Following the failure of air-cooling firm 4energy, the Smartset monitoring software has re-emerged as an IoT and infrastructure platform, which will be sold by UK integrator AIT. 

Nottingham-based 4energy folded earlier this year and its assets were split up, with its monitoring software Smartset acquired by the newly-created 4NG, according to The Business Desk. Now services and integration company AIT has picked up a distribution deal to sell Smartset, describing it as ”a next generation Industrial IoT solution that provides visibility, control and analytics of buildings, communication rooms and data centers.”

smartset screenshot
– AIT / 4NG

4closed…

“This is a real time monitoring tool,” AIT managing director Steve Bailey told DCD. ”It’s not positioned as DCIM [data center infrastructure management)] - there’s hype around that. It will integrate with DCIM, but it’s not trying to be all things to all people.”

Venture-capital funded 4energy sold free-cooling systems, earning contracts with with BT, Virgin Media and Experian, as well as investment from BRitish Gas. However, investors lost patience with the company and pulled the plug earlier this year. 

A group of investors, including AIT and Bailey in a personal capacity, saw potential for Smartset, which includes wireless sensors, and is designed for all sorts of industrial equipment along with data centers. The company 4NG was set up to employ the Smartset team from 4energy and manage the products. 

“It has a lot of applications outside the data center,” said Bailey. “It’s very scalable, so it can manage a few comms racks, or work as a mini-BMS [building management system] in branch offices, or remotely managing a school boiler.”

Among Smartset’s strengths is its support for multiple protocols, including old or obscure ones used in the mechanical and electrical field, said Bailey.

AIT now formally has the license to sell the software, and plans to develop a channel, looking for new customers within and beyond the data center industry, as well as finding partners, while continuing to service existing customers. 

So far, no buyer has been announced for 4energy’s cooling technology.