Fredericton's Eigen Innovations takes Gold in Dell Internet of Things contest

Dell named the winners of its “Connect What Matters” IoT contest yesterday, naming Fredericton, New Brunswick’s Eigen Innovations among five Gold winners for building “a video analytics solution that leverages thermal imaging cameras and PLC/sensor data for real-time process and quality control.”
Founded in 2012, Eigen is a machine learning platform developer aimed at the high-speed manufacturing sector and is a spin-off company from applied research conducted by University of New Brunswick professor Rickey Dubay that started with an investment from the New Brunswick Innovation Fund.
“As IoT moves from hype to reality, the diversity of applications and use cases among the IoT Innovation contest winners clearly demonstrates the value developers and customers can capture by implementing real IoT solutions,” said Jonathan Ballon, vice president in the Internet of Things Group (IOTG) and general manager of the Markets and Channels Acceleration Division from Intel. “Through our partnership, Dell and Intel are able to provide re-usable building blocks that will help these applications scale in the future.”
Dell’s “Connect What Matters” IoT contest invited companies, whether a commercial company, an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), a system integrator, a developer or a channel partner, to incorporate the Dell Edge Gateway in developing innovative IoT solutions for businesses.
Eigen’s patented Intellexon platform uses data analysis to unlock process and operational efficiency for manufacturers using traditional factory floor operational technology, providing them with higher accuracy, faster implementation time, and continuous adaptation to changes in the production line.
Entries to Dell’s contest were judged according to Innovation and Business Impact, and could be developed for any vertical or combination of verticals.
In Eigen’s case, their manufacturing video analytics solution has been applied in auto manufacturing, paper manufacturing, and metals smelting.
Eigen uses edge gateways to provide real-time analytics solutions for its customers, moving analytics from a centralized location, like a data warehouse, closer to the “edge” of the network, keeping data and analytics nearer to a process, such as manufacturing, allowing issues to be quickly identified to reduce potentially costly delays.
Edge devices, or intelligent gateways, promise to be a key part of the developing IoT infrastructure, used to securely collect, aggregate, filter, and relay data close to industrial  processes or production assets, running powerful analytics, detecting anomalies in real time, and raising alarms so that operators can take appropriate action.
The Gold award for Dell’s “Connect What Matters” IoT contest carries a US$50,000 prize, consisting of a cash award, consulting services from Dell experts, hardware and software tests for proof-of-concept deployments, access to Dell’s IoT Lab, a co-marketing and public relations effort, and go-to-market funds for bringing the company’s solution to market.