Building, deploying, and implementing IoT solutions can take considerable time and resources. Which is why Microsoft recently committed to investing $5 billion in IoT over the next four years with the goals of simplifying IoT and making it available to everyone. And as those in the energy industry work to implement smart energy today, IoT solutions have never been more relevant or critical. Below, I’ve outlined a couple examples of how Microsoft and their partners are helping energy providers transform business through IoT. As renewable energy and distributed energy resources increase, the industry faces new challenges such as fluctuating demands, aging grids, decreases in nuclear and coal energy, and emerging technologies. Customized energy solutions enabled by IoT are positioning energy providers around the world to face these challenges head on. To learn more, be sure to register for the IoT in Action webinar on July 31, Powering the Future of Energy Efficiency with IoT. Apergy: Transforming Efficiency with IoT Solutions IoT solutions have applications across countless scenarios. Equipment in the oil and gas industry, for instance, undergoes heavy usage. As such, technicians must perform routine maintenance and troubleshooting to keep the equipment safe and functional, which often requires massive amounts of travel time.

According to Microsoft partner Apergy, a leading on-shore equipment and digital technology provider, one large pipeline customer calculated that the cumulative mileage driven annually by all their technicians added up to a trip to Mars and halfway back. This situation is not unique in the oil and gas industry. So Apergy set out to design the Spotlight Monitoring System to continuously monitor, diagnose, and optimize equipment health for reciprocating compressors and engines in the field. The Spotlight solution records sensor data across their fleet. These sensors provide real-time visibility, sending data directly to the cloud where […]