Sensorfield taps Pelion for cellular connectivity to deliver disruptive Remote Monitoring

The ability to gather data on systems and processes is critical to maintaining operations in the oil and gas industry. While supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) has long been the standard, its complexity and cost have proven SCADA may not be the best fit, or an option at all, for every application. With a mission to democratize IIoT, Texas-based Sensorfield has risen to tackle Big SCADA’s Goliath with a cost-effective remote monitoring alternative that leverages Pelion’s managed connectivity.

The Challenge

Traditional SCADA-based solutions have only become more costly and complex to deploy widely in industries like oil and gas. But in many cases, such as stripper wells, which produce almost a third of all U.S. oil output, the cost of SCADA puts remote monitoring out of reach. Yet the ability to remotely monitor these systems would offer critical advantages such as early warning of abnormal conditions that could result in loss of production or catastrophic oil spills.

Understanding the market’s need for an affordable, simple and robust remote monitoring solution, Sensorfield set out to break with the constraints and costs of established alternatives. Whether pressure, fluid level, temperature, vibration, or essentially any sensor type, Sensorfield delivers sensors that are plug-and-play, interchangeable, and quickly and easily connected to a weather-proof enclosure. There’s no specialized hardware, no complicated integration, and no additional on-site gateway requirements.

Leveraging cellular’s subsequent advances in availability, performance, and reliability allowed Sensorfield to consolidate around a direct-to-cloud solution that is now exclusively based on cellular. But in order to take its sensors to the next level, Sensorfield needed a connectivity partner that would deliver against several decisive criteria - access plans that provided ubiquitous regional coverage at the most cost-competitive rates, a truly global approach to high-quality cellular access, and a similarly visionary approach that would future-proof their expansion strategy.

Working with Pelion

Pelion’s managed connectivity solution enables Sensorfield to establish itself as a provider that supplies a consistent, dependable, robust, and competitive service. Thanks to a fully standardized architecture, ably supported by Pelion’s managed cellular IoT connectivity service, Sensorfield clients can operationalize a new sensor in seconds.

Pelion is delivering the pathway enabling Sensorfield to expand globally, with local connectivity from multiple Tier-1 network operators complemented by a global roaming capability empowered by Pelion’s ecosystem of 600+ network partners. While oil and gas were its initial focus, Sensorfield can now offer its capabilities to a broader market from forestry to urban lighting to geological surveying and more. Working with Pelion, Sensorfield can offer its unique remote monitoring solution to any industry, anywhere in the world.

On its work with Pelion, Sensorfield notes “Working with Pelion gives us the ability to respond quickly to customer requirements and deploy new sensors rapidly, efficiently, and dependably, and we’re able to look beyond the traditional market and seek out opportunities, regardless of location. This responsiveness complements our value proposition and reinforces our competitive advantage.”

Success

Sensorfield has expanded its horizons and its customer base. Not just an option for smaller oil and gas operators, now larger organizations have embraced Sensorfield’s solution, giving the company reach beyond traditional SCADA and helping them seamlessly integrate a broader range of IoT sensors into their traditional management paradigm.

Looking to the future, Sensorfield knows that agility is critical, and Pelion’s fully managed eSIM-as-a-Service offering is a vital strategic enabler for Sensorfield, enabling them to transition to a single stock-keeping unit future and satisfy the entire matrix of customer requirements.To learn more about Sensorfield’s partnership with Pelion, download the full case study below.