Comcast’s IoT Unit Connects on Smart Water Infrastructure Projects

machineQ, Comcast’s enterprise-focused Internet of Things service, has teamed with Neptune Technology Group on smart cities projects focused on advanced water metering and infrastructure.

Under the effort, machineQ’s LoRaWAN network/platform will be integrated with Neptune’s LoRA-enabled water meters and sensors in a way that helps water utilities and municipalities gather data about their infrastructure and use it to optimize their workforces and to boost their sustainability efforts.

They claim that the combination will help water utilities and municipalities leap from manual meter monitoring systems to a more advanced approach that delivers data wirelessly to the cloud for remote monitoring.

Neptune says its R900 meter interface unit can work with prior generations of equipment and transmit meter reading data via walk-by, mobile, or a fixed network without reprogramming. 

Neptune says its R900 meter interface unit can work with prior generations of equipment and transmit meter reading data via walk-by, mobile, or a fixed network without reprogramming. 

Early examples of companies that are taking advantage of the machineQ/Neptune system include Columbus Water Works of Georgia, and Western Municipal Water District in Riverside, Calif.

MachineQ and Neptune are touting the partnership in concert with this week’s American Water Works Association’s annual conference, ACE18, in Las Vegas. They are also sponsoring the event.

Neptune is one of a handful of new business partners that machineQ identified in March.

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Comcast introduced machineQ in 2016 via trials in Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Chicago, and has since rolled out its LoRa-based service to Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Miami, Minneapolis, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Washington D.C.

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“Cities and municipalities are no longer delaying their Smart City programs based on the promise of future network technologies because they see the tremendous cost savings and efficiencies they can realize today from a broad range of existing IoT solutions, from trusted providers like Neptune, that are capable of leveraging the machineQ cloud-based IoT network and platform services,” Alex Khorram, GM of machineQ said in a statement. “We can deploy and manage a dense IoT network tailored to the unique needs of any organization very efficiently, so they can focus their resources delivering the best service possible to their end customers.”

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