WLPGA Member News – Sensile Technologies’ 20th Anniversary

Twenty years ago, Sensile Technologies started doing business as a sensing solution provider and quickly concentrated its business on remote monitoring solutions for the energy market. In those 20 years, they have seen significant changes in the technologies and in their market.

First of all, technology should be mentioned as improvements allowing Sensile Technologies to design smaller and better devices at each new generation step. Today, they have halved the number of components and reduced the weight ten-fold in our fifth generation. This kind of change isn’t solely due to technology; it was also made possible by constantly rethinking their products for each generation.

The last ten years have shown that the Internet of Things (IoT) is now a separate branch of communication networks. Sensile Technologies is no longer talking about mega or gigabyte bandwidths designed for streaming video on your latest iPhone, but about new low power, long distance communication networks (LoRa, SIGFOX, NB-IoT) for transporting content equivalent in size to a third of an SMS over dozens of kilometres with the capability of managing billions of connected objects.

Finally, in terms of data reception and processing, obviously the time of simple software installed on a PC in a corner of the office is outdated. Instead, it is all about cloud platforms hosted by the internet giants that are capable of instantly processing data received from hundreds of thousands of tanks or objects. And it’s also about enriching that data through information from the internet, allowing Sensile Technologies to better optimise processes (big data) for their customers.

But a few things haven’t changed specially in their DNA: Since Sensile Technologies foundation, their aim has always been to break the limits, to make the impossible possible. They started by eliminating the good old telephone cable to quickly become specialist in wireless data transmission technologies. This became their first core competence. It was first on GSM network but then also with their proprietary RF (radio frequency) local network. While at it, Sensile Technologies also removed the power plug that is so easily unplugged. That is why their devices run on batteries since day one, with ever increasing performance levels. It has been a real learning curve but they are still pushing the limits with battery life spans of more than ten years with the latest generation: their second core competence. The third main core competence acquired during those 20 years is the knowledge gained in designing product for difficult environments, either explosive (requiring complex certifications), humid, with high or low temperature or all of them together. Finally, what hasn’t changed either is Sensile Technologies's aim to conquer the world with their solutions so that a maximum number of customers can benefit from the Swiss quality of products and services that they offer since their start, to run their processes more efficiently.

If Sensile Technologies now looks towards the future, everything points to good days ahead! First, they are seeing a favourable environment with mature, ultra-efficient IoT technology linked to the cloud. Then, oil and gas companies see the need to digitalise their supply chain. And need the data that Sensile Technologies can provide to efficiently run their business. Sensile Technologies can put their 20 years of invaluable experience and expertise to good use to effectively meet their needs.

Next, Sensile Technologies will continue to build its future, by diversifying into other related areas, such as the water and environmental markets.

Finally, while Sensile Technologies is currently a solid Swiss SME with international reach, they have also seen keen interest for several years from large companies who recognise the excellence of their products and knowledge, as well as our solid financial footing.

In short, there are many very positive signs predicting a bright future!