Hello,

When you create an Internet of Things solution, you may have hundreds, or even thousands of locations where your solution is deployed.  How do you manage all that without going on-site?

How do you update the software, apply new security settings, manage communication parameters?

In this Quick Hits video, you’ll learn how Systech gateways make this simple and easy. 

And best of all, it's free!

So check this out!

-- Intro --

Hello, I’m Robert Lutz with Systech Corporation.

In the world of the Internet of Things, people often think about the control and access of remote devices and sensors.  Reading temperatures; monitoring motion, control valves, and that kind of stuff.  We have done several Quick Hits videos on those types of topics. 

Another consideration for an IoT solution is the deployment, configuration, and management of remote IoT gateways.

If you are working with just a few gateways, then managing them individually is fine.

But, if you are deploying large numbers of gateways, hundreds or thousands, then you will want to take advantage of a free tool available from Systech, called SOUP. 

SOUP (or SÔUP) is an acronym for Systech Online Update Protocol.  But really, it's just a cloud-based server that allows you to manage any number of gateways as easily as managing a single gateway.  And that will be a huge time saver.

Step one is deployment.

When a Systech gateway is deployed and powered up, the gateway automatically reaches out to the SOUP server for self-registration.  Soon after registration, the gateway can be identified and grouped by whatever method you need.

For example, gateways may be grouped by application type, or physical location, or by department, or by whatever makes sense.

One or more managers can be authorized to access various groups of gateways.  This which provides a high degree of control of who can access and control various gateways.

Here is an example view of various gateways accessible by an authorized manager.  You can see a summary of device information, including Ethernet Address, Model number, Firmware version, total uptime, current location, and a unique customer-entered description.

This provides a quick overview of the current status of large groups of gateways.

From here you can easily zoom in to view all the necessary details of an individual gateway.  So you can explore the Unit ID, Cellular information, Signal strength, the last date and time of contact, and other information.

Want to know the MEID number?  Do you need to access the system log files?  This is the place to find that information.

But gateways are never really static.  Things are always changing.  Sometimes you may want to view gateway properties as they change over time.  For example, how has the cellular signal strength varied over the time of day?  Or when exactly did an error event occur?

SOUP provides a timeline view of the gateway’s activities.

Another consideration is how to keep your deployment of gateways up to speed relative to configuration options and software updates.

Let’s say some new security threat has swept across the internet.  You will want to update the security settings of your gateways.  SOUP gives you the ability to perform those updates.  You can update gateways in groups, or update the entire inventory all at once.

One key aspect of SOUP is its ability to read and write data to the gateway as necessary.  It accomplishes this by the gateway reaching out periodically to the SOUP server with what is known as a light-weight heartbeat.  This is an extremely small data packet sent from the gateway at a programmable interval.

This small packet identifies the gateway to the SOUP server, and allows the server to keep up to speed on the current status of the gateway.  This also provides the opportunity for the SOUP server to update files or configurations within the gateway.

SOUP can perform many operations on the remote gateway.  This includes.

1.     Modifying network settings.

2.     Update the security software.

3.     Install or replace operating system modules.

4.     Modify customer specific software on the gateway.

In summary, the cloud-based SOUP server from Systech gives you the tools to remotely monitor and manage just about any aspect of the Systech gateway.

You can monitor any gateway from anywhere.  So, there is no need to send a technician to remote sites.

Best of all, SOUP is 100% free.  There are no up-front or subscription fees for SOUP.

I hope this short, Quick Hits video helped you and your IoT application.

This is just one of many Quick Hits topics available at Systech.com. Take a look at other Quick Hits Topics, and I am sure you will see one that you’ll find valuable.

For more information, check out IoT hardware and software solutions available from Systech Corporation.  And leave a note there, if you have ideas for future Quick Hit videos.

Thanks, and have a great day.