Current Cost's 'Bridge' uses Pachube for backend data management

As announced recently at the Internet of Things Europe 2010 Conference in Brussels, we're delighted finally to be able to let you all know that Current Cost's new 'Bridge' device will use Pachube Enterprise for its backend data management.

The recently launched 'Bridge', designed by Tinker London for Current Cost Ltd, and pre-programmed to use Pachube.com for data management, will enable thousands of owners of Current Cost monitors to connect their monitors directly to the web without needing a computer. Taking advantage of a suite of Pachube Enterprise features (including privacy groups, statistics API, user management and a device provisioning server) Pachube will enable Current Cost to provide their customers out-of-the-box with much richer and secure web-based information about their energy usage.

The press release is below and can also be downloaded in PDF format here.

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London, June 2nd 2010

Connected Environments Ltd. and Tinker London have made the ‘Internet of Things’ for consumers a reality this week by partnering to develop Current Cost’s ‘Bridge’ device, a home monitoring product that transmits live energy data from electricity monitors to the Internet.

The ‘Bridge’ is an ethernet device designed by Tinker London to connect Current Cost electricity monitors for the first time directly to the Internet. By using Pachube.com (Connected Environments Ltd's web-based device-networking service) to manage the vast data flows, the ‘Bridge’ enables Current Cost customers to analyse their energy use via a website dashboard, on iPhones and other smart phones, and via Google’s energy service, Google PowerMeter.

Both partners announced the rollout of the new device at the Internet of Things Europe 2010 conference, held this week in Brussels.

Speaking at the conference, Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, CEO of Tinker London said, “We prototyped the ‘Bridge’ using the open-source platform Arduino and built the bridge as an open, hackable device, so people can take control of their own energy usage information and share it with their friends and communities. Partnering with Pachube makes this achievable.”

“Using Pachube as the server-side backend makes it possible for Current Cost to create applications that provide their customers with much richer information about their energy usage. Partnering with Tinker London is part of our goal of fostering open ecosystems for sensor, energy and environment data", said Usman Haque, CEO of Connected Environments Ltd.

“By developing the ‘Bridge’ with Tinker, we can now help people get data out of their homes and onto the web. Using Pachube to web-enable the ‘Bridge’ out-of-the-box we add tremendous value to millions of Current Cost electricity monitors around the world” said Martin Dix, Managing Director of Current Cost Ltd. “As part of our ongoing product development program our core focus is engaging, educating and helping consumers to reduce waste - and the bridge will make it easier than ever. As a global leading manufacturer of real-time-displays we are continuously looking at simple, cost effective ways to develop solutions that work today and are interoperable with future products”.

The Bridge is now on sale through Current Cost and online retailer Amazon.

Tinker London is a multidisciplinary design studio based in London. Tinker design interactive products that bridge the physical and the digital, help clients develop innovative design practices in their business, and research new areas where design and open source technologies intersect. Tinker's clients include Arup, BT, BBC, EDF, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and The Guardian.
www.tinkerlondon.com

Pachube is a convenient, secure & scalable platform that helps thousands of individuals and companies around the world connect to & build the 'internet of things'. It is owned and operated by Connected Environments Ltd, a company that develops software platforms and services around sensor, energy and environment data.
www.pachube.com

Current Cost was founded in 2004 and is the UK’s most experienced manufacturer of real time displays for monitoring domestic electricity usage. The company continues to lead the market in innovation and was the first manufacturer to supply real-time-displays (RTDs) to the Top Six energy companies. Current Cost continues to lead the market in innovative RTD design and is the largest supplier worldwide, with over one million monitors installed to-date. C2 proprietary technology is found in all the company’s range of devices and is available in individual recognition plugs, standard meters and load management devices. The information gathered by the C2 software can be downloaded to a PC or as a part web application, so that households, housing associations and any other organisation can track improvement in energy efficiency and wastage reduction.
www.currentcost.com

The ‘Internet of Things’ refers to the idea of using the Internet to connect together physical objects, devices, appliances and buildings - a world of connectivity and data sharing between people but also between people and machines.
http://bit.ly/i_o_t