Managed by the cloud, they promise to help businesses simplify asset and facility monitoring across their organizations, from indoor IT closets to outdoor Operation Technology (OT) spaces at scale.
Many businesses today operate in commercial buildings with limited capacity and are supporting a growing mobile workforce. It is critical for business operators to have actionable data from their office space and assets to better manage network equipment performance and maintenance. Remote monitoring using IoT sensors offers a list of benefits to help improve efficiencies including employee safety by preventing unnecessary site visits and equipment checks, reducing network outages and downtime and reducing costs for premature equipment failure.
Cisco is introducing two innovative IoT sensor solutions designed to simplify installs, offering enhanced security and scale:
- Meraki MT sensors monitor indoor environments and IT infrastructure. Three models of cloud-managed devices – MT10, MT12 and MT20 – provide real-time data on indoor temperature, humidity, water leaks and property/room access.
- Industrial Asset Vision sensors monitor OT assets and facilities in outdoor and industrial indoor spaces. Bundled in a new cloud-based management dashboard that fosters actionable visibility from the sensors to the network, the IP65 and IP67 rated sensors are pre-integrated with Cisco LoRaWAN IoT Gateway and provide insight for equipment and facilities temperature, humidity, vibration monitoring and lighting levels.
“Remote visibility and operation have become increasingly important not just for efficiencies but to also effectively manage the post-Covid industrial environment,” said Kevin Prouty, group vice president for IDC Energy and Manufacturing Insights. “Remote monitoring solutions that are fast and simple to deploy across the enterprise from IT to OT provide clear business value. Cisco’s new Industrial Asset Vision and Cisco Meraki MT solutions potentially simplify deployments and move towards unifying the data needed for resilient decision-making. Industrial companies need their data to be managed across silos and to be secure from endpoint to insights,” he added.
Customers across a range of industries including utilities, oil & gas, education, healthcare, manufacturing and retail have already deployed these solutions to improve their day-to-day operations and mitigate business disruptions and costly downtime.
“Expanding the simplicity of Cisco Meraki into our asset management and physical security has immediately improved our ability to keep our systems functioning and support school operations,” said CR Hiestand, network and systems administrator at Reading School District. “Before deploying Meraki MT, we weren’t able to keep track of data trends that would allow us to take preventative action when an incident like a faulty air conditioning unit occurs. “Now, we’re alerted as soon as temperature rises above a specific threshold and can immediately address the HVAC equipment failure to ensure there’s no network interruption for any of our 20,000 students and staff,” he added.
“For many businesses and their IT teams, real-time visibility into critical infrastructures is crucial in keeping their business running smoothly,” said George Bentinck, director of product management at Cisco Meraki. “Meraki MT provides real-time awareness and monitoring into IT environments via a single cloud dashboard, providing customers with the signature simplicity they have come to expect from Meraki.”
“Connecting sensors to the network and gaining access to multiple dashboards and its correlated data has become an increasingly challenging requirement at scale within today’s OT environments,” said Vikas Butaney, general manager of IoT at Cisco. “With this announcement, Cisco is taking another step forward to provide customers and partners with scalable, simple solutions that provide end-to-end visibility and automation.”
