Modius Joins the Intel Market Ready Solution Program (IMRS)
Written by Sean Gately
OpenData Platform Technology: Modules, Architecture & IoT Gateways
Modius is now an approved Intel® IoT Market Ready Solution (IMRS), enabling organizations to deploy a complete commercial infrastructure monitoring system at the edge in hours. The OpenData platform monitors HVAC, power chain, environmental sensors, and IT equipment from a single console — providing real-time visibility across distributed networks. A recent collaboration with a Fortune 100 financial institution saved over $2M annually by eliminating 24/7 staffing at remote sites. Modius addresses four verticals through the IMRS program: Edge Data Centers, Smart Building Analytics, Distributed Branch Office Monitoring, and Smart Data Center Critical Infrastructure Monitoring.
How Has Commercial Infrastructure Monitoring Evolved?
Commercial Infrastructure Monitoring has evolved over the past decade as the Internet of Things (IoT) has become a reality. As much of a buzzword that IoT is, it certainly carries the weight of a technology revolution and is initiating massive changes in the way companies deploy and manage their network-based assets.
We talk a lot about “edge” and “smart” networked equipment as part of the overall digital transformation that corporate networks and equipment have undergone in the last few years, but rarely speak about why this evolution is important or how best to implement changes to future-proof network monitoring.
IoT has also initiated the need of bringing computing power closer to the edge to support those devices and services that companies rely on as part of their “always-on” offerings, and these services have drastically increased the sheer quantity of equipment that a network needs to monitor. To understand the foundational principles behind this need, it helps to first understand what DCIM and infrastructure monitoring involve at a core level.
The Rise of Edge Data Centers
Take as an example the rapid-fire growth of edge data centers — the deployment of preconfigured mini data centers anywhere in the world to support new latency-sensitive services that cannot fail. These services include network infrastructure monitoring for telecommunications, implanted medical devices, industrial machines, consumer-driven experiences with connected wearables, and a host of other technologies that embed more analytical services requiring local data processing.
As consumers’ anticipation of services evolves toward an “always-on” expectation, network operators have the increasingly difficult job of making sure the equipment that supports these services remains healthy, and any potential issues are relayed before any failure happens.
Why Is Edge Computing Displacing Centralized Infrastructure?
As Gartner covers in its blog article “The Edge Will Eat The Cloud,” the evolution of cloud data centers took a bite out of centralized data centers, and edge computing is set to take a bite out of cloud computing. Why? IoT equipment and services are designed to be always on, with rapid response time. They often are mission critical, requiring massive computing power and infrastructure of cooling and energy equipment at the edge to keep them running; using a cloud-only architecture or centralized data centers becomes costly, introduces latency, and has potential security risks — which is why we are seeing the rapid expansion of edge computing.
Unfortunately, managing distributed assets in real time is difficult, as many companies still rely on micro-level device monitoring systems and tribal knowledge to diagnose or predict potential system issues. Integration among these systems is often spotty at best, allowing little visibility across distributed assets and creating grey areas of concern at a time where companies cannot afford unexpected outages or delays.
Add to this a dwindling IT staff, a push to the edge with more networked equipment, and the inherent security risks — and the time it takes to research, integrate, deploy, and analyze the components in a commercial infrastructure monitoring platform. The investment of time becomes sizeable and potentially unmanageable.
How Do Modius and Intel Solve These Challenges?
As the developer of the OpenData platform for commercial infrastructure monitoring, and a leading provider of solutions for validating energy and efficiency initiatives, Modius is constantly searching to partner with industry-leading technology solutions that reduce the complexity of equipment monitoring and that help our clients position themselves for the future.
We are proud to announce that Modius is an approved Intel® IoT Market Ready Solution — a designation for commercially available solutions that address key business challenges, cut through the underlying complexity of IoT, and facilitate the deployment of technology to accelerate market adoption and ROI.
OpenData and Intel are set to transform the industry by empowering network operators with a way to implement an end-to-end enterprise-class IT equipment monitoring system anywhere in the world in a matter of hours and implement cost-saving initiatives. For instance, a recent collaboration between Modius and Dell, powered by Intel, helped a Fortune 100 financial institution save over $2M annually by eliminating 24/7 staffing at remote sites and helped them achieve a higher level of accuracy for IT support services. To read the full case study, download it here.
What Does the OpenData IoT Solution Include?
The OpenData solution enables businesses to experience the benefits of IoT at the edge on a drastically reduced time frame by extending a pre-packaged and market-proven solution that integrates easily into all mission-critical equipment, such as HVAC systems, power chain, environmental sensors, and IT equipment.
The OpenData Infrastructure monitoring platform includes pre-integrated software and hardware components, out-of-the-box integration into device protocols, and the processing power needed for edge-based machine health and efficiency analysis, all in one solution.
Four Verticals Addressed Through the IMRS Program
As part of our infrastructure analytics monitoring platform, Modius has selected four verticals to address through the Intel® IoT Market Ready Solutions program:
- Edge Data Centers
- Smart Building Analytics
- Distributed Branch Office Monitoring
- Smart Data Center Critical Infrastructure Monitoring
The IoT Solutions bundles are available now through thousands of resellers worldwide.
Extended Bundle Capabilities
Once deployed, all bundles can be extended for additional functionality, including:
- Power and Cooling Efficiency: Integrated monitoring of the power chain at your critical facilities, from the utility and generators down to individual devices.
- Asset Management: OpenData provides advanced asset management with dynamic visualizations of equipment location and interoperability.
- Workflows: An integrated solution that utilizes BPMN models to define a workflow built from individual tasks and conditions and that tracks progress and history.
- Cooling Management: Environmental monitoring can track properties like temperature and humidity and provide data-driven dynamic maps of environmentally sensitive locations, including data centers and manufacturing floors.
How Does OpenData Deliver a Single-Pane View of Distributed Networks?
As the next generation of services expands out to the edge, and the need for more commercial infrastructure to support these services becomes a reality, OpenData’s IoT Market Ready Solution represents a massive opportunity for companies to gain visibility into the inner workings of their networked equipment.
By offering local equipment integration and data analysis of device efficiency and energy usage, operators for the first time receive a single-pane view of their entire distributed network — including HVAC system efficiency, environmental impact analysis, and predictive outages — all while receiving critical need-it-now information that operators need to maintain peak operating conditions.
Organizations evaluating commercial infrastructure monitoring solutions can use the DCIM buyer’s guide to understand the key criteria that distinguish enterprise-class platforms from point monitoring tools.
To find out more about the IoT Solutions bundles, please contact sales@modius.com or visit Intel® IoT Market Ready Solutions at www.intel.com/iotmarketready.
About Modius
Modius, Inc., is a leading provider of critical infrastructure management software and solutions for the IoT. Modius’ critical infrastructure solutions enable IT and facilities personnel to work collaboratively to lower energy costs, expand capacity, and improve the reliability and availability of all IT services. The Modius flagship product, OpenData, monitors all power distribution and cooling and environmental sensors across multiple facilities from a single console, providing intelligent operating decisions based on data from the IoT.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Intel IoT Market Ready Solution (IMRS) program?
Answer: The Intel® IoT Market Ready Solution program designates commercially available IoT solutions that address key business challenges and are designed to accelerate market adoption. Approved solutions like Modius OpenData have been validated for their ability to cut through IoT complexity and deliver measurable ROI for organizations deploying edge infrastructure monitoring.
How does Modius OpenData work as an Intel IMRS?
Answer: Modius OpenData delivers a pre-integrated hardware and software stack that deploys at the edge of the network. It provides out-of-the-box integration into device protocols for HVAC systems, power chain, environmental sensors, and IT equipment — giving operators a single-pane view of their entire distributed infrastructure from anywhere in the world within hours of deployment.
What ROI has Modius delivered for enterprise customers?
Answer: A recent Modius and Dell collaboration, powered by Intel, helped a Fortune 100 financial institution save over $2M annually. The savings came from eliminating 24/7 staffing at remote sites and achieving a higher level of accuracy for IT support services by implementing the Modius IoT solution for remote device management and monitoring.
Why is edge computing critical for always-on IoT services?
Answer: Cloud-only and centralized architectures introduce latency, cost, and security risks that are incompatible with always-on IoT services. Edge computing brings processing power closer to the devices, enabling rapid response times and local data analysis. As Gartner has noted, edge computing is positioned to take a significant bite out of cloud computing as IoT adoption accelerates.
What industries does Modius serve through the IMRS program?
Answer: Through the Intel® IoT Market Ready Solutions program, Modius addresses four verticals: Edge Data Centers, Smart Building Analytics, Distributed Branch Office Monitoring, and Smart Data Center Critical Infrastructure Monitoring. Solutions are available through thousands of resellers worldwide and can be extended with add-ons for power efficiency, asset management, workflows, and cooling management.
How quickly can Modius OpenData be deployed at a new site?
Answer: Modius OpenData is designed for rapid deployment — the pre-packaged, market-proven solution can be implemented anywhere in the world in a matter of hours. The pre-integrated software and hardware components with out-of-the-box device protocol integration eliminate the lengthy research, procurement, and integration cycles typical of custom IoT deployments.