A Gas Monitoring Solution Built on IoT

Since 2006, CO2Meter has grown to become one of the most trusted and reliable leaders in the gas detection industry. The company’s founders combined proven technical expertise and trusted sales and management experience in both the gas detection field for mining as well as photonics, and have only grown more “sense” since then.

In 2019, Travis Lenander, a successful business professional with Fortune 500 companies, purchased the business and became CEO. With the leadership change came a new focus on product diversification, sales penetration, brand recognition, and international development. Now, with two decades of extensive industry expertise, it is no surprise that the company continues to grow at a rapid pace.

Despite what its name may suggest, CO2Meter’s technologies track and monitor more than just carbon dioxide, with sensors that cover oxygen, carbon monoxide, ammonia, methane, nitrogen, argon, and other gases. They also offer fixed-gas safety systems, gas data loggers, and accessories that help make that data accessible and actionable.

It is no surprise, then, that CO2Meter serves a vast array of business types and organizations, with its customers including those found in restaurants and food, breweries and wineries, indoor agriculture, scientific and medical, industrial safety, and welding applications – to name a few.

The Challenge – Integrating a Varied Monitoring Solution into an AWS Backend

With such a versatile solution covering countless industries and applications, CO2Meter required a robust and adaptive backend. That is what led the company to AWS, whose nearly universal accessibility and broad potential allowed the company an easy and secure means of connecting their devices to cloud applications and other devices. 

Yet even though AWS is the most prominent cloud platform on the market, not every device is designed to integrate with the service easily. Managing software and certificates for such a large fleet – particularly with most deployed devices being in the possession of end-users can be complicated – and that complexity only grows with each new customer. 

The complexity does not end at the backend either, as a global operation involving connected devices may also run into some difficulties when it comes to international pricing structures. As such, CO2Meter needed a connectivity provider that not only covered their operational area but helped simplify the integration process and cut through the red tape of international pricing, as well.

“With its ease of use, fantastic support, and competitive price structure, Soracom was an easy choice for us. It has significantly reduced the overhead in our data transmission thanks to the backend tools available, made onboarding of new devices completely seamless, and required no software changes other than updating the endpoint.”

Robert Miller

Vice President of Engineering, CO2Meter

The Solution – A Connectivity Provider That Makes Scaling Easy

This search is what led them to Soracom, a provider of international IoT connectivity that was also built on an AWS infrastructure. Yet what truly sets Soracom apart from other MVNOs is its suite of backend tools that help secure and provision connected devices at a scale that works for a business as big as CO2Meter.

Key to this functionality is Soracom’s Beam and Krypton services – TLS encryption proxy and device provisioning services that provide both secure connectivity and device management with direct integration to AWS IoT Core. CO2Meter further deploys the data management tool Soracom Harvest to help monitor and track usage down to the specific SIM, a factor that has proven essential to the success of development and data management for their prototype devices.

Combine this with Soracom’s competitive pricing and single-rate, pay-as-you-go cost structure, and CO2Meter found a connectivity partner that has helped it scale its operation into what it is today.

“Coming from another IoT partner, the backend tools and integration with our AWS environment from Soracom is simply second to none,” said Robert Miller, CO2Meter’s Vice President of Engineering. “Where others offer SIM and Usage tools as well as routing, Soracom offers an entire platform meant to make the integration of any cellular-based project into AWS as easy as we could possibly imagine. All while still offering great rates and support with our preferred carriers, as well as global support.”

The Importance of Smart Connectivity to a Remote Monitoring Solution

Soracom’s tools and services have helped CO2Meter expand to a global – even interstellar – operation. With Soracom’s data management controls and efficient setup, CO2Meter has seen data usage for its devices dip by around 30%, resulting in significant cost savings. Meanwhile, using the Soracom SIM and device authentication service (Krypton) to automate the device provisioning process, the setup time for each device has been reduced from about 5 minutes to less than one.

These additions have allowed CO2Meter to introduce new devices, expand its operations, and emerge as a global leader in sensor technologies. The company hopes to continue this spirit of innovation, saying that customers should expect more integration of their products and improved IoT features designed to expand the potential uses of their devices.

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