Customer success story
Utonomy accelerates smart gas grid innovation with Cumulocity
Customer
Challenges
- Rapid proof of concept: As a start-up, Utonomy needed to deliver a credible proof of concept quickly to secure investor funding.
- Limited resources: Most engineering effort had to go into electro-mechanical hardware, leaving minimal bandwidth for software development.
- Commercial scalability: Beyond the PoC, the team needed a path to production-ready applications that investors would trust.
- Security and reliability: Any solution had to meet strict security requirements for critical infrastructure.
Outcomes
- Faster PoC delivery: Utonomy built and demonstrated its proof of concept within weeks, saving months of development time and accelerating time-to-value.
- Investor confidence: Rapid prototyping showed a clear path from PoC to production, helping secure funding and build trust in the solution’s scalability.
- Scalable architecture: Utonomy evolved from built-in Cumulocity apps to custom widgets and microservices—without losing development momentum or compromising quality.
- Focus on innovation: By leveraging Cumulocity’s managed services, Utonomy concentrated on solving real customer problems rather than maintaining platform infrastructure.
- Environmental impact at scale: Utonomy’s first commercial deployment—across 270 sites in southern England—is on track to reduce methane emissions by 2.9 GWh, equivalent to 35 tons of CO2 per year.
- AI-driven efficiency gains: Trials of Utonomy’s latest intelligent gas grid technology, powered by AI, achieved a 16% reduction in methane emissions and safely lowered governor pressures by up to 31%.
- Unexpected benefits: The platform also became part of Utonomy’s recruitment process, with candidates using Cumulocity trials to demonstrate their skills and understanding of IoT.
Cumulocity enables us to focus our resources on solving our customers’ problems rather than building and maintaining a platform. We can punch above our weight operationally by leveraging Cumulocity’s CloudOps team and infrastructure.
Steve Lewis
CTO
Utonomy
Details
When Utonomy was founded in 2015, its mission was to reduce methane leakage in gas distribution networks. The team designed an innovative electric actuator and telemetry solution for hazardous environments but lacked the resources to develop a robust software platform in parallel.
Figure 1. Ucontrol Actuator.
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Building everything from scratch would have delayed critical funding milestones. So, Utonomy researched IoT Application Enablement Platforms and shortlisted two solutions. After a hands-on evaluation, Cumulocity emerged as the clear winner for the following reasons:
- End-to-end coverage for both PoC and production
- Comprehensive documentation and Tech Community, enabling self-start without vendor dependency
- Proven track record and strong security posture, critical for utility customers
- Responsive, professional team—easy to work with from day one
We enjoy ongoing support from the Cumulocity Customer Success Team who do a great job as the “oil” in the engine of our relationship. We have frequent regular calls with our customer success manager who pulls in other colleagues as and when necessary to address specific issues. This has given us direct access to Cumulocity Product Management and Development teams who are always engaged and helpful, always bringing practical solutions to the table.
- Steve Lewis, CTO, Utonomy
Initially, Utonomy leveraged standard Cumulocity apps like Device Management and Cockpit to validate its concept. Over time, the solution evolved into custom-branded web apps, widgets, and microservices. Key additions included a secure device onboarding service and an automated network response microservice for real-time pressure adjustments.
Figure 2. UtonomyOne Software Architecture.
Looking ahead, Utonomy is extending its solution to integrate third-party devices and interoperate with customers’ wider SCADA systems, further enhancing the value of its smart gas grid platform.
Cumulocity continues to be a strategic technology partner, enabling Utonomy to innovate faster, scale securely, and stay focused on customer impact.
Figure 3. UtonomyOne UI.
Out of the box, Cumulocity allows us to stand on the shoulders of giants.
– Martin Hall-May, Cloud Product Owner, Utonomy
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Companies are doing great things with IoT, you can too
Learn what’s possible on Cumulocity, a leading global, low-code, self-service IoT platform.