How IoT Can Transform Your Business

The Internet of Things (IoT) is not just a gimmick: it’s now a reality with nearly 6 billion connected industrial objects worldwide. What are the key trends in IoT and how can our cable customers benefit? 

IoT is a hot topic. And it’s easy to understand why: IoT reduces costs, boosts productivity and enables new business models. 

Microsoft and Nexans recently teamed up to present a customer webinar about the Internet of Things (IoT) and where it’s heading. Here are some of the key takeaways: 

• Cloud, edge computing and artificial intelligence (AI) are IoT enablers.

Cloud allows you to define where to execute your services based on business rules. Edge computing is an extension of the cloud, making it possible to deploy services as close as possible to your assets. Meanwhile, AI identifies patterns in data to trigger alerts and launch business processes. Together, cloud, edge and AI increase the power, speed and cost-effectiveness of IoT.

• Nexans’ Connected Drums highlights what you can achieve with IoT.

Connected Drums allows you to track your cable drums in real time and to find out what’s happening to them – you can even detect if someone is trying to steal them. And thanks to AI and edge computing, each drum “knows” exactly how much cable remains on the reel. Nexans has more than 100,000 cable drums all over the world – and our target is to equip all of them with IoT sensors.

• Connected Drums is saving one of our customers $200,000 per year.

This is achieved through faster drum returns, reduced theft and improved working capital allocation – all of it thanks to IoT monitoring.

• Our cables are getting smarter too.

Nexans’ Smart Cables solution allows our customers to access data about the cable using a phone or an RFID reader, thanks to tags embedded during manufacturing. Product sheets and intervention data are all stored on the cable. A key benefit is being able to identify the cable easily on a construction or mining site. Smart Cables are fully traceable. 

• Nexans also connects your fixed assets.

INFRABIRD is an example. This is an IoT solution that provides smart keyless access and supervision for equipment such as street cabinets. The solution allows telecom and power network customers to secure their infrastructure and monitor the status of cabinets and the history of interventions, while improving service thanks to better responsiveness in case of breakdowns.

• Our IoT platform brings all your connected assets together.

Our IoT platform allows you to ingest, correlate and share data about your assets – including drums, cabinets and cables. The solution is fully scalable, from a few hundred units up to thousands. You can monitor assets anywhere in the world. And by linking our platform with your own information system, you can correlate real-time IoT information with other business data to gain new insights.

• Ecosystems are the future.

Nexans is building a full ecosystem that brings together all your connected assets and your IoT platform to create a “digital twin”. Digital twin is a game changer because it allows you to model the evolution of your network, optimise maintenance and anticipate problems before they happen. 

• What other developments are in the pipeline?

Nexans is testing “augmented reality” solutions using Microsoft HoloLens smart glasses to support remote assistance and training –. Nexans is using these technologies to ease product installation and make the global network more reliable and secure finally helping our customers to get even more value from their data.

Watch the webinar replay: How to bring value to your customers with IoT solutions?