The new IoT-based solution combines Comcast’s IoT service machine with Neptune LoRa-enabled water meters
Comcast’s internet of things service, machineQ, and U.S water technology company, Neptune Technology Group, have announced a collaboration on an IoT solution designed to accelerate smart city projects focused on advanced water metering and infrastructure (AMI).
The two firms said that the new solution, which is already available, combines machineQ’s LoRaWAN network and connectivity platform with Neptune LoRa-enabled water meters and sensors.
The new IoT-based tool offers water utilities and municipalities a connectivity option to obtain data about their critical infrastructure through wireless technology, the two companies said.
“Cities and municipalities are no longer delaying their smart city programs based on the promise of future network technologies because they see the tremendous cost savings and efficiencies they can realize today from a broad range of existing IoT solutions,” said Alex Khorram, general manager of machineQ. “We can deploy and manage a dense IoT network tailored to the unique needs of any organization very efficiently, so they can focus their resources delivering the best service possible to their end customers.”
“Water utilities can build on the smart water investments they already have using Neptune’s R900 network-as-a-service (NaaS) technology,” said Chuck Brunson, VP of marketing for Neptune. “It’s the first LoRa Alliance-certified solution for water AMI networks. This technology relieves the AMI infrastructure burden of costs, frustrations, and maintenance for our utility customers.”
The machineQ and Neptune solution enables utilities and municipalities to reduce their reliance on manual meter-monitoring systems to capture key metering data. Manual systems require employees to visit sites where water infrastructure is located, which can be hard to reach.
“The LoRa technology is operating seamlessly with the system we have deployed,” said Jason Jay, programs manager for Columbus Water Works (Georgia). “We are excited about this easy migration path to a high-performance AMI system that Neptune is providing us.”
Western Municipal Water District in Riverside, California, is also deploying Neptune’s R900 technology on the machineQ network. “It’s designed to provide us with the meter data we require to effectively manage our system without having to install or maintain the network, allowing our people to focus on their day to day critical functions,” said Kevin Mascaro, director of finance.
Neptune Technology serves more than 4,000 water utilities across North America.
Last month, California-based semiconductor and software company Semtech said that Comcast’s MachineQ service has connected operational LoRaWAN networks to 10 U.S. cities.
MachineQ says that the roll-out means that it now has availability in more than 15 U.S. metropolitan areas: Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco and Oakland, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Washington D.C.
“As we continue to deploy LoRaWAN-based access to cities across the U.S., we are enabling businesses across a wide range of industries to bring IoT solutions to market faster, which is good for the ecosystem as a whole,” said Alex Khorram, general manager of Comcast’s machineQ.
