AnsuR Technologies, is an award-winning software company, founded in Norway in 2005 to help the United Nations with image transfer in disaster response. Since then, the company has branched out from its original focus on creating ground-breaking visual communication solutions for emergency situations to develop solutions for a variety of government and enterprise customers. Joining Inmarsat’s Application and Solution Provider Programme has opened a significant global market opportunity for AnsuR, in providing software solutions for any commercial or industrial use case where visual information is required to back up traditional IoT sensors
To date, AnsuR has focused much of its commercial research and development work in remote inspection for the utilities sector, offering safe and cost-effective ways to perform on-site inspections. AnsuR’s innovative tools enable utilities firms to send high-precision photographs, video clips or real-time streaming from remote or hard-to-access sites via bandwidth-constricted connectivity.
Ground-breaking livestreaming software
“We are all about enabling the efficient transfer of data to save our customers money and increase operational efficiency,” says Paul Gudonis, the chief executive officer at AnsuR. “Alongside Inmarsat’s BGAN M2M service, we provide data communication tools for real-world situations where visual data is needed, ensuring fullprecision photo and video content is communicated using considerably less bandwidth than traditional methods. By facilitating remote inspections in hazardous environments, we can not only help keep people safe, but also deliver substantial sustainability value too.”
In any situation where an IoT sensor sends an alarm, AnsuR’s proprietary software sends the visual information needed by engineers or maintenance teams, helping them to understand the exact situation on the ground.
ASP Programme accelerates growth
Right now, AnsuR is on a journey, rapidly transitioning from a traditional R&D organisation to a company that is far more commercially focused. To support its ambitious growth plans, AnsuR formalised its longstanding relationship with Inmarsat by joining the company’s Application and Solution Provider (ASP) Programme. Being an ASP member gives AnsuR access to Inmarsat’s reliable, secure and cost-effective connectivity through the industry leading ELERA narrowband network. It also offers access to an invaluable network of trusted technical and commercial partners, and the opportunity to collaborate closely with other innovative IoT solutions developers. Working closely with Inmarsat and other ASP partners means AnsuR can accelerate the development and commercialisation of its bespoke software solutions: helping customers in utilities and in other sectors, such as mining or critical infrastructure, manage assets that are beyond the easy reach of both people and terrestrial network coverage.
“Being able to work with Inmarsat’s top-tier distribution partners is a huge bonus,” Gudonis explains. “The ASP Programme enables us to build on our great network within the value-added reseller community, establishing new connections and meeting new partners. Working collaboratively using our collective capabilities we really get around a particular customer challenge. There is an in-built lead-generation element to ASP that all partners benefit from, which goes both ways: we get leads from other partners and they get leads from us.”
Scale, replicate and expand
Through the ASP Programme AnsuR, as a small software company, has access to resources and knowledge to help it scale up, replicate and expand its solutions into new sectors and markets. For AnsuR, this is the real benefit of the ASP Programme: combining its expertise in image transfer and video streaming software with the strength of a globally recognised and trusted IoT connectivity brand, alongside the technical and commercial support network provided via the network.
“A good example is a new project for a major hydropower company operating in northern extremes,” Gudonis explains. “This is a proofof-concept we are working closely with Inmarsat and a partner on, for a typical utilities company operating in arduous environments where there is basically no infrastructure. When an alarm is triggered by one of the customer’s IoT sensors, which might be monitoring for changes in specific conditions for example, checking for valves that haven’t closed, the company would previously have sent an engineer to that station. However, if it’s a false alarm – let’s say a moose wandered by and knocked a sensor – from an operational perspective you’ve taken an engineer out on to the ground unnecessarily. With high-definition visual communication at play, they can now check IoT devices remotely, from anywhere in the world, to assess the situation.”
“AnsuR has the capability in terms of the engineers and the expertise in designing these types of solutions,” adds Gudonis. “But where we benefit from ASP is the ability to properly market and attract more customers and then scale that business. We can now scale and replicate solutions throughout the ASP partner network, using the strength of Inmarsat’s salespeople, solutions engineers, marketing team, its product knowledge and understanding of other geographies.” “It’s not only the scale and the reach but, most importantly, the experience of the people we are able to connect with,” he explains. “That has allowed us to take that hydropower use case and, with the experience of the teams at Inmarsat, look at other areas where that solution can be deployed. We are now looking to take that same solution, with no extra development work, into other areas like shipping and logistics, mining, fixed infrastructure, maritime and government use cases.”
Inmarsat’s ASP Programme provides access to the resources, knowhow and commercial networks needed by highly-specialist solutions providers such as AnsuR, offering them an umbrella for collaboration, and enabling them to effectively scale their solutions much faster, easier, and far more cost-efficiently than was previously possible
“The opportunity for us to be a part of the ASP Programme really meant that we could collaborate and co-create end-to-end solutions with partners. With Inmarsat leading the way, providing technical support and operational experience, Inmarsat is the glue that binds all the pieces together. It’s allowing us to achieve that global reach at a pace that previously was not possible,” says Charlie Clark, the director of Sales and Marketing at AnsuR
