Magnum Energy Launches cBox – the Amazon Web Services IoT Gateway for Smart Building Control
December 12, 2016
Magnum Energy Solutions, an innovative wireless energy management solution provider, today introduces its newest product for commercial building automation. The cBox or "CloudBox" is an innovative gateway that enables self-powered, wireless devices to securely and efficiently communicate with Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT. The cBox enables smart building control and the remote monitoring of devices, including Magnum’s OPUS lighting nodes, to connect, authenticate and exchange critical data with AWS IoT using the M2M IoT protocol MQTT.
For owners and operators of small- to medium-sized buildings, the cost of adding smart building technologies can often be expensive. The high price tag is usually due to proprietary software solutions that are tied to the building equipment or to LED lighting systems. Magnum provides solutions that allow standalone lighting options without the need of software. If data visualization and remote control support are needed, the cBox provides a cost effective alternative.
For Magnum’s OEM customers, the cBox also offers them the ability to economically tailor software solutions specific to their customers or their application engagements. AWS IoT makes it possible to build applications that gather, process, analyze and act on the data generated by Magnum’s connected devices at a global scale without having to manage a traditional infrastructure.
The real-time Rules Engine in the cBox transforms messages based on expressions that the user defines and routes to AWS endpoints. For example, routine readings from a temperature sensor can be tracked in a table and an abnormal reading that exceeds a value stored in the device shadow can trigger a function.
The device shadows make it easier to build applications that interact with Magnum’s embedded, data collecting hardware. The device shadows deliver the last reported state and desired future state of the device even when the device is offline.
"We believe that software shouldn’t be proprietary, costly or confusing," states Cory Vanderpool, Director of Business Development for Magnum Energy. "With the introduction of the cBox building managers will now have a less expensive way to incorporate smart technology with a true landed cost."
Valuable data from Magnum’s devices can be routed from the cBox directly to AWS Machine Learning, enabling the ability to create machine-learning models without having to learn complex algorithms and technology. With this integration, Magnum customers and OEM partners can generate billions of predictions daily and serve those predictions in real time and at high throughput.
Magnum’s cBox offers a secure, scalable, flexible yet enterprise solution offering at a lower cost for building owners, integrators and OEMs. According to Magnum CEO Mike Giorgi, "From connected lighting to remote condition monitoring of appliances and equipment, our customers will greatly benefit from our wireless monitoring and control technology combined with our new Amazon IoT gateway."