Theft of agricultural equipment is on the rise, with British farms seeing a 26% increase in claims from 2017 to 2018 according to NFU Mutual. Isolated locations make rural communities especially vulnerable, and organized crime groups operate a robust international market for stolen tractors, quad bikes, and other high-value machinery.
Loss of a single piece of equipment can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, with replacement taking months, causing lasting impacts on crop yields and farmer livelihoods.
Go4ioT founder Pascal Lavaur saw an opportunity to address this problem with IoT technology. The result is KHIKO, a programmable anti-theft device capable of detecting suspicious movements and alerting owners via SMS, email, or even voice calls.
“It’s a very sturdy device that’s small enough to hide,” says Lavaur. “If an asset starts to move during the night, KHIKO will start tracking it with GPS. Wireless data connection enables continuous tracking of the asset and recovery.”
While originally designed for agriculture, KHIKO is now used to protect construction machinery, boats, classic cars, camping vehicles, and other commercial assets.
Lavaur drew on 18 years in commercial battery manufacturing to design a device that can operate for years without maintenance. KHIKO uses the Sigfox global 0G network to send tiny data packets, such as GPS coordinates, over long distances with minimal power, enabling battery life of up to 10 years.
Because Sigfox is not universally available, KHIKO seamlessly switches to 3G or 4G cellular backup when needed. Soracom’s global SIM and integrated management console make it possible to track assets even when they move outside Sigfox coverage areas.
“The benefits go much deeper than the connectivity aspects,” says Lavaur. “With Soracom, you can send data to other networks in the same compressed format as Sigfox, then extract it into a usable format for cloud systems.”
This capability allows Go4ioT to focus development on core firmware, monitoring movement, location, and configuration—while Soracom provides the connectivity backbone.
Beyond cellular coverage, Soracom delivers built-in services like Soracom Harvest for data storage and visualization, eliminating the need for Go4ioT to build its own infrastructure. The Soracom Console also manages both Sigfox and cellular devices through a single interface, enabling seamless protocol switching without software rewrites.
“KHIKO would have been too complex to build without Soracom,” said Lavaur.
By combining Sigfox and Soracom cellular connectivity, KHIKO offers a highly reliable and low-power theft prevention solution that can be deployed anywhere in the world. This flexibility ensures valuable and mission-critical assets remain protected, delivering greater operational stability, financial security, and peace of mind to users.
Meiko Equipment specializes in refrigeration, air conditioning, and automatic control systems used across industries like supermarkets, agriculture, and fisheries. Because this equipment is critical to business operations, Meiko traditionally performed maintenance within weeks of delivery, ensuring performance before handing systems off to clients.
While this model worked, it wasn’t optimized for long-term efficiency. Maintenance schedules were fixed rather than based on real-time equipment performance, meaning potential issues were often discovered too late. Small businesses in particular lacked access to predictive monitoring, which was typically limited to larger enterprises able to afford expensive remote systems.
Meiko wanted to change this dynamic by creating a cost-effective way to monitor refrigeration and HVAC equipment remotely. Their goal was to empower even small and mid-sized businesses with the same predictive maintenance capabilities that larger competitors had already adopted.
To make predictive maintenance possible, Meiko needed to track variables like temperature, humidity, and pressure within refrigeration and air conditioning systems. By analyzing these values in the cloud, they could detect early warning signs of failure and trigger alerts for preventive action.
The team already had experience using BI tools and knew they wanted a dashboard to display findings. What they lacked was a reliable and secure way to collect data from the equipment in the first place. Connectivity quickly became a major challenge. WiFi might have worked in some customer environments, but sharing networks with store staff or customers introduced security risks that made it unsuitable for sensitive industrial data.
Beyond connectivity, Meiko also needed to solve for data compatibility. Many of their sensors relied on analog signals like 4–20 mA outputs, which would need to be converted into a digital format before they could be transmitted and analyzed over the Internet.
Meiko found a solution by combining their expertise with Soracom’s IoT platform. Using the Grove IoT Starter Kit, complete with microcomputer, sensors, and a cellular connectivity module, they built a prototype capable of capturing sensor data directly from HVAC and refrigeration units.
Once collected, the data was transmitted securely to the cloud via Soracom Air. From there, Soracom Harvest provided simple data storage and visualization, eliminating the need to maintain separate servers or databases. This streamlined approach allowed Meiko to quickly move from prototype to production without a heavy infrastructure investment.
To make the system accessible to customers, Meiko added Soracom Lagoon, which transformed Harvest data into shareable dashboards. By logging into a web console, customers could see real-time performance data from their equipment, gaining transparency and peace of mind while giving Meiko the ability to act on anomalies proactively.
For Meiko, Soracom offered a way to deliver predictive maintenance as a practical service, not just an enterprise luxury. By using Soracom Air for connectivity, they avoided the risks of relying on shared WiFi networks while maintaining control over security and reliability. Deployment was fast and cost-effective, making the solution viable for smaller businesses.
The integrated services of Soracom Harvest and Soracom Lagoon further simplified operations. Harvest eliminated the need for dedicated servers, while Lagoon gave Meiko an easy way to share dashboards directly with customers. This not only reduced IT complexity but also enhanced customer engagement by making monitoring data easily accessible.
Altogether, Soracom provided the connectivity, scalability, and security that Meiko needed to expand its service model. What started as a prototype quickly became a foundation for delivering ongoing value to clients of all sizes.
Meiko sees connected services as a critical way to respond faster to customer needs. With IoT monitoring in place, their maintenance teams can identify issues as they arise, rather than waiting for equipment failures to trigger service calls. This reduces downtime for customers while strengthening Meiko’s role as a proactive partner.
Over time, Meiko plans to expand the system’s reach by supporting more equipment models and additional communication protocols. While the initial rollout focused on analog 4–20 mA sensor outputs, future versions will include Modbus RTU with RS-485 interfaces, broadening the range of devices that can be monitored.
By extending predictive maintenance to more customers, Meiko is helping small and medium-sized businesses reduce costs, improve reliability, and access insights once reserved for larger enterprises. With Soracom as a backbone, they are positioned to scale their monitoring services efficiently and securely.
Cookpad Mart is an e-commerce service that connects consumers with fresh ingredients from local farmers and specialty shops. Shoppers place orders through a mobile app, and their purchases are delivered to neighborhood “Mart Stations,” refrigerated lockers designed for same-day pickup. This keeps food fresh while making local produce more accessible.
Unlike traditional grocery delivery services, Cookpad Mart avoids central distribution centers that can degrade quality. By shipping directly from farm or shop to customer, they minimize handling and preserve freshness. This farm-to-fridge approach is a defining feature of their service and sets them apart in the crowded grocery marketplace.
To make this system work, Cookpad had to ensure that every order could be processed accurately from the moment it was placed to the moment it was delivered. That required not only a digital marketplace, but also reliable hardware that farmers and small shops could depend on day after day.
Cookpad began with a straightforward idea: equip farmers and specialty shops with label printers so they could mark orders clearly before handing them to drivers. In theory, this would streamline the handoff process and ensure that every product arrived with the correct details.
In practice, the system quickly showed its limits. Labels needed to be water-resistant, consistently formatted, and durable enough to survive handling in busy, sometimes outdoor environments. Without this, consumers could receive confusing or inconsistent information on their deliveries.
A first prototype combining a standard printer with an iPad seemed promising, but testing revealed frequent paper jams, device freezes, and unstable connections between devices. These setbacks made it clear that Cookpad needed a more stable, IoT-ready system to support its unique delivery model.
Cookpad partnered with Soracom to build a more resilient solution. By equipping a Raspberry Pi with Soracom Air cellular connectivity, Cookpad created a reliable communications hub that stabilized printer operations and enabled continuous status monitoring. This reduced common issues like jams and connection drops.
To securely transmit order data, Cookpad used Soracom Canal, which provided a private connection between IoT devices and their AWS-hosted backend. If problems were detected, the operations team could use Soracom Gate to access devices remotely, drastically cutting downtime and eliminating the need for on-site intervention.
Beyond solving the printing challenge, Cookpad extended the solution to food safety. By deploying Soracom Beacon sensors and visualizing their data through Soracom Harvest, Cookpad could monitor temperature, humidity, and location in real time, ensuring quality control from farm to Mart Station.
Soracom’s platform provided Cookpad with a unified foundation for rapid IoT development. With Soracom’s endpoint functions, Cookpad could link data from multiple services simultaneously, including direct integration with AWS through Soracom Funnel. This seamless interoperability allowed engineers to focus on refining customer and farmer experiences rather than managing infrastructure.
Development speed was another key advantage. Using Soracom, just two engineers (one focused on applications and the other on backend systems) were able to design, test, and deploy a fully functional IoT system in only a week. The efficiency of Soracom’s APIs and management tools made rapid prototyping possible.
For Cookpad, the decision to use Soracom wasn’t just about solving immediate technical hurdles. It provided a scalable, flexible platform that could support continuous innovation. With this foundation in place, Cookpad can evolve its service quickly and confidently as customer needs grow.
Cookpad continues to emphasize speed in its hardware development process, with prototypes often produced in as little as a week and rarely taking longer than a month. This allows the team to test, learn, and improve without slowing down day-to-day operations.
Future plans include making it even easier for farmers and specialty shops to participate in the Cookpad Mart ecosystem. By simplifying the hardware and further automating back-end processes, Cookpad hopes to reduce barriers for local producers who may not have prior technical experience.
As Cookpad scales its service into more regions, the company is committed to preserving the freshness and quality that have defined its success. With Soracom as its IoT backbone, Cookpad can expand while maintaining the trust and reliability that keep customers coming back.
Large buildings like airports and shopping centers consume roughly 40% of the world’s energy, often inefficiently. Heating and cooling systems are especially challenging: they are complex to configure, often unaware of actual indoor conditions, and can leave occupants uncomfortable while consuming more energy than necessary.
Enerbrain developed a cloud-driven solution combining IoT hardware, algorithms, and mobile apps to transform building management. The system makes existing HVAC infrastructure smarter, easier to control, and more comfortable for occupants, delivering up to 30% energy savings without requiring expert oversight.
By offering a simple installation process and compatibility with existing building management systems, Enerbrain helps property managers reduce both operating costs and environmental impact.
As Enerbrain’s Energy Cloud solution expanded across Europe, it quickly faced new connectivity and data management challenges. Devices in different markets generated growing volumes of environmental data, which had to be transmitted securely from sensors to cloud platforms.
Managing device lifecycles was critical. Each sensor required unique identifiers and consistent integration with customer systems, adding complexity to deployments in multiple countries. At the same time, differing national standards for environmental and building data created the need for a standardized pipeline to combine and analyze disparate data sources smoothly.
Enerbrain needed a solution that would ensure secure connectivity, simplify global device management, and scale easily with its rapid growth.
Enerbrain selected Soracom to connect and manage its IoT devices across multiple countries. Using Soracom Air for cellular connectivity and Soracom Air for Sigfox for low-power devices, the company could unify management of both types of devices under a single platform.
For data integration, Enerbrain relies on Soracom Beam to transmit sensor data directly into AWS IoT. Soracom Canal provides secure VPC peering with AWS, while Soracom Gate ensures private bidirectional communication for device administration and troubleshooting.
Enerbrain also uses Soracom Harvest to collect baseline device metrics, enabling quick visualization and simple API access for diagnostics. This combination of services allows the company to securely manage devices, standardize its data pipeline, and integrate seamlessly with AWS cloud services.
As a data-driven company, Enerbrain needed a partner that could deliver both connectivity and a suite of cloud-integrated services. Soracom provided exactly that, enabling secure communication, real-time device management, and efficient data visualization.
“Together with Soracom Canal, Gate and Beam, we can securely integrate data from our cellular and Sigfox devices into AWS IoT and communicate back to them whenever required for tasks such as troubleshooting and upgrades,” the team explains.
The pay-as-you-go model made it easy to scale operations efficiently, while Soracom’s platform simplified SIM and device management across multiple countries. With Harvest’s fast visualization capabilities, Enerbrain significantly improved its operational efficiency, reducing time spent on troubleshooting and device oversight.
As Enerbrain continues to expand into new regions, improving operational efficiency remains a top priority. Currently, device states are monitored through Soracom APIs, and the company plans to integrate Harvest APIs for deeper cross-data mapping between products, providers, and business systems.
The next step is closer integration with Soracom Funnel, which will further streamline data processing and simplify code requirements for large-scale deployments. This will allow Enerbrain to scale its data pipeline without adding operational complexity.
Since adopting Soracom, Enerbrain has grown from serving customers in Italy and France to operating across Europe, the Americas, India, the Emirates, and Japan, where it opened a subsidiary in 2018. With Soracom as a long-term partner, Enerbrain is confident in its ability to expand globally while continuing to deliver smarter, more sustainable building solutions.