud risks and costs. It also delivers detailed analysis and benchmarking that helps the IT team proactively manage cloud usage across the organization.
Employees and business groups are increasingly going around IT to get the cloud services they need to do their job. The phenomenon, dubbed shadow IT, is growing exponentially and becoming a major headache for IT leaders. Recent analysis by Cisco reveals the average large enterprise now uses 1,220 individual cloud services. That’s up to 25 times more than estimated by IT. And the average number of cloud services has grown 112 percent over the past year, and 67 percent over the past six months.
Using the new software-as-a-services product, customers can reduce financial and security exposure by identifying risky cloud services, cloud use anomalies, and compliance issues. They can also cut cloud costs by finding ways to consolidate redundant services. Perhaps most importantly, the ability to discover and monitor cloud usage helps IT team better understand the needs of employees and internal teams. When combined with industry benchmarking, this critical information helps IT teams formulate a more strategic cloud strategy for their organization.
Making Educated Decisions on Cloud Services
CityMD is a fast-growing urgent care organization with 50 facilities across New York City and New Jersey. After using Cloud Consumption, CityMD were surprised to discover employees were using nearly 400 cloud services, with IT only formally supporting 15-20.
“Now that we have full visibility into our cloud usage we can make educated decisions about the services that are right for the business and get a better idea of what risks we may face,” said Robert Florescu, vice president of Information Technology at CityMD. “Our company was founded by ER doctors, so they want cloud services fast. With this information at our fingertips we can partner more effectively with our business groups. We can also proactively ensure we have the appropriate security and compliance measures in place.”
From IT Consultant to Business Consultant
To help Cisco improve the new product a number of Cisco partners participated in an early adopter program. Executives at Aqueduct Technologies and World Wide Technology describe the reaction of customers and the potential impact on their business..
“I recently had a conversation with a VP of IT at one of my larger customers. I was able to show him data in the Cloud Consumption dashboard and he was amazed at services he didn’t realize he was using,” said Chris Jennings, the President and chief strategy officer at Aqueduct Technologies—a regional partner based in Boston, Massachusetts. “We then had the opportunity to help them identify public, private and hybrid solutions that can impact their business. Cloud Consumption gives us the insight to transform our relationship from an IT consultant to a business consultant.”
“We want to empower customers to monitor and manage cloud services,” said Jim Melton, the technical architect of the Cloud Practice at World Wide Technology—a national partner headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. “Cisco Cloud Consumption not only helps with this goal, it also provides insight to help define the next steps in a customer’s cloud journey, and concrete data to build the business case for their cloud initiatives. Cloud Consumption is helping us move from a product-centric conversation to a solutions-oriented, business outcome approach with our customers.”
Price and Availability
The new Cisco Cloud Consumption as a Service is now available globally via qualified Cisco channel partners. The new service costs approximately $1-2 dollars per employee per month, depending on the size of the business.
