The Company
Fortes Energy Systems is the expert in transferring energy in district energy heating and cooling networks. For more than 20 years, their products have contributed to a sustainable living and working environment in homes, apartments and utility buildings. Fortes Energy Systems is a producer, supplier and sparring partner in this industry.
Fortes Energy Systems is specialized in developing and producing Heat Interface Units for residential construction and utilities. With their knowledge, experience and enthusiasm, they are constantly finding ways to transfer energy smarter and more efficiently for a comfortable indoor environment climate, high hot water comfort, optimum system efficiency and low energy consumption.
The challenge
Since 2015, the market of heating interface units completely changed. As a market leader, Fortes started to change the principles from mechanical to electrical controlled solutions. Fortes had also upgraded their heat interface units with IoT capabilities. This gave Fortes' clients huge benefits related to servicing, managing and monitoring assets. In order to remotely manage their devices and utilize the full potential of IoT, a user friendly, well designed and internationally deployable portal had to be developed.
Yet, without internal application expertise, and in consideration of the high cost of employing and training new members of staff, Fortes Energy Systems needed to find a trusted, external partner. Not only that, but the partner needed to be able provide superior application and cloud consultancy services at an affordable price. That's when IT22 came into the picture.
The Solution
IT22 was called in to design and develop this portal. Our engineering team partnered with Fortes Energy Systems and advised them not only on the technical application design but also business opportunities and features, data monetization strategy and cloud deployment.
Successful application development and implementation requires a holistic approach. We divided the solution into several development phases in order to keep all relevant stakeholders involved and committed to the project.
The project phases
1Design & Build the application:
The webportalWebportal for displaying data and monitoring and alerting of embedded devices. The complexity was in setting up and integrating hardware with software.
2Adding functionality: remotely controlling the embedded devices
There are many system functions which can be remotely controlled through the online portal. Here are some key features:
- 24/7 real time monitoring of all assets
- Remote project configuration
- Remote commissioning
- Monitoring temperatures
- Smart metering
3Adding API’s:
remote access for 3rd party end-usersBuilding an API gateway and API lifecycle management to enable remote access with secured API’s for end users (3scale API gateway)
4Adding Remote Diagnostics:
Reducing onsite mechanic visits for diagnostics, malfunctions or service disruptions through remote online diagnostics. Decrease of visits with 80%. This feature also fills the constant issue of a shortage of technicians.
5Advice on data monetization:
Fortes Energy Systems collects a considerable amount of data from the IoT devices, IT22 has advised them on how to monetize this data and keep hosting expenses under control.
The webportal
Extra Solution: Reducing
labor during assembly
Every new IoT device needs to be registered on to the system. This process has been done manually in the past. However IT22 has streamlined and automated this process during assembly of the IoT devices. Through a QR code scan/auto-registration, every device is already identified and registered in the webportal during assembly before it even leaves the factory. It is a 100% automated process, from pre-assembly to installation.
Used Technologies and platform
Cloud:
Azure
Container Orchestration:
Red hat Openshift
TechStack:
nest.js / typescript / react
middleware:
mqtt / 3scale
A fantastic experience that took a weight off my chest. The quality of the service is outstanding, well
above and beyond our expectations. The cost is extremely affordable, especially in consideration of the fact that at any point we have been in need of contacting the IT22 team, we always have someone at the other end of the line in a matter of minutes who has experience of our organisation and is able to immediately step in and provide the required support.
Rick van Plateringen
Manager Operations
Fortes Energy Systems
What IT22 can do for your organizationIoT Software Development
If you are considering to offer smart solutions with IoT functionality we have the experience to succesfully design, build and implement the software and cloud infrastructure for your product with a proven track record in effective partnerships with organizations across different industries and sectors, we look forward to becoming a "part of your IT team".
These are some of the services that IT22 can offer to support your IT requirements:
- Custom Software Development
- Managed Cloud Services
- IoT software design and integrations