UtiliOS, a new Australian software as a service (SaaS) provider for smart water metering, promises to make water utility trials easier than ever; Mark explains how.

“Utilities often trial more than one type of meter, with UtiliOS, they can eliminate the headache of having to swap between multiple platforms and instead view all their meter data simultaneously in one place,” Mark says.

UtiliOS connects to any smart water metering solution, whether it’s a logger (sensor) coupled to a mechanical water meter or a fully integrated smart water meter with built-in SIM and smarts. UtiliOS can also connect to any LPWAN (Low power wireless network) like Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone’s NB-IoT network or LoRaWAN, Sigfox, or proprietary networks.

“Even if a Utility already has existing hardware and LPWAN’s in place, they can easily change over to UtiliOS,” says Mark.

Being able to display multiple devices and LPWAN’s across UtiliOS is just one valuable proposition Mark had to share.

“It’s not just about the ease of displaying the information but also being able to view it in a way that brings valuable insights to its users so they can take action,” says Mark.

UtiliOS quickly alerts its users to water leakages and their location with customised alarms through an SMS or email. It also offers granular data in an easily digestible or segmented format to help its users minimise costs for accurate billing. The analytics can instantly generate customised reports tailored to client-preferred formats thru exports or APIs.

“Professional water managers can also improve operational planning and strategies across portfolios. Eliminate the need for manual meter readings and unnecessary call out vehicle use, everything can be managed on your desktop or mobile app, reducing operational cost and emissions.” adds Mark.

UtiliOS will be demonstrating its exciting new software at stand M24 at Ozwater’22 with its Australian reseller, WaterGroup. This year the event is being held in Brisbane, from 10-12 May 2022.

About UtiliOS:

Established in 2020, UtiliOS is an Australian owned SaaS company, created by water and energy industry professionals with over 15 years’ experience in smart metering deployments. We offer water utilities, institutions, commercial and industrial businesses the benefits of secure data collection from smart water and energy IoT devices, and display that data on a user friendly, highly intuitive interface.

There’s a new future dawning for the water industry, Digital Transformation. Smart water meters are rapidly being rolled out across Australia and globally as utilities start to sense this new technology’s power to improve their services.

The data we collect from smart water meters is immense – in quantity and scope, this is Big Data at its heart. The big question for water utility providers and large commercial and industrial water users is where to start – how to make sense of the data in a user-friendly manner and produce meaningful reports, and, critically, maximise value for their business or operation by taking action that improves efficiency and saves money.

Mark Jeremy, CEO of UtiliOS, a new Australian software as a service (SaaS) provider for smart water metering, shares some compelling propositions that will change the game for water management.

UtilIOS called on more than 25 years of experience and know-how from industry professionals and its parent company WaterGroup to develop its software as a service (SaaS) product to turn the headaches of “making sense of data” into a seamless platform solution that delivers on need and solves problems.

According to Mark Jeremy, another big plus is that the software platform is completely agnostic to all smart water meters or communications layers its clients have chosen.

“Clients are often trialling competing meter solutions. With UtiliOS, you can try multiple solutions all in one platform. It makes no difference to the operation or value extraction”, Mark says. “Another benefit is the utility can white label it if they choose.”

Visualising this data provides a high-value benefit in the fresh-water constrained world we live in, which will undoubtedly be the case again after our current wet La Nina period ends.

As you’d expect, water leakages are a top priority for water utility providers and large water users. The UtiliOS SaaS can quickly advise on leakages and their location with customised alarms through an SMS or email.

Having this kind of granular data in an easily digestible or segmented format helps minimise costs for accurate billing. It can also help with operational planning and strategy across portfolios.

The analytics can instantly generate customised reports tailored to client-preferred formats through exports or APIs. “Clients are particularly keen on these,” Mark says.

With the right SaaS in place, locating water network losses due to leaks or theft can be identified faster than ever and action taken immediately.

For instance, a building manager using UtiliOS can find a burst pipe in the basement of a building or a running toilet on the seventh floor within hours, rather than waiting for a water bill to show up. A running toilet uses nine litres of water a minute, so it doesn’t take long for water losses to add up. All this from any device. Desktop, laptop or mobile.

Leaks don’t just cause water waste. Burst or leaking water mains regularly undermine roads and buildings, with expensive civil engineering consequences for local governments responsible for both water and roads.

“The big jump in this technology is that historically putting something like that in, [using sophisticated leak detection] is very costly. Now with low-cost IoT (internet of things) devices – it brings the cost of measuring leakage down a lot and brings value in,” Mark says.

Investors are looking for data and evidence of sustainability

The externalities at play for big utilities and other large water users include the urgency to act on climate change and pressure from investors and capital markets taking an increasingly critical look at the sustainability of the property portfolios they invest in.

They want verifiable data that withstands scrutiny from stakeholders who demand stronger guarantees around sustainable practices and climate action. Water is key to that.

So how does the UtiliOS SaaS work?

“First, our clients can use their existing hardware if they already have water monitoring devices,” Mark says. “UtiliOS is agnostic and works with all smart water metering vendors and LPWANs (low power wireless networks). If you don’t have a solution in place, we can discuss options, referring you to one of our resellers or providing customised integration into any system; billing or ERP [environmental reporting platform] such as Envizi”.

A smart water metering solution can be either a logger (sensor) wired to a mechanical water meter or a fully integrated water meter with the “smarts” already built-in, including a SIM. These then are connected to a LPWAN IoT (internet of things) network like Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone’s NB-IoT network or LoRaWAN, Sigfox, or proprietary networks.

“Utilities often trial more than one type of meter, with UtiliOS, they can view all their meters simultaneously in one place and don’t have to swap between platforms,” says Mark.

“The key with the software is not just displaying the information but also putting it into a format so that people can view meaningful data that they can act on,” he adds.

And taking action is the most important thing to create value, that is, saving water and money. UtiliOS is all about making this as easy as possible!

“Having this HMI interface to visualise multiple sensors on a single screen is a game-changer for IoT. If you have the sensors, we can visualise them. Tank levels, pressure, water quality parameters like dissolved oxygen, chlorine, pH or ORP, and pump status and run hours on one easy-to-use page make monitoring a plant or complex site so much easier,” says Mark Jeremy, CEO of UtiliOS.

“Remote sites can reduce multiple and often unnecessary site visits. Instead of looking at a whole table of parameters, an operator can readily see all critical parameters for their site immediately. It is just so much more intuitive. Best of all, thanks to UtiliOS’s unique design, it works just as seamlessly on the mobile phone as the rest of UtiliOS. It simplifies asset monitoring and maintenance and accelerates troubleshooting. UtiliOS is all about visualising and analysing data to gain meaningful insights to drive corrective actions on the ground, leading to large cost savings and efficiency gains. We are taking the man out of manual monitoring”, adds Mark.

The solution draws on UtiliOS’ existing, extremely flexible Alarm Configuration Engine (ACE). It allows a set of meaningful alarms in different priority categories for any conceivable condition. Any asset with an alarm will change colour, directly drawing the operator’s attention to the asset they need to address.

The following graphic demonstrates UtiliOS’ latest feature, its pump running hours and status monitoring module. According to Mark, this is very handy, ensuring pumps are properly cycled between duty & standby, thereby allowing for proactive maintenance planning once a set number of operating hours is reached, instead of waiting until it breaks down.

This solution is ideal for small and simple water treatment plants without needing an expensive SCADA system and creates better efficiencies across current asset management practices. It works for larger, more complex sites with multiple sub-meters and related water parameters like tank levels or rainwater harvesting systems. Examples would be Shopping Centres or University Campuses.