Using Connhex to create the next generation of industrial dataloggers
4neXt products are successfully utilized worldwide in various industries where reliable data collection and analysis are needed, including: metering (Energy, Water, Gas, Thermal), water treatment, process control and agri-food monitoring, automotive and fleet management.
4neXt was facing the challenge of simultaneously:
- managing a rapidly increasing number of devices, thanks to the success of its products - especially EasyLog XL
- ensuring a reliable communication between devices in the field and the existing web portal
- developing new features to keep expanding its commercial offering
Connhex was initially identified as the solution to a very specific need: adding support for the MQTTs protocol to their portal.
We were facing with two alternatives: Connhex gave us a third way: we were able to combine the best of both worlds.
- transforming our existing portal into a complete IoT infrastructure;
- replacing it entirely with an off-the-shelf solution.
Gino CecchettinManaging Director - 4neXt
Choosing Connhex revealed to be successful because it allowed for seamless integration with the existing portal, without the need to write off the investments made over the years. The integration occurred without any disruption for 4neXt platform's users, resulting in a notable improvement in resilience and scalability.
The infrastructure is now supporting multiple families of 4neXt products:
- Configurable Dataloggers
- Programmable RTUs
- Communication Gateways
Key results
Connhex proved to be the best solution for 4neXt's needs:
- it allowed for a 5x time-to-market reduction compared to evolving the existing portal. Moreover, this was achieved with only a 30% expenditure of what was budgeted for developing a custom solution;
- 4neXt can now offer its customers a solution tested and validated on various use cases. This gives 4neXt the confidence that the platform will be adequate to the needs of future products;
Connhex provided us with a much higher level of customization compared to purchasing an off-the-shelf IoT platform. This allowed us to achieve a level of integration with our products that would otherwise be unthinkable.
For example, 4neXt will soon release a firmware update for EasySENSE that will enable complete product configuration remotely.
Planning for the Future
4neXt continues to develop its product line, relying on Connhex Edge to create complete Edge-to-Cloud applications for Owa5x.
The cloud platform already supports new dataloggers with integrated I/O such as EL-D16, EL-A4, and EL-M2. Additionally, a LoRa gateway and sensors are in development: thanks to their close integration with Connhex, a complete sensor-to-cloud loop will be achieved.
Connhex is seen as a strategic investment for 4neXt's future: a state-of-the-art IoT infrastructure has proven to be an essential competitive advantage for their products. The vision for the future is clear: through the capabilities of its platform, 4neXt will bring solutions with increasingly added value to the market. With respect to this topic, basing its IoT infrastructure on Connhex will allow over time for automatic integration with new Connhex features, while keeping the solution always secure and up-to-date.
Compiuta has proven to be a core partner for 4neXt: as hardware manufacturers, we can continue to focus on our core business and offer our customers a high-performance cloud platform that adheres to the latest security standards.