Abstracting IoT Security Away from the User

A secure IoT solution must consider all aspects of the system from the sensor to the user. This includes everything from hardware, firmware, and any application software which allows the user to access their data. While any reputable IoT platform is designed with security as a priority, breaches can still occur as a result of user error during complex device configuration steps.

Traditional IoT platforms are marketed directly to engineers, and usual require users to be knowledgeable in gateway configuration, firewalls, data encryption, and in some cases updating and patching their devices to ensure their system is secure for the lifetime that the product is deployed. Further, some systems require the customer to purchase a third party hardware controller to transmit their data from the sensor to the cloud. While there are many advantages of storing data in the cloud, each party brought into the datapath adds additional layers of cybersecurity risk.

EDG’s end-to-end IoT platform provides security for the full datapath from the sensor to the user. Over-the-air (OTA) security updates are provided to our devices automatically without any user intervention, and without interrupting the user’s application. Because our devices transmit data directly to the EDG Client Portal, users simply need to log in to view their dashboard or download their data. This abstracts complex gateway configuration, firewalls, and data encryption responsibilities away from the user, and allows them to focus on analyzing their data.

EDG’s solution is available off-the-shelf, and our security updates are automatic without your involvement. We’ll ship our systems preconfigured to read from your sensors. You’ll simply apply power, and data will be automatically transmitted to the EDG Client Portal. If you can log into a website, you are ready to use our platform. And you’ll have full confidence that our system is secure because there are no third party components you’ll need to configure.

Contact us today, and let’s bring your project to life.

Introducing our Chief Technology Officer

While we were bringing the EDG Client Portal to life in 2020, we were fortunate to have the support of some incredible mentors, engineers, developers, and friends. Having exceeded our goals with their support, we set out to find the right person to lead our technical team.

For the month of January, we have had the pleasure of working alongside an expert in connected technologies, and today we are delighted to announce our new Chief Technology Officer! Michael Markovsky is a long-time supporter and friend of EDG, and has joined our team from his remote office in Buffalo, Wyoming.

We are grateful to have his expertise as we lift EDG closer toward our vision to supply a secure, scalable, and robust distributed monitoring solution. Welcome aboard, Michael!

---

Michael is an entrepreneur who studied Electrical Engineering and received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder, CO, in 1988. He helped on sub-orbital rocket projects with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. His teamwork on firmware and software with Maxtor Corporation has been used on millions of hard drives, helping the computer and internet industry to grow. After starting a small consulting firm, he continued consulting on firmware projects for companies in the hard drive industry during the 1990s.

Michael also has been the CEO of a small sales and marketing firm. He enjoys creating value for customers, helping the economy to grow and prosper. Michael has worked with many diverse teams throughout his career to create interconnected products that make our lives easier and better. You can learn more about Michael on LinkedIn.

As the Chief Technology Officer for Engineering Design Group, Michael's overriding goal is to help you accomplish your goals in a simpler, better way.

Announcing the EDG Client Portal

The EDG Client Portal is live, and ready to bring data from around the globe to your fingertips. The web portal makes it easy for your team to monitor trends, make predictions, and take action.

Instead of driving back and forth between field sites, save time and money by accessing your sensor data directly from the EDG Client Portal. Use the portal to equip your technicians with a clear plan before sending them on the road to make repairs.

Here’s how it works:

• Connect your sensors to EDG’s hardware and apply power to the system.

• EDG’s hardware detects the strongest cellular connection in the area and transmits data from your sensors to the EDG Client Portal. (WiFi is also supported)

• From the EDG Client Portal, a single dashboard allows you to monitor data from multiple locations around the globe.

• The dashboard synthesizes the data and presents it in a way that is easy to understand, allowing you to monitor trends, make predictions, and take action.

To experience a virtual demonstration, contact us today.

EDG Selected for gBETA Cheyenne Fall 2020

A note from Engineering Design Group’s founder and chief engineer, Ryan Alford:

I am grateful to announce that Engineering Design Group has been selected to participate in the gBETA Cheyenne Fall 2020 accelerator! gBETA is under the nationally ranked startup accelerator gener8tor, and has been brought to Cheyenne by Microsoft's TechSpark program. We look forward to bringing EDG's new IoT solution to market as we work alongside other Wyoming startups under guidance from our director Baylie Evans. Here's to another turn of the ratchet for EDG, and the state of Wyoming!

Together with four other startups in the gBETA Cheyenne Fall 2020 cohort, EDG will receive individualized coaching and access to gener8tor’s national network of mentors, customers, corporate partners and investors.

In EDG’s first year, our source of revenue has transitioned from contract engineering to providing a secure, customized sensor-to-smartphone solution which eliminates the barrier to IoT connectivity for our customers. The gBETA program will accelerate our ability to bring EDG’s technologies to an array of customers that need remote control and monitoring capabilities.

Documenting for Production

The contract engineer has finalized a custom PCB design for an upcoming startup. The next step is to order a run of prototypes for testing. After many months of raising capital, marketing their product, and garnering sales, the customer is in the home stretch of their first release. Once the prototypes are up and running, it will be time to scale up to a production run and fulfill the first set of orders.

Somewhere between ordering prototype boards and delivering the tested units, the contract engineer will send a package of the finished assembly files to the startup. This file-set contains all documents pertaining to the released design. A complete assembly package allows the customer to order an exact replica of the design — resistor-for-resistor, and trace-for-trace — resulting in production assemblies that have the exact performance characteristics of the prototype assemblies.

It is imperative that the contract engineer delivers this data package to their customer with complete data integrity. This is only possible if all changes throughout the manufacturing process have been documented by engineering and relayed back to the customer. One change left out of the delivered assembly data can lead to the failure of an entire production lot.

A realistic and frequent scenario is that — after a board is placed on order — the manufacture discovers one or two parts that are no longer available through distribution. In this case, the manufacturer will propose a set of alternates to the engineer, or they will ask the engineer how to proceed. Once changes are agreed upon, it is critical that each deviation to the assembly package is rolled back to the bill of materials and the schematic, and that a revised file package is relayed to the customer. Without these key steps, data integrity is lost, and a future production run will fail to replicate the prototypes.

* * *

At Engineering Design Group, we have a background designing for mission critical applications, and we understand that high quality is directly correlated to documenting all changes prompted by the manufacturing process. Stringent documentation procedures are part of our design process whether we are developing hardware for our clients or our own secure remote monitoring products.

If your company is interested in our design expertise or learning about our quality processes, or if you would like to learn more about EDG’s secure remote integrations, contact us today.