Driving a Mobile Experience with The Internet of Things

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Salesforce.com® is the world’s #1 CRM company and has been ranked by Forbes magazine

as the nation’s most innovative company three years running. Each year salesforce.com puts

on Dreamforce, the world’s largest software conference that brings together thousands of

customers, developers, technologists and cloud evangelists from around the world.

Dreamforce 2013, held over four days in November, attracted 140,000 registered attendees.

The conference included 1,500 breakout sessions scheduled in multiple venues throughout

downtown San Francisco. To handle transportation between the venues, Dreamforce

employed shuttles to transport attendees between their hotels and events.

“Salesforce.com takes great pride in providing Dreamforce attendees with the very best user

experience,” said Ed Park, Sr. Director, Product Management, Event Applications, salesforce.com.

In the past, Dreamforce provided attendees with schedules for

shuttles using a purpose-built application for iOS and Android

mobile devices, but the routes were fewer, shorter and simpler.

“Before smartphones, planning travel was difficult because you

didn’t have that real-time visibility that is now available with

mobile technology,” explained Park. “Planning and scheduling

were difficult because you didn’t know if traffic was holding up

a shuttle. Everyone was, in effect, blind to the exact time the

shuttles would arrive.”

For Dreamforce 2013, salesforce.com opted to empower attendees

with more information and real-time visibility into where the

shuttles were at any time. In other words, salesforce.com wanted

the shuttles to “talk” to attendees.

“We saw an opportunity to demonstrate how the Salesforce

Platform™ could transform machine-generated data into

actionable information,” said Park.

To realize this opportunity, salesforce.com partnered with Etherios, a leading provider of

Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, and one of its Platinum Cloud Alliance partners. The

Social Machine® by Etherios is a leading connected product solution that is built 100% on

the Salesforce Platform and is available on the Salesforce AppExchange®. Twelve weeks

prior to the conference, teams from Etherios and salesforce.com teamed up.

Etherios enables real-time shuttle tracking at salesforce.com’s Dreamforce event

PROBLEMSimplify transportation logistics for 140,000 registered attendees at the world’s largest software conference in downtown San Francisco.

SOLUTIONConnect shuttles, cloud-enable their data points and allow attendees to monitor the real-time locations of the shuttles.

RESULTImproved scheduling and attendance among attendees through mobile IoT connectivity.

Ed ParkSr. Director, Product Management, Event Applications, salesforce.com

“The Etherios team delivered a new and innovative IoT mobile application that was production ready in only twelve weeks.”

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ConnectThe teams determined that if the shuttles could communicate their locations in real-time to

attendees, attendees would then know precisely when to be at shuttle stops. The initiative

became known as the Connected Shuttles project.

The Etherios team then undertook the first step of an IoT

engagement, connect. Etherios needed to install and deploy

the necessary hardware onto the shuttles and get them

communicating data into the cloud. This project also involved

an additional dynamic since the hardware and sensors

needed to be placed on mobile shuttles. Moreover, the

project had a tight three-month timeframe from conception

to production.

Out of expediency, the team decided to use Android devices

as the sensors. A device was placed on each shuttle and,

using its built-in GPS system, sent its location over a cellular

network. To mount the devices in the shuttles, the team used

a 3-D printer to “print” custom cases to attach the devices to

shuttle windshields.

In addition to communicating every shuttle’s current location

by latitude and longitude, the team needed to provide

conference attendees with additional information to deliver

a remarkable experience and ensure the project’s success.

The team monitored each device’s battery level to prevent

any downtime in tracking the shuttles. Although the devices

would be plugged into the shuttles’ internal 12-volt systems,

the devices would not receive charges when the vehicles

were parked overnight.

The operations team also wanted real-time visibility into

whether or not the devices were charging in case one was

inadvertently removed from its adapter during the day. Of

course, the devices also needed to send the ID and route numbers of their shuttles. The

devices had to forward all of this data every several seconds to ensure granular views of

each shuttle’s location along its route.

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ControlThe Etherios team then sought to control the flow of data from the shuttles. This was

accomplished by installing Etherios Cloud Connector on each device. Cloud Connector is

an extremely small client that allows a monitoring device to communicate—via a cellular

network in this case—with Device Cloud by Etherios™.

Device Cloud is a cloud-based platform-as-a-service that

aggregates all data and control messages from machines,

regardless of how the data is sent or in what format. Device

Cloud enables users to manage their devices and establish

alarms if they move outside pre-determined thresholds. Device

Cloud then passes the outlier data to other systems, enterprise

apps and platforms using open APIs for integration into business

processes to allow for immediate action.

“Any device can be easily connected to Device Cloud, regardless

of protocol,” explained Larry Jovanovic, Vice President of Cloud

Products, Etherios. “Device Cloud greatly simplifies machine-

to-machine dialogues by making the data available to whoever

needs it, whenever they need it, and however they need it.”

The data stream to Device Cloud was prodigious. With 55

devices sending 7–8 data points every few seconds, Device Cloud

gathered, stored and processed approximately one million data

points every day of the conference. Because of the solution’s extraordinary scalability, this

volume of data did not remotely tax Device Cloud.

Moreover, the developers wanted the operations team, who would monitor the app for

the conference’s duration, to receive alerts if problems arose. Using the analytics and

functionalities of Device Cloud, they created alerts that would be triggered should certain

parameters be exceeded, such as if a device was unplugged for an extended period of time.

They also used “geofencing” to alert attendees that a shuttle was approaching a stop.

EngageThe final step for the Etherios team was to engage with conference attendees. Once the

streaming data was captured in Device Cloud, developers integrated the information to

the Salesforce Platform using The Social Machine®. They created HTML5 web pages that

displayed the real-time locations of shuttles on area maps and enabled these pages to be

presented in the Dreamforce mobile app. When a shuttle was in proximity to a stop, Device

Cloud automatically sent alerts to attendees notifying them of a shuttle’s imminent arrival

through Chatter®, salesforce.com’s social collaboration platform.

After thoroughly testing all of the components, the team installed the devices on the shuttles

and the Connected Shuttles project became operational. The devices used Cloud Connector

to send the data points to Device Cloud. From there, The Social Machine integrated this

information into the Salesforce Platform where it was displayed in a rich user experience on

the attendees’ mobile devices. With the Dreamforce Application participants could tell where

the Shuttles were, where they were going and when the next shuttle could take them there.

Device Cloud greatly simplifies machine-to-machine dialogues by making the data available to whoever needs it, whenever they need it, and however they need it.

“Connected Shuttles demonstrates how machine-generated data can help people make smarter decisions. Bringing machines into the conversation can help us improve processes, efficiencies and lives.”Larry JovanovicVice President of Cloud Product Management, Etherios

EmpowerThe results were immediate and widespread. Using handheld devices, tens of thousands

of attendees were able to view the exact locations of their shuttles. For many, this new

functionality underscored the precision and convenience with which salesforce.com

conducted Dreamforce 2013. They could effectively plan their busy days, which included

events, meetings and dinners, knowing exactly when transportation would be available.

“Considering the sheer number of sessions every day throughout downtown San Francisco,

our Connected Shuttles service was very appreciated by the attendees I spoke with,”

said Park. “With the Etherios Connected Shuttles, salesforce.com presented Dreamforce

participants with a world-class transportation experience.”

The technology developed for the Connected Shuttles project showcased the Salesforce

Platform and the company’s commitment to connecting employees, partners, customers

and products. It also benefited different audiences and stakeholders. The fleet operators

appreciated the Connected Shuttles because it offered a powerful management tool for

the first time—real-time visibility over the shuttles. They could ensure their shuttles were

moving as planned and obtain early notice if one broke down or had a flat tire.

“The Etherios team built a new and innovative application that was production ready in only

twelve weeks,” said Park.

The Connected Shuttles project will serve as a template for similar mobile IoT applications.

For example, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, in February 2014, dispatchers

monitored a fleet of connected cars to transport individuals to and from the conference.

“Connected Shuttles demonstrates how machine-generated data can help people make

smarter decisions,” concluded Jovanovic. “Bringing machines into the conversation can

help us improve processes and efficiencies, and lives.”

PH: 888-287-2711www.etherios.com

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Key Takeaways:Transform your customer’s experience through a mobile connected product solution.

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