Atomation Wins IoT Breakthrough Award for the IoT Development Innovation Award

We're excited to share that Atomation has been selected as the winner of the "IoT Development Innovation Award" in the 10th annual IoT Breakthrough Awards program. The recognition highlights something we've been building toward since day one: giving customers ownership of their operational data.

The Problem with Traditional IoT: Data Captivity

Most industrial IoT vendors operate on a simple principle: capture data from customer equipment, then control access to that data through proprietary platforms. Customers can see dashboards and receive alerts, but their own operational intelligence remains locked inside vendor-controlled systems that don't communicate with existing enterprise tools.

Want to integrate sensor data with your CMMS? That's an extra fee and a custom integration project. Need to build machine learning models using your own data? You'll need vendor approval and probably another integration partner. Planning to move to a different platform in three years? Hope you enjoy starting from scratch.

This approach treats customer data as a revenue stream rather than a customer asset.

What Open API Access Actually Means

Atomation provides API access to all sensor data. Not "contact us for API documentation" or "enterprise plans only." Every customer gets access to configure sensors, retrieve data, and integrate with any system they choose.

The platform provides raw sensor data access (temperature readings, vibration signatures, and runtime analytics as examples) that enables unlimited custom analytics, as well as other endpoints, including our edge computing event data, which allows the platform to not only receive events but also trend data. Customers can build machine learning models using their preferred tools, create custom visualizations in existing business intelligence platforms, and develop proprietary algorithms without vendor gatekeeping or additional licensing fees.

"We see ourselves as a 'fill the gap' platform for enterprise software solutions," said Guy Weitzman, Chief Product Officer at Atomation. "Atomation's wireless platform with API access enables preventative maintenance and AI platforms to gather the data and analytics they need without infrastructure barriers or vendor lock-in."

This means sensor data flows directly into ERP systems, CMMS platforms, business intelligence tools, and custom applications. The data belongs to the customer, and they control where it goes and how it's used.

How This Works in Practice

The technical architecture behind this openness enables the kind of customer outcomes we see across manufacturing, mining, and power generation:

Early detection that prevents downtime. When an AT-R sensor monitoring a conveyor gearbox detected rising vibration and temperature, the site team had enough lead time to source a replacement, stage the equipment, and schedule the swap during planned maintenance. Because they caught the failure early, the damaged gearbox may be rebuildable rather than a total loss.

Hydraulic system monitoring that catches unexpected failures. An AT-R sensor installed on a hydraulic oil tank to detect leaks instead caught a heat exchanger failure through simultaneous temperature and vibration signatures. The dual-signal detection gave operators clear evidence to shut down the equipment before the failure cascaded into system-wide damage, contamination, and extended downtime.

Fleet-wide policies built from single alerts. When monitoring on one crane detected bearing degradation, the operations team didn't just fix that crane—they implemented inspection protocols across their entire fleet based on the failure signature. One alert prevented weeks of potential downtime.

The Technical Foundation: Wireless Edge Computing

Behind these saves is infrastructure-free wireless monitoring that actually works in industrial environments. AT-R sensors connect via Bluetooth to battery-powered cellular gateways—no wiring required, no network infrastructure needed. The sensors run on batteries that last for years, and the gateways operate independently wherever cellular service is available.

This matters because industrial equipment is often spread across large facilities or outdoor locations where traditional wired monitoring isn't practical. The wireless architecture means you can monitor conveyor gearboxes in remote sections of aggregate plants, hydraulic systems on mobile equipment, and utility infrastructure across miles of distribution lines.

The edge computing architecture processes data locally on the sensor and gateway, running analytics and generating alerts without requiring constant cloud connectivity. When equipment conditions drift beyond normal operating parameters, the system generates threshold-based alerts immediately—giving maintenance teams the lead time to plan appropriate responses rather than scrambling for emergency repairs.

Why This Matters for Enterprise Integration

Open API access transforms how customers use industrial monitoring data. Instead of IoT being an isolated tool with its own dashboard and alert system, sensor data flows directly into the systems that drive maintenance decisions, production planning, and operational analytics.

CMMS users can trigger work orders automatically when sensor data indicates developing problems. Operations managers can integrate equipment monitoring with production scheduling to optimize maintenance windows. Engineering teams can pull raw sensor data into their own analytics platforms to identify patterns across multiple sites or equipment types.

The system doesn't replace existing enterprise tools—it enhances them with real-time equipment intelligence that was previously invisible or captured only during periodic manual inspections.

Customer-Owned Intelligence Platforms

Steve Johansson, managing director at IoT Breakthrough, explained the award selection: "The fundamental flaw within the IoT industry is vendor lock-in through data captivity. Customers are systematically trapped in walled gardens that lock operational data and force them to operate inside these isolated ecosystems that can't communicate with existing enterprise systems. Through unrestricted API access, complete system integration, customer-controlled analytics, technology independence, and transparent pricing, Atomation transforms IoT into a customer asset."

That's the distinction we're working to establish in industrial monitoring: the difference between vendor-controlled monitoring systems and customer-owned intelligence platforms.

What's Next

This recognition from IoT Breakthrough validates the approach we've taken since founding Atomation in Tel Aviv: giving unconnected devices a voice and delivering solutions that capture and turn raw data into useful information. But the real validation comes from customers who've prevented equipment failures, avoided unplanned downtime, and turned their operational data into actual competitive advantage.

The challenge now is making open, customer-controlled industrial intelligence the standard rather than the exception. That means continuing to prove through real deployments that customers benefit when they own their data, control their analytics, and choose their own integration strategies.

Every conveyor gearbox save, every hydraulic system failure caught early, and every fleet-wide policy improvement demonstrates what becomes possible when operational intelligence belongs to the customer rather than the vendor.

Interested in learning more about customer-controlled monitoring? Visit www.atomation.net or contact our team to discuss how unrestricted API access can transform your equipment monitoring strategy.