Jabil Inala are launching a new site monitoring and analytics platform with major improvements in both the hardware and software which will take over from their existing SAM product line. The new platform will incorporate Telemisis’ SiteNode controller and a new web-based analytics platform developed with South African software provider, IMQS. We speak to Jabil Inala’s Managing Director, Howard Earley and learn about the brand new product line and some of its most exciting features.
TowerXchange: Since we last spoke, certain assets of Inala have been acquired by Jabil, a Fortune 200 NYSE listed company. Please can you introduce readers to Jabil Inala and the scope of the products and services that it now offers.
Howard Earley, Managing Director, Jabil Inala:
Inala had been operating for the past 19 years in various industries including telecommunications. It had a number of product offerings, the most important of which being its remote monitoring and hybrid management system, SAM (Site Asset Management). Inala had a long history of developing the product, bringing it to market and ensuring that it was fully operational.
There are currently more than 30,000 active SAM units in the field, monitoring sites for towercos and GSM operators predominantly on the African continent, but also in South East Asia and other parts of the world.
Jabil, a Fortune 200 product solutions and electronics manufacturing services company, acquired key assets of Inala to establish Jabil Inala after it evaluated a number of companies in the region and sector. Its decision was in part due to the telecom assets Inala had in place and also because of Inala’s African team and strong client relationships.
The deal went ahead and on the 5th November 2015 we became Jabil Inala. We are focused on the energy sector, predominantly telecoms, because that’s where we come from.
Jabil Inala is an energy solutions business, we are technology agnostic, we are customer focused and consult, design and deliver energy solutions to our customers. As a business, Jabil Inala is focused on five main areas. The first is generation; we offer energy generation products, predominantly solar and fuel cells, but extend beyond renewable energy products to source and supply other generation solutions.
The second business area we focus on is storage. We offer solutions from basic lead-acid batteries to lithium-ion and flow batteries as well as new technologies which are continuously reducing in cost. We sell storage from tens of kWh capacity, which are ideal for the telecoms market, through to larger units which have capacities of several MWh which are ideal for grid storage.
The third aspect we focus on is monitoring. As you know, in the past we had the SAM controller, a unit that could take multiple supported peripheral devices inputs and alarm inputs and feed them back to the Network Operations Centre. There were various methods through which these inputs were fed back, initially this was via SMS and then it became more sophisticated as the bearer networks evolved from GPRS to 2G, 3G and now LTE. Of course we can also communicate directly through any IP link available, whether it is satellite IP or an IP router. We’re now taking this to a higher level with the launch of the Inala site monitoring and analytics platform in conjunction with Telemisis - something that I will return to later.
A fourth business area is energy efficiency solutions. These solutions are focussed on reducing energy consumption by using energy more efficiently. Customers are generally large energy consumers and vary from large industrial power users to hospitality, healthcare and even health clubs.
The fifth area is data analytics; whilst analytics will be part of the new Inala site monitoring and analytics platform we also offer this as a separate service, enabling businesses to analyse their energy usage. There is a lot of talk at the moment about “big data”, but not only do you need someone to collect that data and harvest it, it is even more important for someone to analyse it and give management comprehensive reports on which they can base key decisions.
TowerXchange: You mentioned a new partnership with Telemisis which is being formally announced at this year’s TowerXchange Meetup Africa & Middle East; can you explain details of the partnership and the benefits that it will bring?
Howard Earley, Managing Director, Jabil Inala:
Whilst Inala’s SAM controller had been around for a number of years and continues to be deployed with customers, there were certain areas where it was clear it could be improved. We realised that to stay ahead we needed to invest in new technology. As such we’ve joined forces with Telemisis, a venture which we’re very excited about. The venture will see Jabil Inala incorporating Telemisis’ SiteNode controller, an ultra-low-power remote telemetry node into the Inala site monitoring platform. The Telemisis controller is miniaturised, easy to install and program. The controller occupies a third of the space, which gives us more flexibility. The system is configurable without having to open the unit allowing for much easier operation.
The Telemisis controller is in integral part of the Inala Site monitoring platform, adding further levels of processing power to our capabilities.
The Telemisis controller is miniaturised, easy to install and program. The controller occupies a third of the space, which gives us more flexibility. The system is configurable without having to open the unit allowing for much easier operation
TowerXchange: How have things evolved on the software side of the business?
Howard Earley, Managing Director, Jabil Inala:
To complement our hardware platform, Jabil Inala has also developed a web-based site analytics platform in conjunction with IMQS, a large South African software company out of the EOH stable.
The system has a much improved graphical interface and has intelligence built into it, analysing the information and allowing you to work in a more proactive than reactive manner.
Whilst we have always been able to produce customised reports, we now have additional intelligence built into it, allowing clients to customise reports based on their own operating style and therefore be better equipped to address problems before they become service affecting.
The Inala Site analytics platform can, for example, compare the efficiencies of different diesel generators being used across a network, informing the client which are costing them more. It can also identify areas where you have fuel theft issues, providing the hard data to back up the findings.
A significant advance in the capabilities of our software is that it has evolved from being a reporting tool over to a system with the capability of recognising trends allowing clients to rectify issues at their root cause.
It has an advanced on site controller, not only capable of gathering information but also capable of locally analysing the data to perform necessary client configured controls, such as automated stopping and starting of generators. The operator always has the ability to remotely override the control when necessary. All data is passed onto the analytics platform for storage and further advanced processing to give a current view and also to predict future trends.
Again, what I want to stress is that our software suite is vendor agnostic. Whilst of course, we would like to sell the complete Inala site monitoring & analytics platform, if you have an operator with other equipment out there, our software suite can harvest the data from that equipment and from other third party sources. It isn’t just other Remote Management Systems (RMS), but also the gensets, inverters and battery management systems that have their own intelligence and reporting equipment which can feed into the system. A huge amount of data points are generated by these different devices, many of which add little to the crucial metrics an operator requires, but our system will have the intelligence to determine which pieces of intelligence are important and adapt this as the monitoring requirements of the operator change.
A significant advance in the capabilities of our software is that it has evolved from being a reporting tool over to a system with the capability of recognising trends allowing clients to rectify issues at their root cause
TowerXchange: Have different monitoring and energy equipment providers been receptive to integrating their systems with Jabil Inala’s?
Howard Earley, Managing Director, Jabil Inala:
Generally, the companies we work with see our system as a useful tool which enables them to obtain data for their own purposes. There is very little equipment out there that we have not been able to interface with and obtain data from. There will always be some companies who are reluctant to share information on their equipment performance and in this instance we would attempt to bring a win-win outcome for all parties involved.
When we read the information generated by different technologies, we want to ensure that the information we are obtaining is accurate. Sometimes one company’s interpretation may be slightly different from another’s and so we need to ensure that this is standardised in order to develop useful analysis.
TowerXchange: What is Jabil Inala’s proposition in terms of helping towercos and MNOs analyse their data?
Howard Earley, Managing Director, Jabil Inala:
We very much support the MNOs and towercos in using the system, be it training their NOC operators or providing our own NOC operators who work with them. We are known for our ongoing support and commitment to our customers, it is a long term working relationship.
Over the longer term we want to help our clients reduce their overall CAPEX and OPEX, being able to make recommendations, for example, on maintenance schedules or technology upgrades which will ultimately save them money. We cannot of course provide insights into solutions that other clients are using but we can suggest that there may be a better option they need to consider.
We also want to ensure that the system has an excellent uptime. One of the biggest concerns raised about RMS solutions in the market, on both the hardware and software side, is that the systems are not communicating back to the operators NOC, we want to avoid this. We work with operators to mitigate risk and identify root causes, ultimately improving operational efficiencies as well as reducing costs. Towercos have very strict SLAs in place, and we need to help them meet these SLAs, improving site uptime through acting in more of a proactive manner.
TowerXchange: Whilst Jabil Inala are launching the Inala Site monitoring and analytics platform and partnership with Telemisis at this year’s Meetup, how proven is the solution in the field and how does this affect existing customers?
Howard Earley, Managing Director, Jabil Inala:
A lot of the monitoring and analysis as mentioned previously has been done over a number of years in multiple networks, with 30,000 systems deployed. This experience combined with that of Telemisis is now contributing towards this new platform solution.
We have been working with a number of clients who have been happy to work with us as our test bed, giving us substantial field testing for our new platform. Through this process, the MNOs have offered a number of suggestions which we have taken on board to adapt and improve the system.
We have one new customer who is going to be the first to receive the entire new system, completely from end to end. We have a migration plan for those clients wanting to migrate to the new system. There are a handful of customers who are very happy with the existing equipment and for these we will continue to support them.
